Carlsbad, New Mexico
A beautiful cool day started me out on the correct foot this morning. It was a wonderful morning to sip coffee and contemplate my day. Going to Carlsbad to see the city and purchase some groceries was first on the list.
Carlsbad is a city under reconstruction. It is a major boomtown with all the construction going on. Apartments and rv parks are booked solid until next year some time. One fellow told me that the bridges in town were going to get a makeover also. A quick drive by of the city golf course told me it was a nice course to play.
After the groceries were stowed properly and lunch was eaten, the decision was made to go to Dog Canyon in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. It is sixty miles from here one way. The trip proved to be very nice with a lot of greenery from recent rains.
The first part of the road goes through a gas/oil boom area with lots of activity. The second part goes through the Lincoln National Forest with its dispersed camping areas. As the road approaches the Texas State line this view is of a valley that is pretty nice.
As you continue along the view changes a little to include the road leading to dog canyon.
When you finally get to the park, this is the ranger station. The sign says that this is over 6000 feet of elevation. My breathing agreed with that. This is higher than Sunrise Visitor Center on Mt. Rainer in Washington.
If you sit on the rocking chair on the ranger station front porch, this tremendous sight awaits your eyes.
The ranger on duty is a temporary. The normal ranger is off taking a vacation. The duty ranger was a very personable young man with a history taking place in the Idaho area. He and I talked of things fun in Idaho and Oregon that we had in common.
After a bit , his trail crew of men and women came in from working on one of the trails. They were a very interesting group to visit with. They are camped there for a month of work. The work yard has their tents scattered all over it. It would be nice to visit with all of them again.
This standard ordinary fantastic desert sunset
tells me that it was a good day of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM
Hi, do you plan a visit to the
ReplyDelete"Top of Texas"? :)
Tom, Your link went to a deleted picture so I dropped your comment. Check out your link and verify it. I would like to see your picture.
ReplyDeleteDiana,
I do not know if I will try for that again. Altitude sickness starts in on me at 6500 feet and most of the top of Texas trail is above 6500 feet and I am nine years older now.