Day 5, Silver City, Az to Guadalupe NP, Tx

Last updated 10/22/09

Again this morning was bright and cold, so I hurriedly heated my water and went about making instant coffee and oatmeal. As I finished breakfast, I contemplated the ride out of the campground. There was a fairly formidable hill up a knarly dirt road to negotiate. No pics, but I have a heck of a helmet cam video.

I left the campground turning east onto Hwy 152 continuing through the Gila National Forest to Caballo. It seems I find a new favorite road everyday, and this morning was no exception. Hwy 152 winds through the mountains wonderfully, with plenty of switchbacks and beautiful vistas.

After reaching Caballo, I turn south on Hwy 187 and the road flattens out as it winds along next to the Rio Grande river on its way to Las Cruces. I ran across this 'calf farm' on the side of the road. Rows and rows of calf houses as far as the eye could see. What a horrible existence.

I continued on to Las Cruces where I turned on US 70 east across White Sands National Monument to Alamogordo. I then turned east on US 82 and started a steep climb up into the Lincoln National Forest through the towns of Hill Rolls and Cloudcroft. Beautiful road, lots of cops, major speed trap. After passing through Elk, the road flattened out for the remaining 40-50 miles into Artesia.

In Artesia I turned south on US 285 and decided to make my way to Guadalupe Mountains NP just over the Texas border to camp for the night.

I turned off of US 285 onto Hwy 137 about 20 miles south of Artesia. If you've never had the good fortune of travelling to GMNP, it lies at the end of Hwy 137, a fifty mile dead end road, nicely paved, open range land, absolutely desolate, twisting through the low mountains and rocks. At one point I caught myself thinking, "you're out in the middle of nowhere, on a 17 year old motorcycle you know nothing about, no cell coverage, no people, no houses, you're fucking crazy." But I was having the time of my life. And true to form, I had again happened upon one of the best roads I'd ever been on.

I was about the only person in the campground and found a great site to pitch my tent. It even had a picnic table!

I wandered down to the bathroom and took notice of the signs prominently posted on the outside wall. Something to think about as I went to sleep that night.