Sock Monkey Trekkers: October 2017

For an October, cold weather break, we took a long weekend trip to Elephant Butte, Gila Hot Springs, Silver City, and Faywood Hot Springs.

Huge traffic jam in Pojoaque.

We left on Friday night at about 4pm. There was a terrible, fatality crash near Pojoaque on our way out of town. It took two and a half hours to get 5 miles. Traffic was snarled for miles in both directions.

After the traffic ordeal, we were hungry and decided to go to Bumble Bees.

Bumble Bees is a medium-fast food Mexican restaurant in Santa Fe. We chose it because it was close by and after the traffic mess we were hungry. Bumble Bees use to be a great place for a quick meal in Santa Fa but has gone downhill IMHO. It's too expensive for what you get and I never have a good feeling eating there. It's crowded with tables. You use to get free chips and salsa. It's mediocre for the price. The food is good, but I just feel like the place isn't designed right. Food takes too long to be served. Lately, one plate is ready and another plate you have to wait for. Service isn't as friendly as it used to be. I dislike going there and would choose other places, like The Pantry in Santa Fe when possible.

After our dinner, we drove late into the night to Elephant Butte State Park.

We have YouTube TV on our phones and Karen watched recorded TV shows while we trucked across New Mexico. We really like the DVR functions of YouTube TV. It worked well on this trip.

Waking up at Elephant Butte State Park.

Elephant Butte has a nice, very peaceful campground called Lion's Beach that has hookups and weak WiFi for a good price ($14). There is also a dump and showers. It's also a good place for nice walks with good views. You can primitive boondock on the beach for a lower cost ($9?). We have blogged about staying here a few times before: Previous Blog Post.

Our spot at Elephant Butte - Lion's Beach.

Next, we drove through the Gila Mountains to the Gila Hot Springs Ranch. The ranch has a nice 12 site campground on the edge of the Gila River with three splendid hot spring soaking ponds. We've been here a few times now. It's a fun place to soak. We go in more depth about this campground in an earlier blog post.

The older couple that own and run the place are super nice folks and the price is right ($6 per person, per night). You can soak as long as you want. Typically, there is nudity after dark, so be warned.

Greg relaxing at our campsite.

The Gila River from our site #11.

Just down a dirt road a ways is the Wildwood Retreat & Hot Springs. There was a flood on the Gila a few years ago and both hot springs places were wiped out. Wildwood has taken a lot longer to get back to full operation. We took a walk over to check it out.

Wildwood has natural hot spring water, cement pools, cabins, campsites. We liked what we saw there and will stay/soak there on a future trip. It's more expensive than Gila Hot Springs Ranch.

The nice looking pools of Wildwood (Clothing Optional Area).

The clothing required pool at Wildwood.

One of Wildwood's campsites.

Call Wildwood before you go as they are sticklers for rules, it looks like, and sometimes they rent out the entire property to groups. You really can't just show up and expect to be accommodated all the time, it appears.

After our overnight stay at Gila Hot Springs Ranch, we took the gorgeous (but super winding) highway 15 to Silver City.

We have a favorite breakfast place in Silver City called Adobe Springs Cafe. It was about 2:30pm when we finally got there, but they were still serving breakfast! Fantastic!

Greg and his veggie omelet with hash browns at Adobe Springs Cafe in Silver City.

Karen in front of the Adobe Springs Cafe.

An unusual car sticker.

A fun mural in Silver City.

After a nice walk around downtown Silver City, we headed east to Faywood Hot Springs for some final soaking before heading back to chilly Los Alamos. We have written a lot about Faywood before. You can read that old blog post here.