Oct 24 - Capitan, Lincoln, Ruidoso & Cloudcroft, NM

Today found us hitting the road east to Capitan and the Smokey Bear State Monument. It is a simple little building with exhibits on Smokey Bear and his poster counterpart as well as a nice exhibit on wildfire fire-fighters. Smokey's grave is also located here.

Grave of Smokey Bear

For those that don't remember (I only do because my parents have related the story, Smokey actually died when I was seven), Smokey Bear started out as a 'logo' for the National Forest Service to educate people on forest fire prevention. The 'living symbol' Smokey Bear was found in 1950 during the Capitan Gap forest fire, a fire that burned 17,000 acres in May 1950 near the town of Capitan, NM. On May 9th, a 2 month old bear cub was found clinging to a small, burned tree. A crew of GI's under the direction of Speed Simmons, brought the injured cub to the fire camp, there after several attempts to treat its burned paws, Ray Bell, a pilot for the NM Game & Fish Dept flew the cub to Santa Fe where his injuries were treated and he was nursed back to health by Bell's wife & 5 year old daughter.

Smokey was sent to the National Zoo in Washington, DC where he live out his days - he passed in 1976 at 26 years of age. A new bear, Little Smokey, was chosen as the living symbol once Smokey died but upon Little Smokey's death, no other living symbol was appointed.

San Juan Mission - Lincoln, NM

From Capitan we headed on the Lincoln, the epicenter for the infamous Lincoln County War that helped to propel William Bonney, aka Billy the Kid, & Sheriff Pat Garrett into infamy. The "war" started between two ranchers/merchants that were vying for the same market-share with Lincoln, the surround area and the US Military at nearby Fort Stanton. John Tunstall was killed on his return from his ranching acting as the catalyst for the battle - his loyal followers (including Billy the Kid) swore revenge on the Murhpy company for his death and it was about then all hell broke loose. Many died before the 'war' was ended - Sheriff Pat Garrett followed Billy to the Maxwell Ranch near Fort Sumner in northern NM, where he allegedly shot Billy dead.

Tunstall Merchantile, now a museum - Lincoln, NM

Originally the Murphy complex, then a courthouse
now a museum - Lincoln, NM

Lincoln has several museums dedicated to the period of the Lincoln County War (1878-79) with historical markers placed in front of prominent buildings explaining the goings-on of the time. It is a neat little town and cool to wonder about and see the actually sites I've been reading about in all my Louis L'Amour and other "hisotrical-fiction' books. Neat to see where these legends actually originated.

From Lincoln we headed back southwest to Fort Stanton - an old frontier fort that also became a hospital for turberculosis victims, mostly from the Merchant Marines. The cemetary there is the only inland Merchant Marine Cemetary in the US. Unfortunately you can't really 'visit' the fort, most of the streets are closed to the public, although it did look like you could take a tour - but while we were taking some photos (about 15-20 min) the tour group hadn't moved so I don't know how much you would actually get to see.

Old Fort Stanton 1855-1896

Fort Stanton, NM

US Merchant Marine Memorial
at Fort Stanton, NM
Established 1899

On to Ruidoso, a great NM ski resort. Lots & lots of Texans here... even this time of year. We had a great lunch at Lucy's - very spicey Mexican food before heading on to Cloudcroft via 244 acorss the Mescalero Apache Reservation. Ruidoso, to us, was a typical ski-resort town. Lots of shops, & restaurants. Beautiful setting though.

Original Grist Mill at Ruidoso, NM

The route we took to Cloudcroft was very scenic. Through Elk Canyon & Silver Springs Canyon. Of all the reservations we've seen so far - this one is the prettiest and most scenic (in our opinion). We hit Cloudcroft around 3 PM - just as school let out, which is located on the main street through town. Nice. We found the 'touristy' area and grabbed some gelato and took at couple pics before heading back to Carrizozo and camp. I would like to go back and explore that area a bit more - maybe camp in one of the NFS campgrounds we passed (closed for the winter). There are lots of trails to hike and two observatories - the Sunspot Solar Observatory & the Apache Observatory. Supposedly you can take tours - NM has the most specatular night-skies, I would LOVE to be able to view it through an enormous telescope. All the neighboring communities have dark-sky ordinances enabling you enjoy the stars without 'city-glows'.

Cloudcroft, NM

Bonita Lake - between Ruidoso & Nogal, NM