Fort Stanton-Snowy River Cave

Winter Migration Road Trip, Day 7 | Caprock Canyon, TX to Fort Stanton, NM | Hiking & Camping in Fort Stanton-Snowy River Cave National Conservation Area & Historic Site | November 2023

After leaving Texas, we entered New Mexico and took US-70 West. We remembered this route as being one of our favorites back when we used to drive between Arizona and Iowa more often, and now that we’ve visited every county in New Mexico we were free to drive whichever route we wanted. We always comment on how we didn’t appreciate New Mexico as much as we could have when we lived in the Southwest, and now we were glad to have the van and a flexible schedule so that we could enjoy it a little more on this trip.

As we were nearing Roswell, we stopped at the Old Frazier Schoolhouse right off the highway to stretch our legs and for Curtis to take a phone call. We had a couple of errands to run in Roswell before going back off the grid, and once those were complete, we had lunch and then finished the drive for today. We took US-380 into the mountains, and to our camping area for tonight in Fort Stanton-Snowy River Cave National Conservation Land – a BLM managed area in the middle of the National Forest.

We arrived at the free campground and found one open spot, then after setting up we went for a short hike, following the dirt road up into the hills so we could get a better view from the ridge. Everything about this hike made us happy, from the crusty earth to the dry and spiky plants, the big sky and wide views of surrounding mountain ranges. We felt the same feeling we get every time we return to the Southwest: the warm, nostalgic feeling, remembering our first years of marriage, when we were learning how to be a married couple and how to be outdoorsy and adventurous together, how we fell in love with the desert. It’s a long drive to get here, but arriving here and falling back in love with the desert always makes it worth it.

We descended the ridge on a trail and met back up with the access road, then followed it past the cave (which is currently closed) back to the campground. As we were settling in, we noticed Charlotte acting strange — trembling when she was sitting, and walking around like she was drunk. We were unsure what to do, and all those happy feelings were replaced with worry for her. Curtis called an emergency vet clinic in Alamogordo, and after describing her symptoms they concluded that she had probably eaten something that had marijuana or THC in it. They said to monitor her, and that it should probably pass in 12 hours. Thankfully they were right, and after sleeping it off she was back to normal. (Naturally, while this was all happening, the sunset even from our campsite looked spectacular, but we couldn’t enjoy it because we were too concerned about Char!)

The next morning, we packed up and resumed our drive West. We took NM-220 through Fort Stanton, where we stopped briefly to walk around the fort grounds. The Fort was originally established in 1855 as a frontier post to protect the recently acquired territory from the Apache. A host of colorful old-west characters passed through the fort, including Billy the Kid, Kit Carson, and General ‘Black Jack’ Pershing. But, unlike other mid-19th century frontier forts like Fort Bowie and Fort Union, after the Indian Wars were completed, the fort transitioned roles and became a America’s first Tuberculosis Sanatorium. It then changed again and became a POW camp during WWII. After being transferred to the State of New Mexico and returned to a hospital, it wasn’t until 1995 that the fort closed in an official capacity and reopened as one of the most well preserved forts of its time period.

Naturally, we were there early and in the off season, so the official museum and tours were all closed. But, as far as we could tell, the grounds were still open. So we walked around the parade ground enjoying the history and the quiet. It reminded us of many of the other frontier forts we’ve seen, but most of all it reminded us of Fort Robinson in Nebraska…except the mountains in the background were a little higher, of course.

After our walk, we got back on the road and drove the rest of the way through the Sacramento Mountains and Lincoln National Forest on NM-220 and NM-48. And, as we approached Ruidoso, I spotted a bear off to the side of the road — the first bear we’ve ever seen in the Southwest!