Ruidoso, NM: Highway 532 - Ski Run Road

View from Windy Point on Ski Run Road. Outside Ruidoso, New Mexico

Highway 532 aka Ski Run Road veers off of Highway 48 and takes you to Ski Apache, the Mescalero Apache-owned ski resort.  

The 12 miles between Highway 48 and Ski Apache starts off  ... "nice ... and easy...." but then it finishes .... "nice .... and ....rough."

Tight turns followed by steep inclines. Barriers in place in some locations, but often there's nothing to prevent you from soaring out into space. Only a few spots to pull over in case of sliding vehicles coming at you in icy conditions. Or for you to turn around in cowardly retreat. Grand views going up that are tempting for the driver to look over at, but probably not a good idea til s/he can look at them on the return journey.

It's not the scariest mountain road I've driven, but it kept me on my toes. Here's a blow-by-blow of Ski Run Road from 2003 by Lyn Kidder at Southern New Mexico.

If you've got a fear of heights, this drive could be a little stressful. 

View behind Windy Point on Ski Run Road. Outside Ruidoso, New Mexico

My mother, who is visiting from Missouri, and I climbed up the mountain to Ski Apache, only to find it closed. You'd think there'd be signage to that effect down at the bottom of the 12-mile climb, wouldn't you? No, apparently they don't like signs in this neck of the woods, because: 

1. There is no sign that says the Windy Point scenic view is even up here;
2. There are no signs that inform one of the various elevations when you're up top; 
3. There's no sign at the bottom of the gravel road offshoot to another scenic view that tells you it is closed - until you've almost climbed the summit; and
4. No sign that tells you when Ski Apache will likely open. 

There is, however, a sign that tells you, just as you're getting excited about going up to Ski Apache, not to climb the road between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. as per city ordinance. No reason given. I did learn, from a previous, abortive journey up this way, from a USFS person, that the reason for the ordinance is that it's often icy on this road, and during this 3-6 time, so much traffic is coming downhill, it's dangerous to also have traffic going uphill.

Another reason for the afternoon closure (and the ski resort and scenic view closures) is the forest fire that occurred last year. It was a bad one, called the Little Bear Fire. Lots of recovery work is ongoing.

You can see evidence of the fire in the photo below:

View from Windy Point on Ski Run Road. Outside Ruidoso, New Mexico

 There were stands of aspen lining sections of the road, beautiful even without their foliage.

Highway 532, Ski Run Road. Outside Ruidoso, New Mexico

We climbed and circled the mountain up to a certain point (I'm guessing 11,000 feet), but we then descended and turned into the area where the ski resort structure is. So it's a bit confusing to me which mountain we climbed.


Although I've looked, I'm still unclear if Ski Apache is actually on Sierra Blanca (White Mountain) or if Ski Run Road is on Sierra Blanca (which rises some 12,000 feet), and the ski resort buildings are in a notch between Sierra Blanca and a mountain where the ski slopes are. The latter option is what appeared to be the case.

When I look at this Google map, however, it appears it's not alongside Sierra Blanca at all, but between Lookout and Buck Mountains. This doesn't jibe with website narratives. So, still confused.



View Larger Map


Was it worth the drive up Ski Run Road, only to find Ski Apache closed, so we had nothing to do but turn around and descend? Yes, it was!

(Well, there was a quick trot to the cover of what looked like a scenic trail for a wilderpee before beginning said descent.)

Ruidoso: Cowboy Symposium

Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium 2012, Ruidoso, New Mexico.

The Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium at Ruidoso Downs (horse track) is an annual affair that features music, horse shows, chuckwagon fare competitions, old-timey demonstrations, cowboy poetry, etc.

Ruidoso is about an hour's drive from Alamogordo, up into the mountains, in Mescalero Apache territory.

I intended to go on Friday, but illness whupped my ass and I stayed at home sucking down cough medicine. Then I was going to go on Saturday, but I got caught up in some other affairs instead. So Sunday was the day I went, a much abridged version - the final day - of the event.

The music was good. Even though I don't subscribe to a particular faith, I do enjoy rousing gospel music. And since it was Sunday morning, there was that in abundance. It pleases me how the two gents enter the picture at the end of my video below:

Quite a few vendors from near and far under the big tent with the musicians: jewelry, boots, hats, saddles, coats, coffee, belts, and general western wear, purses, soaps, artwork ... the vendors must be selected carefully, because these were very fine wares. Outside the big tent were food vendors, including a BBQ place I haven't tried yet, the "Can't Stop Smokin' Bar-b-q," local to Alamogordo and Ruidoso. I like its name.

