Trans America Cycling Day 14 - Rest day in Las Cruces, NM

New Mexico has long touted itself as a state with a rich heritage that is a blend of three different cultures (Native American, Hispanic and European) that have amalgamated in a positive way.  There are 23 Indian tribes located in New Mexico - nineteen Pueblos (most situated near the Rio Grande River), three Apache tribes (the Fort Sill Apache Tribe, the Jicarilla Apache Nation and the Mescalero Apache Tribe), and the Navajo Nation.  New Mexico has been celebrating its diversity well before it has become fashionable to do so.  Cyclists revisiting the state should check out the many Native American and Mexican festivals that take place through the year.  Albuquerque and Santa Fe have large cultural centers in which to learn about the different cultures in New Mexico.  

Now back to yesterdays ride.  The prettiest part of it began in Hatch, NM.  Hatch takes pride in being called the chile capital of the world, so there is an abundance of things chile in Hatch. New Mexicans string together red chile ristras as Christmas decorations.   This is a very practical way to decorate your home, while having chiles readily available to spice up holiday meals.  BTW the only difference between New Mexico green and red chiles is that the green ones are picked early, while the red are fully ripened on the vine.

Ristras as ornaments to eat

Red chile wreath

Chiles in bulk for true aficionado

Ester, John and Hannah are window shopping in the chile emporium

Our entire 34 mile cycling route from Hatch to Las Cruces was filled with pecan orchards. Pecan trees were planted on grids in a very organized manner.  According to a local, pecans are harvested with the aid of a machine that shakes the tree and another machine that picks the nuts off the ground.

Pecan orchard in front of Organ Mountains to the east

  

Flood irrigation of pecan trees

New Mexico style adobe house with view of jagged peaks of Organ Mountains

Many houses with adobe architecture, like the one in the photograph above, were seen along the ride.   A true adobe house is made by stacking adobe bricks.  The word adobe is Spanish for mudbrick.  An adobe brick is a composite material made of earth mixed with water and an organic material such as straw or dung. The soil composition typically contains sand, silt and clay. Straw binds the brick together and prevents cracking due to uneven shrinkage.  Adobe is akin to the composite material in one’s bicycle frame, but instead of carbon fiber reinforcing a resin matrix, straw reinforces mud.  A house made of these bricks is extremely energy efficient, due to the large thermal mass of the adobe wall that moderates temperatures.

We rode past the Rio Grande River for the first time yesterday.  There was only a trickle of water in the Rio Grande, according to a local, due to a dearth of snowpack in the high mountains of Colorado at the source of the river and a severe drought in the overall region.  In the 2017 TAC bicycle tour, also in April, there was water flowing.

Dry Rio Grande riverbed in 2019

Water flowing in Rio Grande during 2017 TAC bicycle tour

The Rio Grande has its source in the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado in and among 13,000 and 14,000 ft mountain peaks.  The following photo was taken by the author from a SAG stop near Slumgullion Pass while on the 2014 Bicycle Tour of Colorado.

Headwaters of the Rio Grande in the Colorado high country, photo taken from a bicycle

On its way to where we saw the Rio Grande today is the Rio Grande Gorge, a 50 mile long and up to 800 foot deep gorge through volcanic basalt rock near Taos, NM.  Did you know that New Mexico has many extinct volcanoes, the last of which erupted only 3000 years ago?  In fact New Mexico is called the land of volcanoes.  The region remains tectonically active so continued volcanic eruptions separated by significant intervals (1000s of years) are likely.  Volcanoes are a significant part of the landscape of New Mexico and one of the characteristics that makes New Mexico special.  New Mexico has the largest number, range of ages, diversity of types, and range of preservation of volcanoes in North American.  A hike in the pumice fields is an enjoyable outing, but beware of the rattlesnakes.

This map of New Mexico will point you towards the pumice fields.