Escape the Heat

Head to New Mexico

In the long, hot days of summer, when you just don’t think you can deal with the heat anymore, it’s time to pack your stuff and head for higher ground. To prevent a total meltdown from the heat, I recently went camping with my friends Morris and Cody (father and son duo extraordinaire) in the Gila National Forest north of Silver City, New Mexico. There are tall trees, a lake, a river, hot springs, some ancient cliff dwellings, birds, and rain…glorious rain. The area sits at 7,000 + feet in elevation, which helps cool things off.

It has been a while since I’ve camped, so you might be surprised to know I could very well have overpacked…just a little bit. Turns out I didn’t need to pack my camping shower, my sketchbook, so many pants, or my makeshift portable toilet, but I am glad I packed my camping mattress handed down to me from my friend Raymond. The guys lived in a tent for two nights, and I camped in the back of my car on the previously mentioned mattress. I was warm and comfy both nights and could hear the sound of rain hitting the roof of the car. Hallelujah!

On Sunday we went to Lake Roberts for some kayaking and some birding. I saw two Yellow Warblers, which was beyond cool. I also saw lots of vultures sunning themselves in the trees, which is also super cool. I don’t care what you say about a vulture. They are neat.

There are signs and info online telling people there is NO SWIMMING in Lake Roberts, and I couldn’t find any information about why people couldn’t swim there. Contamination? Bacteria? Uncontrolled nests of venomous water snakes? Piranhas? I was talking to Cousin Kyle after the trip, and he mentioned there’s no swimming because there is a pipe in the middle of the lake that sucks water out and through the dam. They apparently don’t want people getting sucked into that pipe and flushed out the other side of the dam, and forgive me for saying this, but ISN’T THAT SOMETHING YOU SHOULD INCLUDE IN BIG, BOLD LETTERS ON ANY SIGN ABOUT NOT SWIMMING? Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like letting people know they will be sucked through a giant tube to their ultimate death is something that’s worth mentioning. Am I alone in this?

After a little Lake Roberts action, we drove up to Gila Hot Springs to try out the hot springs. We stopped at a little campground along the Gila River and paid a guy $8 a person to soak for two hours. That was nice, but the more interesting part of the stop was watching a garter snake that had come out of a pipe in one of the hot springs as it worked to swallow a frog it caught. It went back into the pipe as it tried to swallowing the screaming frog, which you could continue to hear for a while as the snake drug it away. So long, frog.

I also saw my first Arizona Alligator Lizard, which was neato bandito. We thought it was a snake at first, but no…just a cool lizard.

On Monday we drove to the end of the road to the Gila Cliff Dwellings. The walk up was beautiful as you follow a pretty stream under a canopy of trees in the canyon. Then, you start uphill for 18 stories when you get to the Cliff Dwellings. This is a really remote National Park, and it was worth going to see while in the area. The park ranger at the top had lots of interesting facts about the place and told us about the history of the different people that lived there. I kept thinking, “Man, they had a long way to go up and down everyday to get water” because my mind immediately goes to having to walk up and down the cliffs anytime you went somewhere.

The hike to the cliffs and back is a loop hike, and the way down starts with people going down a ladder from the dwellings. Uhm…nope. Sorry. I’m not climbing down your sketchy ladder. The ranger was like, “Well, good luck. You can go back the way you came down I guess, but if you go down this way and you fall and break your leg, I’m not carrying you out of here. It will take the rescue team three hours to get here to help you. Have a nice day.”

What he failed to tell me is there is another way down the first part of the way down without having to use the ladder. Another nice ranger informed me of this as I was backtracking through the caves. However, my pro tip to anyone going is to go up and down the same path because the way up follows that pretty stream, and the typical way down is just rocky and exposed and not as pretty in my humble, nature-loving opinion. #nowyouknow

All in all, it was a fun trip. The only bummer is I didn’t get to see Cousin Kyle on this trip. He was working out in the Gila National Forest the days I was there. It was a last minute trip, so I clearly didn’t plan the dates all that well. I will be going back to hang out with Kyle in Silver City, NM and follow him around to see all the fun places I didn’t get to see. Silver City is only about 4 hours from me, which is nothing when you’re in the West.

As an aside, I started writing this post while watching the last night of the Democratic National Convention, and I have to say, I hope Kamala Harris and Tim Walz win this election and banish Trump and Vance to a footnote in history. You might not agree with all of Kamala Harris’s policy points, but protecting our country, our freedoms, and our democracy are more important than any policy issues you might disagree with.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming….

Where do you like to go to get away from the hustle, bustle, and bubbling inferno of summer?