There was a guy selling coffee - his thing is that he buys the green beans in Hawaii, then roasts them at high altitudes here in New Mexico. He believes the high altitude roasting has an added positive effect on the coffee's taste. 

The purse below was luxuriously soft, the color so warm. Art that you wear.

Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium 2012, Ruidoso, New Mexico.

I was pleasantly surprised at the vendors' willingness for me to take pictures. Often at events such as these, vendors don't allow photos; guess they're afraid of copycats. But you know, you can copy something in concept, but you can't copy quality and craftsmanship unless you've got the talent and the skill. And maybe the vendors at the Cowboy Symposium understand that.

In the center necklace below, the turquoise and coral lay over a shell.

Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium 2012, Ruidoso, New Mexico.

Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium 2012, Ruidoso, New Mexico.

Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium 2012, Ruidoso, New Mexico.

Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium 2012, Ruidoso, New Mexico.

 

The beaded skull below was on a wall at the rear of an exhibit, but it immediately caught my attention. The creator, who goes by the name Arizona Stone, uses honey and beeswax to affix the beads to the bone.

Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium 2012, Ruidoso, New Mexico.

Craig Cameron gave a horsemanship demonstration outside.

Unfortunately, I only caught the chuckwagons as they were folding up shop and filling in their pits.

And damned if I didn't forget to change my camera setting from a macro to auto, so when I took photos of the horse work and chuckwagons, all I got was a blur. Hate when that happens.

It was a beautiful day. Too beautiful, if that's possible - still feeling a little under the weather, the sun seemed to beat a headache into me right where my hatband was on my forehead, and chased me out of the venue and on back home. Funny, almost the moment I took the hat off in the car and got a drink of water, the headache was gone.

On the Road to Alamogordo, Day 3: Welcome to New Mexico

I left Roswell, NM, for my final leg to Alamogordo about 10:00 a.m.

Bought a postcard at the motel, then went to the Roswell post office to get postcard stamps. I know, who sends postcards anymore? Well, there are two littl'uns in Missouri that I'm going to try and send one postcard a week to.

Gassed up.

And I was on my way to my new home base.

Somewhere past Hondo, I passed by something I love about New Mexico. Someone had placed an altar in a niche on the mountainside. But it wasn't just an altar. It was art and a personal plea, too. By that I mean, for example, in the Midwest, it's not uncommon to have a Madonna statue in a yard, perhaps surrounded by flowers or a small pond. Sometimes instead of a Madonna, there's a St. Francis.

But look at this altar. There's the red paint, the arrows, the supplication "God Bless Us."  There's red paint inside the alcove also.

Near Hondo, New Mexico.

Near Hondo, New Mexico.

I stopped in Ruidoso at the Billy the Kid visitor center for a pit stop. And there, I received my first "welcome to New Mexico" from the woman on duty, upon learning I was going to be a New Mexican for a year. It was nice.

Billy the Kid Visitor Center, Ruidoso, New Mexico.

The view of the masses of yellow flowers on a nearby mountainside was uplifting.

View from Billy the Kid Visitor Center, Ruidoso, New Mexico.

A few days ago, one of my uncles told me about a trip he took to the Ruidoso or Cloudcroft area many years ago. He came upon a dramatic view that stuck in his memory -- seeing the vast white sands in the plain below.

So I was driving from Ruidoso and I noticed a distinctive mountain on the left and then .. that dramatic view my uncle saw. I pulled over to the shoulder. A biker was already there with his camera. 

View of White Sands, New Mexico

View of White Sands, New Mexico

 A little farther along the road, I got a different take.

View of White Sands, New Mexico

And so I proceeded on my way.

In short order, there I was. In Alamogordo, my new home.

Rootless Relocation, Part 4: Exploration

Maps and lists of important things in my next base:



The New Mexico Independent Coffee Shop Map   (2 in Alamogordo)

Albuquerque, New Mexico

New Mexico Wineries Map  (3 around Alamogordo)

New Mexico Events and Festivals from Offbeat New Mexico

What New Mexico is famous for

Tribal feast days, festivals, and events


Some things I'm going to do this fall:

Sunset Stroll at White Sands National Monument 

October 6: Follow the Alamogordo caravan to the Trinity site, open to the public only two days per year.  DONE!

October 12-14: Cowboy Symposium, Ruidoso (about an hour from Alamogordo)  DONE!

October 29: Full Moon Hike at White Sands National Monument

November 3: New Mexico Line Dance Jamboree (in Alamogordo)

November 13-18 in there somewhere: Festival of the Cranes, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in Socorro

Deer crossing at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Sanctuary, New Mexico