Dripping Springs State Park is on the west side of the Organ Mountains and has a gravel path (sometimes steep but generally not bad) of about a mile and a half leading to an old sanitorium. Beyond that, you can hike up on your own which Aunt Susie has done.
The fact that it's a developed path, however, doesn't avoid the fact that it's a mountain. You know, with nature and unpredictable conditions and all. So they put up this sign, which might be summarized as "don't be an idiot:"
It's a great sign, I thought. Along with the "25% of TSA agents are vets" sign from Sea-Tac, it's my favorite from the trip so far.
The hike is beautiful. Aunt Susie says that every mountain is different, depending on the elevation and what side you're on. This mountain actually had thin patches of snow and it was definitely much greener than Picacho Peak in that respect.
This second picture shows the remains of the sanitorium, which was built by Dr. Nathan Boyd, a "medical doctor and international businessman" (according to the informational plaque) who came to the area around the turn of the last century to build a dam on the Rio Grande River. Although unsuccessful at building the dam, he did construct this sanitorium for people with tuberculosis which lasted until the 1930's. The property subsequently became a ranch until it was donated to the Nature Conservancy and is now operated by the State Parks Department.
A closer-up picture:
My friend Christopher had said I should go into the building and take pictures to see if any ghostly images appear which I thought was a good idea. However, for reasons that are obvious when you actually see the structures they won't let you enter. And so, sadly, the existence of ghosts will have to remain an unanswered question.
The name "Dripping Springs" comes from an actual springs, although it is very small (it drips, not gushes - otherwise they'd call it "Gushing Springs," I guess) so you can't make it out very well in this picture:
Aunt Susie wasn't sure what was going on with the manmade stone thing that the water drips over. It looks like it's there to shore something up but that will remain yet another unanswered question.
It was interesting to see a little snow on the ground. The temperature on Monday was in the 60's which it had been for a couple of days (the week before it had been more like 40's); the areas where we saw snow tended, of course, to be shadier and at higher elevation. Still, it was the first sign of January I'd seen since leaving Omaha.
Las Cruces has been in drought which applies to snow as well as rain, and this is an actual picture of the Rio Grande River, taken on Tuesday:
It's sand. Dry sand. That's it. The riverbed is probably 75 yards across and there's not a drop of water in it. The water level - and I use that term hypothetically - at Las Cruces is controlled by dams further north, but Aunt Susie said that even at those areas the river is very low.
(Let me clarify that the Organ Mountains are on the other side of Las Cruces from the Rio Grande, so the little bits of snow that we saw aren't going to do any good for the water level even though theoretically the Dripping Springs area drains into the river.)
As my brother David likes to say, "the plural of anecdote is not data" (isn't that a great saying?) and I'm not going to jump to a climate change conclusion from the examples of drought in Denver and drought in New Mexico and drought in the midwest. I will leave that conclusion for the gazillion scientists who have studied these matters. However, looking at the Rio Grande riverbed doesn't give one a sense of optimism, which is why I'm glad President Obama talked about the need to take action on climate change in his Inaugural Address.
Tuesday I headed west toward Silver City, which was an interesting drive that involved no evidence that water had ever fallen on southwest New Mexico. Stay tuned.
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