Guadalupe Mountains National Park ( Guadalupe ) is located in far West Texas on U.S. Highway 62/180. The driving distance is 110 miles east of El Paso, Texas, or 56 miles southwest of Carlsbad, New Mexico. It is close enought to drive to Carlsbad Caverns National Park from the campground as a day trip. One could also get to it from Van Horn, Texas off I-10.
If you are looking for things New Mexico, just to the west of Las Cruces is Historic Old Mesilla. If you will be looking for Indian jewelry or other crafts, Mesilla may have better buys than up north, mostly the same stuff. Old Mesilla
When by Silver City a side trip into the Gila Nat'l Forest is a real plus; to Lake Roberts, Gila Hot Springs GeoHeat * HotSprings, and the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument is a beautiful and sensuous journey through towering pines, gentle forests, and wonderful glades. Gila Nat'l Forest Geronimo Trail
Lake Roberts, NM—CAMPGROUND FEES TO INCREASE DUE TO UPGRADES Beginning March 1, 2007, campground fees at the Upper End Campground and Mesa Campground at the Lake Roberts Recreation Area are being proposed to increase due to recent upgrades. The upgrades include new picnic tables, grills, and fire rings. In addition, 12 units received water and power hookups with two of those sites upgraded with improvements for people with disabilities which include a sidewalk from the site unit to the restrooms. The Upper End Campground also recently received upgrades to many site pads that will eliminate issues during heavy rain. Both campgrounds also have a full-time campground host on site. Fees at Upper End Campground are proposed to increase from $7 to $10 a site per night. Fees at Mesa Campground are proposed to increase from $7 to $10 a site per night for most sites and $15 per night for sites with both water and electric hookups. A $3 charge for each additional vehicle is also proposed for all sites. Both the Upper End and Mesa Campgrounds are open to camping year-round on a “first come first serve basis” with a self-pay fee station available at each campground. Wilderness Ranger District Office in Mimbres - (575) 536-2250 Gila Wilderness and Camping
There are some nice boondocking/dispersed sites by two of the forks of the Gila River (after desending down into the Gila canyon with a nice bridge over the River) a few miles before you get to Dr. Campbell's store at Gila Hot Springs. There is a road down to the river by the bridge to the East Fork of the Gila with trees and shaded sites. After crossing the bridge, there is a mesa-like area with another road down to the Middle/West Fork joined Gila River with dispersed sites by the river, large cottonwoods, etc. These were very nice places to camp (I have not been there in years). It is a fairly long drive back into this area from Lake Roberts. Some very steep roads to desend and climb out of, but paved. It is up into the Wilderness area, just off the road. There was camping near the Gila Cliff Dwellings, mainly just a parking lot & tables. To camp by the Gila River, one must desend from the paved road down steepish hills, but there is some dispersed sites on the upper "mesa" above the River. This is near the site of two forks of the Gila meeting/joining to form the Gila River. There are 3 forks, the MIDDLE FORK AND the WEST FORK join closer to the Cliff Dwellings, near the vistor center. It seems the stream becomes the Gila River when they join up. At the Bridge where the camping sites are near the EAST FORK joins up. There are hot springs up the Middle/East Fork Gila just off the river, but if you walk up to them, DO NOT get the water up the noise. There can be deadly amoebae in them (a killer water-borne amoeba known as naegleria fowleria). Video Gila CliffDwellings More Gila Camping FAQs
Over by the Lake Roberts area, there is a forest road which skirts or borders both the Gila Wilderness and the Aldo Leopold Wilderness with many despersed sites along the road. Take North Star Road off NM 35 which will later turn into NM 61 with leads to Wall Lake and Beaverhead area and a paved hwy NM 59 which leads one to the Winston and Chloride Area with many more despersed sites. Or angle to the west and one can go to Snow Lake & Willow Creek area and over to Mogollon and to Glenwood.
Geronimo Trail Scenic Byway or NM Rte. 152 - Into Silver City is a neat drive, with a nice viewing area into an open pit copper mine. Road to Emory Pass with great vistias at the top. On the east side of Emory Pass there is Kingston; a neat ghost town, but one which still has people living in it and building new homes as well. Hillsboro is just down the mountain from Kingston as well. It is one of New Mexico's Ghost Towns with people still living there. But Lake Valley is not too far from and south of Hillsboro and it has almost no one living there anymore. On the western side of Emory Pass down at the "bottom" of the decent is a neat distinctive ridge with a very western descriptive metaphor of a name, the Devil's Backbone. A few campgrounds and areas to hike down in the "valley" along with a stream. Such as Lower Gallinas Campground, Upper Gallinas Campground, Wright's Cabin Campground and Iron Creek Campground which is in the middle of this recreational corridor spanning from the Mimbres Valley to Hillsboro, along NM Hwy 152 a great drive, very scenic.
The Quemado Ranger District is the northern most district on the Gila National Forest. It is actually a part of the Apache National Forest that is located in New Mexico and that is administered by the Gila NF. Elevations range from 6600 feet to 9700 feet in the 600,600 acres managed by the Quemado Ranger District. The area covered by the District includes grassland, piñon-juniper woodland, ponderosa pine, and mixed conifer with aspen and fir. There are also riparian areas with cottonwood, willow, and other riparian vegetation. Very nice camping areas by Quemado Lake such as Pinon, Juniper and the Quemado Lakeshore Trail -#144.
If you happen to go to Carlsbad to see the Caverns. Sitting Bull Falls is really neat with a small cave behind the falls with formations. Also the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park Zoo is neat. Beside the main tour of the Caverns, we liked the Slaughter Canyon Cave Tour. Ranger-guided tours of Slaughter Canyon Cave take you into an underground wilderness without electricity, paved walkways, or modern conveniences. In this wild cave, darkness is broken only by the flashlights and headlamps of rangers and tour members. I believe I would stay at Brantley State Park to base to see the area by Carlsbad.
DesertHawk - Las Cruces, NM USA
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