Las Cruces, NM

[redrockcoulee]

I am probably going to be going to Las Cruces, NM late October on a course and if things go as planned I will spend the first week of November with my wife in that area. Llooking for some interesting off the nomal tourist locations to photograph. Will of course look into White Sands and a couple of other sites that pop up on the "what to do web sites" aimed at the average person.

We both like landscapes, old buildiings (the worse condition the better) and industrial sites as well as pretty pictures to show the folks back home that don't like images of skulls and dead animals. Will fit in at least one day birding and my wife will want to see some galleries as well (she is a printmaker by training and partakes in just about any art form she can manage to find some time).

Have not decided on equipment taking yet but if not the LF gear than at least MF and of course digital to take advantage of the amount of shots one can that way, especially as the chances of coming here again is small. However as there are the two of us we might just bring both LF and MF so we each have one to use at the same time.

Almost two years ago I did spend a few days travelling north and south of Santa Fee so this time would perfer to spend it near Las Cruces but as not sure if we are flying in and out of there looking for places up to the middle of the state.

Thanks for any suggestions. Will be renting a car to get around.

[shadow images]

Definitely visit cloudcroft. Was stationed at Holloman and there is lots to see within driving distance.

[Don Boyd]

Redrock, I have lived in Las Cruces the last two years but not shot much around here. I spend most of my shooting time 2-hours north at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Mostly digital folks shooting birds around there but I have found I love using my 4x5 there for images like this: http://donboyd.com/gallery03/image05.htm,

or like this one from my MF Pentax: http://donboyd.com/gallery02/image01.htm.

The Bosque hosts the Festival of the Crane Nov. 21 - 23 with lots of tours of the area, exhibits, wildlife rehabilitators, and a zillion digital folks with the l-o-n-n-n-g lenses.

Las Cruces has had 3 galleries close in the past 6 months but there is usually a good show at the Branigan Cultural Center and the Tombaugh Gallery at the Unitarian Church. The most visited place is probably old Mesilla. It has a few galleries and restaurants, San Albino, an old Catholic church (aren't they all), and numerous adobe buildings. Here is one link to some information but there are others: http://www.oldmesilla.org/index.html

Kirk Gittings knows of some petroglyph sites around Las Cruces and if they are of interest to you you might drop him a note.

I will be gone for most of Sep. and Oct., returning around Nov. 3, give me a call if you are still around. By the way, the closest commercially served airport is El Paso, a 1-hour drive south of Las Cruces. Albuquerque is a 3-hour drive north. If you are flying in on your own, Las Cruces does have an airport on the mesa west of town.

Best of luck,

[goamules]

Hi, I lived there for about 10 years before coming to Tucson. Try Dripping Springs. There is a dirt road east from University, you'll dead end at the Organ mtns. Old sanatarium buildings and great mountain cliffs.

For adobe buildings, you can't beat old Mesilla. This was the biggest town between El Paso and Calif for a hundred years before Las Cruces existed. Nice plaza and some good older towns on the same road south by 10-20 miles. Eat a Chope's if it's still there, near La Mesa. Nice pecan orchards along the way.

There is a lot right around las cruces, you don't need to drive all the way over to Cloudcroft, but White sands is nice along that way.

PM if you want more ideas, I did a LOT of off the beaten path all around there.

Garrett

[redrockcoulee]

Redrock, I have lived in Las Cruces the last two years but not shot much around here. I spend most of my shooting time 2-hours north at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Mostly digital folks shooting birds around there but I have found I love using my 4x5 there for images like this: http://donboyd.com/gallery03/image05.htm,

or like this one from my MF Pentax: http://donboyd.com/gallery02/image01.htm.

The Bosque hosts the Festival of the Crane Nov. 21 - 23 with lots of tours of the area, exhibits, wildlife rehabilitators, and a zillion digital folks with the l-o-n-n-n-g lenses.

Las Cruces has had 3 galleries close in the past 6 months but there is usually a good show at the Branigan Cultural Center and the Tombaugh Gallery at the Unitarian Church. The most visited place is probably old Mesilla. It has a few galleries and restaurants, San Albino, an old Catholic church (aren't they all), and numerous adobe buildings. Here is one link to some information but there are others: http://www.oldmesilla.org/index.html

Kirk Gittings knows of some petroglyph sites around Las Cruces and if they are of interest to you you might drop him a note.

I will be gone for most of Sep. and Oct., returning around Nov. 3, give me a call if you are still around. By the way, the closest commercially served airport is El Paso, a 1-hour drive south of Las Cruces. Albuquerque is a 3-hour drive north. If you are flying in on your own, Las Cruces does have an airport on the mesa west of town.

Best of luck,

Thank you Don. I already had the Wildlife Refuge marked on my map. Will be looking up the other places closely.
Getting together would be wonderful if it is conveinent.
Have little choice how I get to Las Cruces as government is paying and it is always the cheapest way that counts although they do pay from the Medicine Hat airport instead of making us go to Calgary first. The Hat is about 2/3 the size of Las Cruces.

