New Mexico Road Trip - Santa Fe to Ruidoso

Saturday, October 26, 2024

Today we drove south to Ruidoso, New Mexico taking three more of the scenic byways on our list.  We were up at eight and thanks to doing most of our packing yesterday, we were on the road by 9:30.

Our route today from Santa Fe to Ruidoso.  The main part of our drive will be on Scenic Bywayss 15 and 17 with a side trip on Scenic Byway 16.

The main route south out of Santa Fe is I-25 that goes to Albuquerque, but we are taking New Mexico Highway 14 that is a Scenic Drive called the Turquoise Trail, Scenic Byway #15, the first of our scenic byways today.  The Turquoise Trail got its name because when the Spaniards arrived, they found the area rich in turquoise and of course helped themselves to what the indigenous people had mined.

The road goes through the small towns of Los Cerillos, Madrid and Golden.  All of them were much bigger in their heyday as there was a lot of mining going on and particularly turquoise in the early days followed by gold and lead and later coal.  Today the mining is gone, and the towns are barely there anymore.  Madrid is interesting as in 1973 the owner of the town and its rundown buildings started selling them cheap to artists and people looking for an alternative lifestyle.  As we drove through it there was quite a bit of life to it and you could see galleries and other shops lining the main street.

South on the Turquoise Trail, Scenic Byway 15.

The town of Madrid.  Most of the small towns we drove through were very small and pretty lifeless, but Madrid was pretty lively with shops and galleries as it is a home to many artists and craft people.

As we neared the southern end of the Turquoise Trail, we turned off for a side trip on Scenic Byway #16 up to Sandia Crest in the Sandia Mountains.  The road ends at an elevation of 10,600 feet, and it is a steep 14-mile climb to the top.  At the top there is a restaurant and the terminus of the Sandia Peak Tramway that starts in Albuquerque on the other side of the mountain.  Many years ago, when I was still working, I attended a conference in Albuquerque and Val came with me.  One evening Val and I took the tram up from Albuquerque and had dinner at the restaurant and it was quite nice and the views from the tramway were amazing.

We took a side trip up to Sandia Crest.

A picture of our GPS screen shows just how many twist and turns there were.  Surprisingly, despite the steep climb, we saw quite a few bicyclist making the climb.

Sandia Crest, end of the road.

Not a great picture, but you can get an idea of the views from the top.

We did have good cell service up at the top.

After the side trip to Sandia Crest, it was a short drive to the town of Tijeras on I-40.  This is where the Turquoise Trail ends and where our Scenic Byway #17 begins.  After passing under I-40, we drove New Mexico highways 337 and 55 from Tijeras to Gran Quivira where the scenic byway ends.  The byway is called Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument because the southern part of this route passes through the monument.  The drive was through a very rural area and the further south we got, the fewer cars we saw on the highway.  We passed through a few small villages, but there weren’t many services available, and we were getting hungry.

Highway 337, Scenic Drive Byway 17.

The biggest town we passed through was called Mountainair, with a population of 884, and we thought we would find a café to eat.  We drove through the main part of the town and didn’t find anywhere to eat, but after getting back on the main highway and driving out of town, we saw an old hotel that had a dining room.  The hotel was named the Shaffer Hotel and was built in 1923.  It felt a bit like we had stepped back in time as the hotel and dining room were quite ornate with an interesting ceiling and chandeliers.  It looked like most of the town had turned out for Saturday lunch as everyone there seemed to be locals.

The Shaffer Hotel has been here since 1923.

The ceiling of the Shaffer Hotel Restaurant.  It was Saturday afternoon and it looked like all the locals of the area were here for lunch, luckily it was a big place, but it took a while to get our food.

When you're in New Mexico you have to have a green chili cheeseburger.  Chili is a big deal in New Mexico.

A remnant of the old days across from the hotel.

After a good (but lengthy lunch), we continued our journey south.  The Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument is spread over many sites in the area and just south of Mountainair we took a side trip to one of them, the Salinas Pueblo Missions.  They had a very nice visitor’s center and there were some ruins nearby.  The ruins were mostly just foundations, but there was one building where the walls were still standing and probably three stories high.  Very impressive for something so old.

Now we're on Highway 55.

 

We arrive at the the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument Visitors Center.

We continued south and passed by several more sites, but the day was getting late, and we didn’t have time to stop.  After the end of the scenic byway, the area became even more isolated and we felt like we were the only ones around, on one long stretch we only saw three other cars.

The area was mostly flat with rolling hills and was almost entirely grassland.  The starkness of it was actually quite beautiful.  It was in this area that the altitude was the lowest we’ve been in since arriving in New Mexico at 5500 feet, but it quickly started rising again as we headed into the mountains and Ruidoso.

The town of Claunch consisted of a church and not much else.

Those mountains ahead of us are where Ruidoso is and where we're headed.

As we started our drive into the mountains, we left the grasslands and there were more signs of civilization.  Ruidoso is a popular resort area so as we neared the town there was quite a bit of traffic.  It was a Saturday night, so everyone seemed to be out and about.  We are staying at the Inn of the Mountains Gods, a tribal hotel and casino on the Mescalero Apache Reservation.

There was some construction going on, so it was a round about and confusing route we had to take to the hotel, but we finally made it around five.  It had been a long day, but the drive was very interesting, and we really enjoyed it.  There are five scenic byways in this area, so we’ll be here for three days.

The Inn of the Mountain Gods is located on a nice lake on the Mescalero Apache Reservation.

We finally made it to the hotel.  It was a long day of driving, but very scenic and interesting and well worth it.

The hotel was quite nice, but very crowded, we found out later that celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse was here for a dinner event and the hotel was sold out.  The hotel is on a lake and our room looks out over the lake.  It is a nice room, and the whole facility seems very nice.

After settling in and getting cleaned up, we went to the casino for a little while, but we were tired and were back in our room by eight.  We had eaten a late lunch, so we weren’t very hungry and just picked up a couple of snacks for our dinner.  Tomorrow we will try to do three of the scenic byways including a drive to White Sands National Park that we are looking forward to.

Scenic Drives Completed: 16 of 35

Scenic Drives Missed: 1

Three more scenic drives off our list.