Day 50 - Cloudcroft to Mayhill

Brrrr.......was it ever cold last night! Expected to be around 36, and felt every bit of that. Because days are still warm, it's hard to have the right clothes always available. But the sleeping bag did its job, so I stayed reasonably warm during the night. After I got packed up, walked across the street to a cafe for breakfast. While sitting there reading the newspaper and eating, who walks in but none other than Joe Ben Sanders, archaeologist. We sat and talked a while. I told Joe Ben I had "goggled" him, and there was some controversy around some of his findings. But he said, "some people are just stupid." My world is almost totally gray, but Joe Ben's is still very much black and white.....good for him.

Cloudcroft is a nice village, located in the Lincoln National Forest at the southern end of the Rocky Mountains. It's between seasons right now. The summer season is over, and the ski season hasn't started. David, the policeman, told me that in the summer it seems about half the people in El Paso come here to escape the heat. Population in the village is around 800, but over 20,000 if you count close by surrounding areas. He also told me they will be getting snow soon, maybe as early as next week. Glad I came through when I did.

It was time to get walking and I headed east. My destination today is Mayhill, about 18 miles east. Only went a block or so and saw the high school band outside practicing. It couldn't have been over 40 degrees, maybe they're used to the cold. Think how cold those instruments were. As I walked a little farther, came upon the "Ski Cloudcroft" slopes. Without snow, it was easy to see each slope. They didn't seem to long, but some pretty steep. Appears work is being done to add new slopes, and maybe increase the size of the existing ones.

The walk today was almost all downhill, so that was nice. In contrast to the climb to Cloudcroft where there were few if any houses, this side of the mountain had many houses, ranches, RV parks, etc. The horses here looked fat and healthy because they could graze; whereas the horses I've seen for the past month or so almost always looked skinny.......because they had no place to graze in the desert. Around 1pm, the sun finally came out (been cloudy all morning), and I began feeling more comfortable. I saw a couple of hawks, and about 6-8 deer. The deer looked different that the eastern white tailed deer......they had larger ears and were a darker color. I think these were deer, but I've been told there are lots of elk in the area . I also saw several more springs. (Students: do you know what a spring is? Have you ever seen one?)

Around 430 or so, I reached Mayhill. Not much here.....a few stores, a church, some houses, etc. I inquired about a place to put up a tent, and was told there was not much in the area. They suggested I go to the RV park (which I passed a couple hundred yards down the road). I did and asked if they allowed tents. She said yes, just pick a spot. She then started telling me about the facility, and mentioned sometimes tent campers like to stay in the laundry room. It has water, heat, sofa, tables, carpet on the floor, etc.......not your ordinary laundry room. Plus the park has wi-fi.

So, that's where I am.....in the laundry room. Warm, with lights and heat. Maybe tomorrow night might be cold again, but for tonight I'll be cozy and warm. Tomorrow I'll continue east toward Artesia, and expect to leave the mountain and forest sometime during the day.