April 25 Day 32 cycling Hillsboro to Lake Roberts, NM

Started at 7am this morning at an elevation of 5280’ in Hillsboro where we spent a quiet night cooking in. Started climbing west on hwy 152 to Emory Pass at 8228’, the highest point on the Southern Tier. It was a chilly start at 52 degrees, but we were climbing up the Percha Creek drainage. For a point of comparison for my cycling friends, Larch Mountain in the Columbia River Gorge is approx. 3100’ in 14 miles. We cycled 16.6miles to the summit – 2900’ above Hillsboro. Then we had some rollers down the west side of the Black Mtns to finally reach the Mimbres River Valley. The geology and variety of rocks was amazing. Turned north again up that valley to our Airbnb where Jody met us. 46.2 miles 4160’ for a big gorgeous day made more challenging with some N & NW wind.

We changed clothes quickly so we could drive the curvy mountain roads north to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument which closed at 4pm. We made it a bit after 2pm to take in the Visitors Center and hike the one mile loop trail to see the dwellings. You can add 180’ elevation gain for the stairs and uphill we did (!) to the 800 year old cave dwellings of the Mogollon people. Incredibly well preserved cave ruins. Then back to our airbnb for a yummy home cooked dinner since this area of NM is very remote and doesn’t have many services.