Cloudcroft and Hike to Bridal Veil Falls

We ventured out yesterday and drove up to Cloudcroft which is a small town due west of Alamogordo, but up in the Sacramento mountains at 8650 feet elevation.  I had my haircut the other day and the hairdresser said that if we go to Cloudcroft (she lives there), we must stop at Mad Jacks Barbecue (her husband's place).  Also, go to the bakery and get a pie.  Dave had also talked with a lady who lives in our RV park and she said we must go to Cloudcroft because the views are stunning.

We start the climb up

Through a tunnel 

Fire trucks lined up - parade about to start - Oktoberfest underway!

Very lush, beautiful mountain scape 

About 25 degrees cooler 'up there'

Lots of ski resorts

Lots of warnings for truckers - steep decline down

Climbed up the mountain on Route 82, into the small town of High Rolls, then up farther into Cloudcroft.  Definitely a winter paradise - lots of ski resorts.  Found Mad Jacks - the line outside (at 10:30 in the morning) snaked all around and down the street.  The lady who cut my hair said that they usually sell out of everything by 2pm, they shut the doors for the day.  Must be good!

Lined up outside Mad Jacks

Very cute town 

Headed back down to High Rolls to find our trail

We continued through town and on towards Roswell, looking for possible campgrounds for future visits.  Decided after driving for 20 minutes that it was a tidge too far, so turned around and came back into Cloudcroft, found the bakery and bought a pie, then dropped back down to High Rolls to find the Bridal Veil Falls Trail.  We stopped at the Mexican Canyon Trestle vista area for a look.  Wow.

Go too slow, loose the logs.  Go too fast, loose the train.  Oops.

What it looked like 'back then'

Restored, cannot go on it - blocked off, just for looks

White Sands way out there!

A bit tricky to find the trail head but we did, parked the car and off we went.  This trail follows the old Cloud Climbing railroad which brought logs from Cloudcroft down to Alamogordo from the 1890s to when it stopped in 1947.  The railroad ties were removed, hiking trails are now in it's place and all but one trestle over the gorges are gone.  The Mexican Canyon trestle was rebuilt and is now on the National Register List of Historic places.

The railroad used to be here, now a trail 

Another trestle, but long gone

Had to go through gate to continue trail 

Old railroad ties and spikes still can be seen

A fresh coyote skat!

Remnants of another trestle lay at bottom

Biggest centipede I have ever seen - about 7 inches long!

We hiked about 1 1/2 miles towards the falls but did not make it.  We were not used to hiking, not having the capability to do any in the past month, and we were at 6700 elevation.  Oh well.  At least we got out.  Did see fresh coyote tracks and scat, an amazing centipede, and some very pretty scenery.  We will try to do another hike tomorrow, but today is rest - we were absolutely pooped by the time we got back to the RV.