We decided to take a drive today. We headed west towards the mountains to Cloudcroft, NM. In stark contrast from the brown desert of Carlsbad, Cloudcroft is green with tall pine trees and other hardwoods. The elevation is quite a bit higher at 8600 feet. The views from certain parts of town down to White Sands and the mountain far in the distance are awesome. It was also significantly cooler there.
After the long drive, we needed a hike and ended up finding Osha Trail on the west part of town. The first 1/4 mile of the hike was all uphill, after that, it was rolling woods. Lots of flowers, butterflies, hummingbirds, views and the fragrances... wow! Wish I could share pictures, unfortunately John packed the tripod, but forgot the camera!!!!!!!!!! There were some beautiful photo ops, you'll have to trust me and hopefully a trip back there another day with the camera. Did a couple other short 'rails to trails' hikes. The views there were just as spectacular.
On the ride back to Carlsbad, we watched as the lush, green forest slowly dissipated into the shorter scrub brush and finally back to the desert. In our few hikes here (as well as the trip to the Living Desert State Park yesterday which was fun and educational) we're finding out about all the plants and animals that live in the desert. Despite appearing desolate when you look out into the pastures, upon closer study, we're learning that there's much more than the eye can see.
Keep me in your thoughts tomorrow - it'll be the first day on the new job! :-/
VAL
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