Off The Beaten Path in New Mexico

(That’s the working title for a travel book about our family’s wanderings throughout the state. The subtitle might be something like “Four kids, a station wagon, and no clue.”)

Over the weekend we had talked about making some sort of day trip today since the kids were off school and I was off work. But we were very indecisive about our plans, which usually results in us doing nothing. We are compulsive planners, and not deciding typically equals not doing for us. Today, however, was different. We got our spontaneous on.

The plan—such as it was—was to visit Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge, just south of Socorro. This is where a number of geese, ducks, and cranes winter, and while the high season for migratory birds is winding down, we still figured on seeing a lot of avian wildlife.

We got to the refuge a little after 10 this morning, and, after a quick stop at the visitors center, which has a cactus garden and some picnic areas, we hit the auto loop. A two-mile loop circles the wetlands where, according to the bird count in the visitors center, over 22,000 snow geese were in residence. We stopped at two observation areas to see the throngs and let the kids run around.

The kids in the cactus garden

The second observation area was on the northwest edge of the wetlands, closes to where thousands of snow geese had settled down. It is an amazing sight, one that our simple little camera does not capture well. From here, we also saw wave after wave of geese come in to land.

The wetlands--the white dots are snow geese

But the real draw is the concentration of sandhill cranes—almost 15,000 today. Our timing was such that we missed the big show—at sunrise these masses of cranes takeoff from the wetlands to feed all day in the adjoining fields, and at sunset they return to bed down. Our midday trip cost us this spectacle, but we did see a number of cranes on our drive along the edge of the fields where they dine. The real treat was seeing a dozen or so cranes directly across the draining ditches, probably no more than 50’ from our car.

Sandhill cranes just off the road

After a picnic lunch, we headed south along NM 1, the two-lane road that passes through the refuge. We thought we would take the scenic route south to meet up with I-25. After about 12 miles, we saw the turn-off road for Fort Craig, a BLM site about halfway between Socorro and T or C. Throwing caution to the wind, we set off on the four-mile dirt road to this 19th-century army station.

Fort Craig, as it turns out, was established shortly after the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War and made the Southwest US territory. During the Civil War, Fort Craig was the Union army’s largest outpost in the Southwest, and site of an important battle.

In February 1862, a Confederate force moved north from Texas, set on taking New Mexico (they had offered the territory Confederate statehood) and cutting the eastern US off from California. As the largest garrison of supplies in the area, Fort Craig was a prime target. Just north of the fort the armies fought to essentially a draw. The Confederates did not take the fort, but they did make their way north, eventually capturing Socorro, Albuquerque, and Santa Fe before losing decisively at Glorieta and abandoning the western front offensive.

We walked around the ruins of the fort; not much is left of the adobe walls, but interpretive signs mark the walls of the fort and detail the history of the area. By the time we hit the road again, the kids were pooped and we were ready to trek north.

Here is what may be the best part. Obviously, we had fun, saw new and exciting things in our own backyard, and learned some history. But for me the real victory is the bottom line. We spent a shade under $12 to top off the gas tank (we got home with a shade under a half of a tank) and $3 for our admission to the refuge. The grand total for an eight-hour day trip: $15. Not a bad bargain at all.