The Drive from Alamogordo, NM to Timberon, NM

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

We took 2 days to drive from Balmorhea State Park in Toyhvale, TX to Alamogordo, NM.  We stopped in Vado, NM for 1 night.  

This was our site in Vado.  It is a Passport America park.  Nothing special, but we did have FHU and 50 amp.  There was a fantastic Mexican food restaurant close by.  Since it was my birthday we ate there.  I did not have to cook at all that day.  We had breakfast and dinner out.  Off to Alamogordo the next morning.

We are at another Passport American park with FHU and 50 amp.

This is our site. I have not checked out the laundry or restrooms yet.  Not fancy, but fully functional.

As soon as we got set up and had lunch, we took off for a drive to Timberon, NM.  Dusty inherited 1 acre of property there.  We received a letter this fall saying a forest fire went through the area in August.  We decided we should drive up to see how it looks since the fire.

Both above and below are the views from an overlook about halfway to Timberon.  We are at approximately 9200 ft elevation. We are looking at Tularosa Basin.

This is from the same overlook just zoomed in some. The light colored area is White Sands National Park.

We saw lots of mule deer along our drive. 

We were hoping to see some elk, but never did.

The following 3 pictures are of our acre in Timberon, NM.  Our acre was definitely burned.  The pictures below are burned pine trees.  Just a few of the pine trees had green at the very top.  The trunks of the trees are charred.

 The charred bark peeled off easily.  We doubt the tree will revive.
It was obvious the fire was contained and did not destroy the whole neighborhood.  However we saw at least 5 houses completely destroyed.  Sad.

 We stopped at a tunnel and got these pictures.  Beautiful cliffs all around.

 Most of the deciduous trees have already lost their leaves.  This bright yellow one really stood out.

As Tic was getting a picture of this interesting cliff wall, I noticed a rock climber.  He's got a blue shirt on.  See him?  See below. 

 We did not watch long enough to figure out if he was going up or down.

One last gorgeous view!  It was a beautiful drive.  

The temperatures in Alamogordo were in the 60s.  Alamogordo's elevation is 4336 ft.  Our drive to Timberon took us up to approximately 9600 ft elevation.  The temperature per the Jeep was 43 at that elevation.  More of God's wonders.  We are so blessed.