Saturday June 1 2024

Saturday June 1^st

This was to be our last day at Lee Memorial SP, so we decided we would take advantage of our proximity to a laundromat in Alamogordo and beat the heat of the day at the same time. First though, we wanted to do a short hike up Dog Canyon in the mountains behind the campground. The complete hike is a long one – pushing 20 km with over 1000 metres of elevation change. There was no way we were doing that in 40 C heat but we thought we try our best and go until we felt it was time to come back. Dog Canyon was quite stunning, it follows the rim of the canyon once you’ve climbed up to it. On the hike we met a group of airforce guys and girls from Holloman AFB. They were gung-ho and passed Lydia and I although, they didn’t look very prepared for a long hike. We turned around at the 3 km mark as the heat was getting to us and we had laundry to do! Once bonus of the hike; we did not encounter any snakes!

After a cooling shower, we headed to town to do laundry and some shopping. While sitting around waiting for our clothes to dry, we realized our next stop at City of Rocks was booked for Monday, not Sunday as we thought, so we booked another night at Oliver Lee. More heat!

Oliver Lee Campground from Dog Canyon trailhead

Dog Canyon

This is what 40 C looks like

Nice canyon but too hot, retreat!