To Ruidoso, NM

August 19, 2021

“Wait… where is Ruidioso, NM?”  Ruidoso is in the Sierra Blanca Mountain range in New Mexico and part of New Mexico that Ken and I have never visited.  A new adventure for us!

Carrizozo, NM

We were unable to secure RV reservations in Ruidoso, so we found a place with good reviews in Carrizozo, NM.  As we drove through Carrizozo, it didn’t take long to realize it had nothing to offer.  It was almost a ghost town!  We arrived at Mountain Springs RV Park, located 10 miles outside of Carrizozo.  The owner was very nice and gave us some places to check out in the area.  The RV park was average, but, it had a spectacular view of the sunset!

Capitan, NM

We always try to find unique places to visit and this place qualified as “something I have to see”!.

We drove 20 miles to the nearby town of Capitan, a residential community surrounded by cattle ranches. Capitan is the home of Smokey Bear.  What?  I didn’t know there was actually a real live Smokey Bear!  Here’s the story;  Smokey Bear was rescued from a forest fire in the Capitan Mountains, back in 1950.  After his rescue, he lived for 26 years at the National Zoo in Washigton, D.C where he drew big crowds. After his death in 1976, Smokey Bear was returned to Capitan to his final resting place at the Smokey Bear State Historical Park.  I paid the $2 park fee to view memorabilia, posters, a lovely xeriscape garden, a firefighters memorial, as well as the resting place of Smokey the Bear himself.  I toured the park by myself since there was a mask mandate in effect(Ken doesn’t like masks). 

Ruidoso, NM

We drove 40 miles to the resort town of Ruidoso.  Ruidoso is a resort town and, supposedly, there are lots of things to do. However, the town looked pretty closed up to us.  We weren’t sure if it was the time of day(late afternoon), time of year, or pandemic related.  We drove by many closed restaurants and busineses. 

It was after hours when we stopped at the Billy The Kid Interpretive Center, but, it didn’t look like it would be worth viewing.  Next door, we stopped at the Hubbard Museum of the American West.  Although we did not do the actual museum, the outside grounds with the horse statues were amazing and worth the stop!! 

We returned to Ruidoso the next day to see if the town was more lively during the day.  Yes, there did seem to be a lot more activity!

It was bright and clear day as we set off on the 15 mile drive from Ruidoso to the Ski Apache ski resort.  After a nice drive of seven miles or so we started a very steep ascent up a twisting and turning, narrow, two lane road (with only a few guard rails protecting us from falling down the side of the mountain). It seemed like every turn was blind, sharp, a horseshoe, or a major switchback.  We were lucky that there was not much traffic.  As we continued up the road, we were discussing how difficult the drive must be in the winter. I can’t imagine! At the top, the scenery was magnificent – high mountain peaks, and towering stately trees, and lush valleys, and views for miles. We finally arrived at Ski Apache 11,489 feet above sea level – we ascended more than 5000 feet!. 

Once we reached the ski resort there were quite a few cars in the parking lot and people out and about. The ski resort is owned and operated by the Mescalero Apache Tribe and offers a mix of Summer activities.  Biking and hiking trails, gondola rides and one of the longest ZipTours in the world.  We weren’t prepared for the activities, so, we settled on a nice outdoor lunch on the terrace.  We shared a picnic table with a nice couple from Lubbock TX that gave us information on both Ruidoso and Lubbock.  It was a fun afternoon and the drive down the mountain was just a thrilling as the ride up!

Back in town, there were several shops featuring collections of rustic iron yard art and metal garden sculptures i.e. southwest desert cactus, colorful flowers. We stopped at one where we even saw the “Little Green Men”! 

To sum up our visit to Ruidoso…it was a nice place to visit once, but, we don’t plan on returning anytime soon.

Time to get back on the road tomorrow- Lubbock, TX