Thanks for those suggestions

[sparq]

The Very Large Array (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_Large_Array) may be worth a trip.

[redrockcoulee]

Just taking a break between painting ceiling and cleaning floors. Garrett I will be PM you for sure.

Very Large Array: had seen it on the map but had not looked it up yet. Something else

Shadow Cloudcroft, any town that has angle parking on main street is the right type of town. Thanks guys. Got a couple of months to plan it anyways but there is always something special that does not show up on google or tourist maps that locals love. For most of its existence near here was Red Rock Coulee, which according to my handle I think is very special

Ivan

[Hollis]

I wouldn't call cloudcroft much of a town, its about 6 buildings and some houses. Try the Sunspot observatory. At least the drive is nice that direction.

[claudiocambon]

White Sands National Monument is only about 1.5 hours to the NE, I think, and worth a visit. Have fun!

[h2oman]

I did four years of grad school in Cruces, and my in-laws live in Alamogordo and Ruidoso, so I have spent some time in the area. I wasn't doing any photography at the time, but did a great deal of hiking and rock climbing in the Organ Mountains and elsewhere. My interest is landscapes, so I will address only those possibilities. I would guess that the previous suggestion of taking in Old Mesilla for architecture is a good one. If you ended up going on beyond Alamogordo toward Cloudcroft, as suggested by others, you might prowl the back streets of La Luz and Tularosa for some interesting houses and buildings.

The Organ Mountains (about 10 miles from Cruces) can be spectacular, depending on the clouds and lighting. I always thought of them as a miniature, desert version of the Tetons - yes they are that craggy and interesting. As mentioned, Dripping Springs is a good place to go to get in the heart of them on the west side. To my mind, Aguirre Springs, over on the east side, is even nicer. It is accessed off the highway from Cruces to White Sands/Alamogordo, just after going over the pass.

Back on the west side, the best views of the whole Organ range are had off of a good gravel road that goes from the road to Dripping Springs over to the highway to Alamogordo. I don't remember the name of the road, but a little poking around should yield its name or location.

Alamogordo is at the base of a huge escarpment on the west edge of the Sacramento Mountains, which I find quite impressive. With good evening light the hills and cliffs are beautiful. About 10 miles south of Alamogordo toward El Paso is a place called Dog Canyon, with a good (strenuous) trail from the basin floor up the canyon. Just going UP the first half mile or so puts you on a nice bench where the upper reaches of the canyon become visible.

I'm thinking White Sands is only about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes from Cruces, as I recall. The Very Large Array is a long ways from Las Cruces, like 3-5 hours? I personally liked running and bicycling up by Cloudcroft/Sunspot, but I don't think I'd go there as a photographer. Everything is pretty much forested up there, and not terribly interesting forest at that.

Enjoy the area, it has a lot to offer!

[Alan Curtis]

Now that we have you going to most of southern New Mexico, I'll suggest NW of Las Cruces. Heading toward Silver City you can go the the City of Rocks state park, very unusual rock formations in the middle of nowhere. There are the Gila cliff dwellings, north of Silver City and on the western side of the Gila National forest is the town of Glenwood with the Whitewater canyon AKA catwalk canyon, great place to photograph rocks and moving water. It has very easy access because of the catwalk running along the canyon wall. There is a old mining town north of Glenwood called Mogollon with old buildings, but warning, the paved road up to it is not for those who don't like heights.
There are old mining towns on the eastern side of the Gila National forest, Chloride, Kingston, and Hillsboro many with old building.

[Brian Vuillemenot]

I would recommend going to Guadalupe Mountains National Park just over the border in Texas. If you're headed north from Cruces a couple hours, the Salinas Pueblo ruins of Abo, Quarai, and Gran Quivara are a must-visit.

[Nathan Potter]

As Alan suggested above, Mogollon is one of my favorite semi ghost towns to visit. I didn't think the road in from the west was paved.

BTW if you want a nice night out while in Las Cruces try Billy Crews Dining Room. Has one of the country's best wine lists - but bring your checkbook.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Rodney Polden]

I would second Alan Curtis's suggestion - I loved the whole Gila Wilderness area, and the road leading in and through it, culminating in the valley around the Gila River headwaters. A magical place, with the Gila Hot Springs just a few miles down the road from the Gila Cliff Dwellings, there's a lot to savour. Great little campsite at the hot springs beside the river, and hoodoos, caves, forests, rock formations and mountain ranges on all sides. The cliff dwellings are much more "approachable" than say Mesa Verde, but have a memorable Anasazi (ancestral Puebloan) atmosphere. Because the road ends at the cliff dwellings, there is much less monster-RV traffic. The quiet, and sense of remoteness, have stayed in my memory over the years since I was last there. New Mexico truly is the land of enchantment. 'Hope you and your wife have a great trip.

[Darren H]

From LC, I'd consider White Sands, Cloudcroft, Silver City/Gila, and maybe Guadalupe Mountains NP (although it is the furthest from LC) as all being great destinations.

