Last Saturday the family decided to go for a hike. Bob and I really aren't sure how long we will be living in NM (based on information we have been given it appears that we will not be here for very long) and we want to make sure that we see as much of this area as we can. It is important for us to explore the Las Cruces hiking trails first and then venture to the other cool places that surround this beautiful area.
One of the places that everyone raves about that we had not yet been to was a hiking trail called Dripping Springs. We thought that this area was just one trail, but in actuality it is three trails on the same property totaling about 5 1/2 miles of hiking. We decided to hike the La Cueva and Filmore trails and save the trail that is called Dripping Springs for another visit. We ended up hiking about 3 1/2 miles. Sarah was a trooper, as always, and managed to get through the hike albeit a lot more tired after it was all over. (We ALL were exhausted - it was a tough trail.)
The trail was pretty, but nothing is as beautiful to me as Soledad Canyon. While I was impressed with the trail and glad that I hiked it with the family I still firmly believe that Soledad is heaven on earth. Living here I am reminded that I am so blessed that I get to live in a country that is so diverse as ours. I am so blessed that I get to experience the life that I am living. New Mexico is beautiful beyond words.
Take a look at our hike:
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| At the entrance of La Cueva trailhead. |
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| This trail curved right where the bushes are. |
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| The desert flora is amazing. |
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| Sarah right before she touched this amazingly soft flower. It was kind of like an over sized dandelion thingee. (Nice description, right?) |
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| There were butterflies everywhere on the trail. A couple almost landed on Sarah. |
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| This is the trail....pretty rugged out here...this is why Bob and I are always so proud of Sarah for making it through these hikes because they are such tough terrain. |
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| A cave where a hermit lived many, many years ago. |
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| Mr. Andrew just hanging out waiting for the back of the line to catch up with the front. |
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| We hiked up into those mountains where we found a 70 foot water fall still trickling. |
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| THIS is the trail for part of the hike...I was guiding Sarah through the trail so that she did not fall. |
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| Me and Sarah walking step by step to get to the waterfall. |
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| This is the end of our hike (or so we thought)...we thought the trail was a straight shot to the building in the background which was the visitors center/ parking lot. INSTEAD the trail went in a circular direction and took us WAY out to the left and then came around behind the visitors center on the opposite side of where we currently are in this picture. |
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| Las Cruces proper is in that valley below. |
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| Josh at the end of our hike misreading the sign and thinking that we still had 2.4 miles to go... |
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| It truly is the wild west. |
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| We have never been so happy to see a the parking lot before! |
I totally forgot the color of blue that the sky is out there. It's like the purest color blue. Great pics!
ReplyDeleteAmber - I was told that the sky was so blue it seemed purple, and I scoffed at the idea. How could that possibly be? And then I moved out here and actually saw with my own two eyes that the sky does seem almost violet it is so blue sometimes. It is amazing. (Bob actually took the pics. He does a great job, doesn't he?!)
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