Ruidoso Village 10k Volksmarch - Thursday, April 21, 2022

Today, we're checking out of our campsite in Roswell, New Mexico, and heading up the mountain to Ruidoso which has an elevation of around 6,500'. It will be cooler there.

The fire in Ruidoso has been contained. They sent the hotshot crews to battle other blazes. Over 200 structures were lost in Ruidoso. A number of people were displaced from their homes. Our hearts go out to them.

As we were driving out of Roswell, we saw Sheri Logan, Andy Thomas, and Susan Noonan out walking. I yelled "Hi" out the window to them. They were surprised to hear someone yelling a greeting at them in Roswell. They will be traveling to Ruidoso this afternoon, too, for the Ruidoso Walking Weekend. Bob and I will do the 10k Ruidoso Village Walk with Andy this afternoon. 

We had an uneventful drive and checked in to Midtown Mountain RV Park at 12:30 pm. After lunch and a nice rest, we picked up Andy at his hotel and headed to the Chamber of Commerce to sign in for the walk and pick up our directions.

A beautiful mural in the 
Chamber of Commerce.

Woodcarving in front of
the Chamber of Commerce.

Eagle woodcarving at the
Chamber of Commerce.

The walk start point was at the Ruidoso River Trail park directly behind the Chamber of Commerce. We moved our truck to the parking lot there. 

On the first section of this walk is the Two Rivers Fairy Trail. Hidden along the trail are 10 fairy houses. Each fairy house location is marked with a white wand on the side of the trail where the house is hidden. We only found five of the 10 fairy houses (even with the help of a map). Two fairy houses were found by a little girl on the trail ahead of us.

"Crazy Quilt," by 
Gordon Snidow.

"Newcomer," by Veryl Goodnight.

Tom's bridge fairy.

Briar Oak

At Bill the Troll's bridge.

The walk along the river in the trees was beautiful and cool. The elk were active here this afternoon.

Elk staying cool in the shade.

Ruidoso River.

A pleasant, shaded park.

Willow.

Whimsie.

From the Ruidoso River Trail, we took a steep road up to Main St. We walked up one side of Main Street and down the other side. It was fun to window shop and look at the restaurants. Many colorful murals adorned the businesses.

A fire tower overlooks the
Village of Ruidoso.

Samaritan's Purse had items for
people displaced by the fire.

Midtown Ruidoso, New Mexico.

Noisy Water: the Cellar -
wine and oil & vinegar tasting.

Andy and Bob.

Lots of different chainsaw-
carved animals for sale.

The otter is great.

An artistic door.

The gazebo in this plaza looks inviting.

This is the left side of the 
mural below. A telephone 
pole cut the mural in two.

More art next to the sidewalk.

A fence made of old skis.

Ruidoso is a mountain town where a lot of Texans like to get away from the heat in the summer. Around June, people like to come here for the horse racing at Ruidoso Downs. But it is also a ski resort in the winter. We saw a photo in the Cornerstone Bakery Cafe showing downtown Ruidoso when it is covered in snow. 

Another reason people come here is for gambling. There is a casino at Ruidoso Downs and the Inn of the Gods Casino as well. 

Today is a lovely spring day, sunny and not a cloud in the sky. We continued on Main St. to Allsup's gas station and then crossed the street and walked down the other side back to Center St.

A store for all your 
Christmas needs.

Rocky Mountain Christmas store.

Welcome to Ruidoso.

When we got to Center Street, our instructions said to turn left. So we did. That just didn't seem right. I had done this walk four years ago and we turned right at this intersection. We went down the hill a block and the park was not there. We turned around to go back up the hill, but Center Street was torn up and closed due to construction of the streets and sidewalks. All the construction workers were leaving for the day, so we walked through the dirt to get to Wingfield Park.

From the park, we headed even farther up Center Street into some neighborhoods. This is where it got hilly. The upside was the beautiful view from up there!

Our view on this part of the walk.

The rest of the walk was downhill from here. We returned to Main Street and retraced our steps down to the Ruidoso River Trail. It was nice to finish up along the river. Mule deer and elk were down by the river grazing and drinking water. 

This was one elk out of a herd of
about 15.

Airyn fairy house.

At the end of the walk, we dropped Andy off at his hotel. Bob and I went to dinner at Farley's. The salads were great, the pizza not so much. We wouldn't go there again unless we got a different entree. 

Our campsite at Midtown Mountain
RV Park. It's in a very convenient
location.

With that, we called it a night. Tomorrow is supposed to be very windy so we will do a 6k hike at Grindstone Lake.