Poor Aurora is shedding like crazy and left a cloud of fur on the hotel room floor. Thankfully, they were able to vacuum it all up, as when we returned the floors were entirely clean.
This morning we headed up the mountain to Lincoln National Forest. Unfortunately, I hadn’t printed out a map or directions, and my memory failed me – we took the long route, then the wrong road, and finally found ourselves deep in the forest. A quick check on my Blackberry, and we were able to find where the ranger station should have been. Only it wasn’t. We found a deserted campsite, then a winding dirt road that led no where, turned around and headed further into the forest. We finally entered the forest proper, still with no ranger station in site.
The main reason for wanting to to to Lincoln National Forest was that their website had boasted that dogs could run off leash on forest trails if under voice command. While we never did find a trail, we found a dry creek bed that led us up the mountain, so off we went (off leash of course) to see how high we could go. My mother didn’t climb too high, and my father eventually stopped and went back, but the three of us pressed on. Somewhere near the top, more time conscious than anything, I turned back to find my parents.
Offleash!
The forest was oddly devoid of life. An occasional butterfly fluttered by, but no birds were even heard singing. I suppose we were too noisy. There were deer droppings all over, so it wasn’t really lifeless. The dogs had a blast running back and forth sniffing absolutely everything. Occasional patches of snow, nearly all melted already, provided Zahara with a delightful treat. She licked, bit, and then rolled in each patch she found. Aurora ignored them – she was more interested in finding mud puddles to run through.
After returning for our hike, we turned and drove the hour or so back to Cloudcroft. Just as we approached the town, there is was off to the right, as clear as day – the ranger station. We bought a picnic lunch in town, then headed back to the station, but by then everyone was tired so we sat under the trees and ate, then drove back down to Alamogordo.
My parents decided to stay at the hotel for a siesta while the girls and I headed back to White Sands. Hurray! We took the “Dune Life” trail this time, wandering through the habitat on the edge of the dunes, learning about all the creatures that lived there. Signs posted along the trail are the only directional indicators (there is not actual trail) and provide great information about the life here on the edge of the dunes. My dogs, on the other hand, learned all they could with their noses. Thankfully, though, they missed the “stink bugs” that were out in force, three of them crossing our path at one point. We saw tracks of the kit fox, but didn’t actually encounter anything else other than birds.
At the end of the hike we found a few sand dunes to run up and down, then headed back to the hotel for dinner.
