Sierra Blanca Peak

— We just returned from a week in scenic Ruidoso, New Mexico. This was a last-minute destination for us. Our plans had been to explore a different part of New Mexico we had not seen before. However, I must say that Ruidoso is clearly becoming a new favorite location for us, even though this was just our second stay there. Besides being within a day’s drive from Austin, the city offers a lot of amenities, such as good restaurants and supermarkets with a variety of food to satisfy any dietary needs and tastes.

Located at an elevation of 6,920 ft (2,051 m), the city is right next to the Lincoln National Forest, one of the healthiest national forests in the southwestern USA. Besides the forest, you also have the Sierra Blanca Mountain range and the Sacramento Mountains. The city is also close to several other attractions, including excellent hiking trails, the beautiful Inn of the Mountain Gods casino, Ruidoso Downs race track, and the slopes of Ski Apache, to name a few.

This time around, we had the fortune to get a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house perched right in the middle of the Lincoln National Forest. The view you see on the left was taken from the deck of our house. That is Sierra Blanca (Spanish for White Mountain). I confess I never got tired of that view any time of the day or when hiking some of the trails in the area.

Speaking of the beauty of the forest, how would you like to have this red-roofed house shown in the next photo? Can you imagine the view? (Click the small photos to enlarge them.) Sitting on our deck and looking around provided lots of relaxing moments. We could scout the entire area and discover new things, such as that red-roofed house you see on the photo here. If not doing that or hiking, in the evenings, we had a very inviting hot tub to soothe our sore legs and feet from a day’s hike.

The Sierra Blanca Peak ia a volcanic mountain rising 11,981 feet (3,652 m). It is the highest point in that range. The Sierra Blanca Mountain range is the northernmost extension of the Sacramento Mountains. There are hiking trails leading to the peak, but since it is located on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation, one needs to obtain a permit from the reservation in order to hike that area.

You can appreciate the beauty of the Sierra Blanca peak from many trails around the area. If you hike the Cedar Creek trail in Ruidoso, for example, you have some amazing views of the peak from various points. The first photo and the one below are two photos I made while on that trail.

At the end of the day, with the sun setting in the west, I would sit on the deck to watch a family of deer wandering around below in the backyard, or I would appreciate the various layers in the mountains before my eyes. This last photo was another one I made from the deck of the house.