Dripping Springs

One of my favorite things to do before or after a marathon is hike with Cindy.  It loosens my legs up before a marathon and breaks up the lactic acid after.  We have had some pretty interesting and significant hikes over the years.  Most of them have had a destination, meaning something at the end worth seeing.  Cindy takes wonderful pictures to document our trips and the pictures on our hikes are usually something special.
 
On Saturday, the day before Bataan, we decided to walk/hike to Dripping Springs.
 
The Chihuahuan desert grasslands meet the Organ Mountains at Dripping Springs
Natural Area -- a dramatic locale of immense boulders, rocky peaks, narrow canyons, and
open woodlands.

In the Organ Mountains during the 1870s, a man named Eugene Van Patten built Van
Patten's Mountain Camp, later changing the name to Dripping Springs Resort. At the turn
of the century, Dripping Springs was a popular spot, drawing such regional celebrities as
Pat Garret (the sheriff who shot Billy the Kid) and Pancho Villa.

However, as the First World War approached, the resort fell on hard times. It was sold to
Dr. Nathan Boyd who later converted it to a tuberculosis sanitarium. New structures were
built there to provide housing and care for patients. By the late 1940s, the fortunes of the
sanitarium changed. After a historic preservation group failed to raise sufficient funds for
its purchase, the resort was looted by scavengers for building materials.

The land on which Dripping Springs lies was eventually sold to the Cox family in the
early 1950s. The Cox family had a long history of ranching in the Organ Mountains area.
Later, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) opted to purchase the property from the Cox
family, transferring title to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in exchange for other
lands it could sell to recover costs of the purchase. Because of this cooperation between
TNC and the BLM, beautiful Dripping Springs is now preserved in perpetuity.

Dripping Springs hasn't been dripping lately because of the most severe drought on record in New Mexico.  Even the Rio Grande river is a dry river bed.  Its very sad to see.  The entire area is brown, crisp and dusty.

Free roaming cows

On the road into Dripping Springs

People have died so no climbing Cynthia!

Selfie

Cynthia

Walking back to the face of the mountain

Trail runners - very cool!

The Livery - people brought here on stagecoach for the mountain resort

Van Patten's Mountain Camp ruins

More ruins

Dripping Springs that are not dripping




Panoramic

My Rock Art

OK, so after Dripping Springs, we visited Old Mesilla, south of Las Cruses.  We ate at the Double Eagle, a rustic old "haunted" house.  We both had Mexican faire but an older gentleman beside us had what is considered the world's largest green chili burger (picture to follow) at 1 1/2 pounds. He was on his last quarter when we left.  We then walked around the historic town to find some postcards for Bree which we did at Billy the Kid.  Las Cruses means 3 crosses so we took a picture of an old church on the square which had 3 crosses.  We came across a friendly tabby that looked southwestern.  After Mesilla, we decided to find the Rio Grande river.  Unfortunately and to our dismay, we found where the river used to be.  It was now a dry bed of rocks due to the severe drought.  We headed back to the hotel to get some sleep before the alarm went off at 3:30 AM.

World's largest green chili burger

Inside Double Eagle

Where we bought Bree's post cards

Wine?

3 crosses

Cindy's fascination with fences

New Mexican Puss

3 crosses

Rio Grande and I don't think that water is river water.  The river should be everywhere the brown rocks are.

Those people would be sitting in the middle of the Rio Grande

I would never think of going to these places if it weren't for running a marathon.  It is the beauty of the experience.

Today Day 85: 5 miles: 2014: 457 miles