It really depends on your interests. Bosque del Apache is a great place for birds, but if you are more landscapes than birds, I'd probably go elsewhere. The Gila is scenic and the cliff dwellings are there for the history buff. One could even consider El Paso a worthy destination. A few missions, plus a state park in town, and Juarez is right there if border towns are your thing.

Plenty of things to see and photograph within 150 in any direction. Have fun!

[redrockcoulee]

Finally got a few moments to read carefully all these wonderful suggestions throughly. Thanks to each and everyone of you.

So far the short lists include
1) Bosqe del Apache if only for the birds
2) Gila area
3) White Sands
4) Salinas Pueblo ruins
5) old Mesilla

Will do more research on the ones above plus the other suggestions. My wife is very fussy on what she will shoot; it has to either exist or not exist and she'll photograph it.

WE like ruins and cemeteries. old or interesting buildings. landscapes and streetscapes and unusual things and my wife likes photographing people Almost said shoot but know that some on this list would get the wrong idea and love her immediately :)

Again thanks alot and I will get a hold of some of you as suggested.

Ivan

[russyoung]

Alan Curtiss hit the nails on their respective heads. For my taste, that's the stuff.

If you like cemeteries, go to Fiero, near Silver City, and the now dying mining/refining town of Hurley (the cemetery is on the west side of Hwy 180 just before you reach Hurley).

You might try to get to Hillsboro, a very scenic small adobe village with a great cemetery just to the south of town on Hwy 27. Both cemeteries are unique.

Russ
moved to NM in 1978

[redrockcoulee]

Sort of got everything figured out, kind of. I am flying into Albequrque on evening Sat Oct 25 and staying either there or just out of the city that night and taking Sunday to drive down to Las Cruces. Monday to Friday I am at the course and Thur night my wife flies into AB. This is the only bad spot of our arrangement as for reasons other than photography we had to fly in and out of Abequrque rather than El Paso so she will need to take a bus down to Las Cruces.

We still have not decided on what route we are going to go after my workshop.

Option 1 was west to Gila area and back east to White Sands and then up through Three Rivers

option 2 was first to White Sands and then west to the Gila area and from there north towards Ab.

Either way as our flight leaves 6 am Saturaday morning we will be spending FridayNov 8 in Abequrque just in case of car problems etc. Seems enough to visit around there anyways. Thanks to all those that did offer suggestions. This morning I am off to Banff for the rest of the week. Apparently it has snowed there yesterday so hope the car they give me has good tires.

[BrianShaw]

The museum at White Sands Missile Range is great for shooting old military hardware. There are a lot of interesting missiles, etc. on display, both indoors and out.

[goamules]

I just PM'd you a disertation! I Think the Mesilla, Hwy 70 to White Sands, Alamogordo, 3 rivers would be an excellent choice! Lot's to do, and it's a little closer together.

I love the Gila too, but it's a long drive, about 2-3 hours from Cruces to the "good stuff" like the Catwalk. Then it's about 4 hrs to White Sands. See what I mean? You can't do it all in a day, anyway.

See my PM and lets talk. Either way, you will have a grand time in the Land of Enchantment.

Garrett

[redrockcoulee]

Brian

I work on a Canadian military base. When equipment is too old for your museums you sell them to our forces for our "new" equipment. No it is not quite that bad as the old stuff like a tank and howitizer I look out my office window on. But the museum does sound interesting and thanks for the suggestion.

[Kirk Keyes]

Another vote for White Sands and the VLA.

[redrockcoulee]

Got back from New Mexico Saturday night and just wish to thank everyone for their wonderful suggestions. I ended up taking the Hasselblad and a Sony P&S, the later perhaps one of the most useful camera types for what I used it for. My wife joined me as I was finishing by course and brought her Pentax K10D.
In Las Cruces we went to the gallery for a Rodin show and then back to Mesilla for the day of the dead. Wandering around Mesilla we came across some adobe bricks drying and decided to photograph the patterns. By the time I went to the car and came back my wife knew all there was to know about the political views of the building owners. It seemed that when people found out we were from Canada politics and weather were the main subjects of conversations. What was discussed is of course not a relevant topic, but a hint is the weather back home was warm as well :)

East to the White Sands and back west on our way to Gila Cliff Dwellings. City of Rock was amazing too. Ended up coming upon the old court house in Hillsboro with fading light and did not get much there. Continued to Salinas National Monuments and then to Albuquerque where we fly home. I missed out many of the places that were suggested due to timing or that with two of us there were two preferences for places.

Shot about 30 rolls of 120 and my wife 2 rolls and she perhaps 3000 digital images and me a couple of hundred. Digital was made for her and her style of shooting, she shot like that in the 70s too:)

The course I took was great, very valuable and am going to see about coming back late Feb to take a different one so perhaps can make trips to some of the other sites suggested. Not sure if Fort Craig was mentioned but it was great and we did stop at Dripping Springs and a few other spots. We also came upon three Border Patrol stops where they asked our Citizenship and if we had passports but never did they want to see any ID. And the very last day in New Mexico came upon a place at the airport which was the first place that we found that knew how to make tea.

It is great to be home. It is nice to travel but always great to return. Once again thanks very much.

Ivan

Ivan