New Mexico Hwy 32

bump

What is "early spring" for you? Grants is essentially on the Continental Divide, so it does have winter, snow, and cold weather. A few years ago, I was there in early April and it was cold some days, extremely windy other days (wind closed I-40 at Gallup), and sunny and warm (60s) some days.

However, you have to use NM 117 and 36 from Grants to Quemado just to get to NM 32. All three roads are paved, two-lane state highways, but need repaving in spots. The whole central part of the combined route is on a fairly flat, pretty uninteresting plateau through ranch country. But the north end through the El Malpais Natl. Monument lava flows is geologically fascinating and the south end gets hilly and winding as you near Apache Creek and the Gila Wilderness Area.

If you haven't been there, you should take a side trip when you reach US 60. An hour of so east of NM 36 on US 60 is the Very Large Array, the radiotelescope complex that was featured in the movie "Contact." It is a fascinating, educational stop and has some great photo ops of the antennas.

And, since you are birders, another hour east and just south of Socorro is the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, winter home of thousands of sand hill cranes and snow geese and some whooping cranes.

Thanks so much. Our plan is to loop around the whole State except for Roswell area which we have done in the past and I'll add your suggestions to our bucket list.
The problem is I'm not sure when we will get there as its one of those trips that we are going to take our time and stop when we see something interesting. What I don't know is if we will leave in November after the holidays and which way we will loop. It sort of depended on the weather along Hwy 32 so I really appreciate your input.

Well, the lava flows and radiotelescopes will be there any month, so no schedule is needed for those sights. But the cranes get to Bosque del Apache in mid-November and leave in late February-early March. So, any of those months would be a great opportunity to add hundreds of bird photos to your collection (ask me how I know)!

As far as weather conditions affecting driving, the only real difficulty is wind-blown snow drifts creating icy patches on the pavement. But that is a problem nearly anywhere in northern New Mexico or northern Arizona at that time of year. Just watch the weather reports and "go with the flow." NM 117-36-32 are not heavily traveled, so may not be kept in tip-top condition (i.e., like I-40 and I-25) at that time of year.

We are planning to be in the Socorro-Bosque-Las Cruces area in February. Our favorite long-term RV park in Las Cruces is Sunny Acres--older, but with lots of big trees, nice-sized spaces, 30-50A power, cable TV, and close enough to walk to a grocery store and ride our bikes downtown.

Don't miss spending a day in Old Mesilla, the historic town in the Las Cruces area, with its pre-Civil War Butterfield stagecoach station, 1860s post office, church, etc. surrounding a plaza (think Taos or Santa Fe without dozens of expensive art galleries). And hiking in the Organ Mountains or day-trips to White Sands NM for sunset photos of the dunes are great ways to spend some of your time in the Las Cruces area.

To our surprise, we also enjoyed the Farm & Ranch Museum just outside town. We went there for a quilt show, but ended up spending the entire afternoon wandering through the other exhibits. The reason for the museum's location is the presence in Las Cruces of NM State University and its ag school.

I nearly forgot--Hatch, home of the "world-famous" Hatch chile peppers is on the road from Socorro to Las Cruces. So, if you are a fan of green chile, be sure and stop there. They may not be "just-picked" that time of year, but you will be able to get some roasted chiles to take with you.

Just south of Las Cruces is one of the largest pecan-growing areas in the nation. So, a visit there is also a delicious way to spend an afternoon.

And, finally, southern NM has become quite a wine grape-growing area too. You may not get Pacific NW-quality wines there, but it is still fun to visit some of the tasting rooms in Las Cruces.

Okay, I give, HOW did you know we are birders?
I really want to get down to NM as early as we can to take advantage of the winter birding and I've looked at every route trying to figure out which would be the best, and I'm thinking that I'll wait til closer to leaving time and see what the weather is like. I might go Oregon Coast, to California and then down to Hwy 10 and over that way, or just cross my fingers and go for it, via Salt Lake City and Moab. You should see my bucket list, its going to take a lot of time to see all I want to see. LOL

If you're birders and want to do the Festival of the Cranes at Bosque, you'll need to make reservations soon. It's an extremely popular event, and there are but few RV parks in the area.

http://www.friendsofthebosque.org/

:)
Lynn

Festival of the cranes is neat. Upper highway through the lava flows in March can sometimes be snow packed. Lower end (32) is a windy road. No problems for just a 30 footer. I'm originally from Grants, been out in that area a lot. Got one of my largest mulies in that area.

Roy&Lynne wrote:
Okay, I give, HOW did you know we are birders?

When I saw your "bump," I assumed you wanted responders to look at your Web site.

In 2013, we went birding on the Texas Gulf Coast, but not as far south as you went. We went to North Padre Island and Aransas Natl. Wildlife Refuge. Interestingly, we photographed more and closer whooping cranes in town than we did at the refuge due to townspeople feeding them with corn dropped from deer feeders.

BTW, there is only one RV park located very near Bosque del Apache. It is just outside the northern boundary in the little village of San Antonio. Interestingly, San Antonio is the hometown of Conrad Hilton, who founded Hilton Hotels and was Paris Hilton's great grandfather.

LOL, I thought as much since I don't know a soul in the Mile High City.

DrillKing, I see you live in Aztec. We plan to visit that area also to check out the ruins etc. What is your March weather like? Would April be better. Is Navajo Lakes worth the drive? Besides birding, we enjoy geology and archeology and History. I don't think there is a museum that we have passed without stopping.