Sunrise near Elephant Butte, NM:
After 11 days at the above location, I am now camping near Las Cruces, NM, within the Organ Desert Peaks National Monument.
On the way down to Las Cruces, I stopped in the Village of Hatch, NM to dump tanks and fill up with fresh water. Before doing this though, I finally got pics of the "roadside art" on display in this village, they'd always caught my eye but I'd never stopped while driving through on previous trips:
A menacing looking giant holds a small RV
Pretty sure this is a Burger Joint....
An eclectic mix, not sure there's a unifying theme
Hatch, the village, is known for Chili apparently
Anyway, this is the third time I've camped within this monument, first time on the western side of the Desert Peaks.
I'm in the Baylor Canyon Road Dispersed Camping Loop. Lucky I got here when I did because the place filled up with small campers and car campers soon after. The other choice is the Sierra Vista Dispersed Camping area but that one looked crowded and I found it was full later on!
It's a really rough and rocky road, this Baylor Canyon Road, I was lucky to find a spot after just a short drive down some sketchy conditions.
Once I got camp set up, I went off to take pictures of the rock formations at Dripping Springs which is nearby.
Next, I went to the Sierra Vista Dispersed Camping site to check out its layout and to see if there were any open spots. (There weren't!) I did spot this camper at the entrance to the area and thought of RichardM and his Ham Radio colleagues:
At the end of the loop containing the campsites, there's an access trail that leads off towards the south and east mostly. I'll be exploring it some more tomorrow perhaps. One trail led to a dead end with some nice camp sites; the only problem is the narrow road and the need for a high clearance 4x4 vehicle to get to them!
At this point I aired down the tires to 20 PSI and the ride got much smoother but I still had to use 4 Low to negotiate some of the sloping portions which were filled with large rocks and gravel. Good times.
Drove back to camp and just relaxed while waiting for sunset. As I waited, I saw two large rigs coming down Baylor Canyon Road! I thought a Class C motorhome like mine was really almost too big but these two rigs really looked like they were struggling with the road conditions!
I missed taking a picture of the 35ft Travel Trailer, but here's the Class A that was following behind it:
I am sure neither couple in either rig was happy but they were basically stuck and had to drive on through to the other exit back onto pavement! I believe they both made it but am sure this road will be a topic of conversation for them for some time!
Sunset was OK:
17 comments:
Dom, the burger place in Hatch has some very good green Chile cheese burgers. I've been there a couple times. Also, back in the very early 1960's, I used to go to Hatch with my father when we lived in Las Cruces to get his weekly newspaper printed there. So, your visit is a trip down memory lane for me. :-)
I am very fond of American roadside art. Lots of it can be found on Route 66. BTW I really dig the dino chasing the burger guy ;-)
Lovely sunset pics, Dom. In the background seems to be a bigger city of sorts.
Do you hear traffic noises from you vantage point?
And: You left the lights on ;-)
Glad to provide a visit down memory lane Scooters I'm.... thanks for commenting.
I enjoy the hatch green chili items. The salsa is hard to find once you leave the area.
Hatch looks like a fun town. The green Chile cheeseburger ScooterScum mentioned sounds great.
RichardM, I'm pretty wimpy when it comes to spicy foods but have enjoyed the mild green chili sauce Martha found at home.
Oz, it's not a big town and seems a bit quirky, so yeah its got a good feel to it.
Captured some great color in these sunset shots... beautiful.
Need to put Hatch on my summer riding wish list. Thanks for letting us know of that quirky place.
FYI-the mild green chili enchilada sauce....it’s the Hatch brand.
You're welcome CCjon, was too far away to turn on the headlights on the Sammy in the last shot and I didn't want to leave the headlights on that long.
Seems, that my last comment has been lost. Anyway, I really dig the dino chasing the burger boy.
Thanks for the comments SonjaM....it was a funny positioning.
I found you a comment, SonjaM, not sure what's going on with Google not sending notifications I guess I will have to check manually at times. The lights you see are the city of Las Cruces and I can't hear any city noise but do hear vehicles going by on Baylor canyon road but it is very infrequent.
The lights are actually quite bright, must find a way to dim them a little bit.
I thought I had seen that name somewhere.
The burger joint is Sparky's, named after a robot sculpture co-owner Josie had done. The statuary is the result of co-owner Teako looking for stuff to decorate the restaurant. He discovered the Uncle Sam, starting an obsession with big fiberglass advertising states. They certainly call attention to a place folks might otherwise cruise on past. Since the statues worked so well, other Hatch businesses got in on the act. Sparky's World Famous Green Chili Cheeseburger (a name it was given before anyone had ever heard of it) really is good. There's also music on the weekends.
Thank you Al for the great info, I'm going to have to try out this green chili cheeseburger when I'm next in that town!
Post a Comment