Day 9, March 11. 2023, Saturday. Las Cruces, NM

Today we visited the Organ Mountains - Desert Peaks National Monument which is 10 miles east of Las Cruces. In the morning we hiked the La Cueva Trail to view the cave under the mountains and to the Fillmore Trail to the Fillmore Falls. The elevation gain was 400 feet over the 4.2 miles of trails. The cave was used beginning around 5,000 B.C.  The falls were little more than a trickle but it was a nice place to eat our lunch which we brought with us. The mountains were beautiful and got their name because the formations looked like organ pipes. In the afternoon we hiked the Dripping Springs Trail to the Crawford Trail with an elevation gain of 500 feet to a total elevation of 6,150 over the outward bound 1.5 miles which was entirely up hill. At the end of the trail are the ruins of Colonel Eugene Van Patten’s late 1800's mountain camp which included a hotel. A cistern was built under the dripping springs. The springs today were barely dripping. Fortunately, the 1.5 miles trail back was all downhill and along the way we spotted about 8-10 deer high up on a mountain.  We had over 20,000 steps over the 7.2 miles of hiking today all while suffering tropical storm force winds. Not bad for a couple of old farts!  I expect to sleep well tonight.

Day 8, March 10, 2023, Friday.  Las Cruces, NM (350 miles)

Travel day from Midland, TX. Entered Mountain time zone and checked into the Sunny Acres RV Park (FHU) about 4:00, in time to do laundry and grocery shopping.  Good wifi!