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As we left White Sands National Park we saw a mountain range jutting up in the distance. I hoped that is where we were headed and sure enough, our planned destination for the next few days was right at the base of what turned out to be the Organ Mountains. What a pretty place to spend a couple of days.

Luckily camping at Aguire Springs Campground worked out, we couldn’t really turn around and boondock in the Tularosa Valley since it is occupied by the White Sands Missile Range.

The Organ Mountains are quite impressive, jutting up as they do.

It’s nice when we don’t have to pack up camp every day, and the trails from the Aguire Springs Campground gave us the option to get out on the trail without having to drive anywhere. Just a note though, we can’t recommend the Indian Hollow trail that starts from the group camping area. After about a half hour on that one we had to give up, as the lack of maintenance and vegetation growth has pretty much erased that trail from existence. We found the pine tree trail to be much more of a trail, and it provided a lot of great views of the mountains, as well as the White Sands Missile Range.

After a couple days at Aguire Springs we headed over to the other side of the mountains and hiked to dripping springs.

At three miles out and back it’s an easy walk with great views of the mountains. To my surprise the dripping springs were actually running a little bit of water.

There’s also a long abandoned ‘mountain camp’ that must have been a pretty nice place to stay back in its day. Eugene Van Patten opened the camp offering 8 rooms in 1898 and by 1906 had expanded his offerings to 32 rooms along with a large dining room.

We moved on past Las Cruces and arrived in Hatch just in time for a late lunch. We haven’t gone wrong following Anthony Bourdain’s recommendations in the past, and the Pepper Pot was no exception. It was ‘Christmas’ a bit early with a 50/50 red and green burrito.

After way too much to eat in Hatch we kept pressing on and arrived at City of Rocks State Park for the night.

We thought about staying two nights at City of Rocks, before we got there. We ended up just staying one, which may tell you how impressed we were with it. In the morning we’d be leaving New Mexico behind and continuing to move west for a southern tour of Arizona.