Weekend overland trip in west Texas/SE NM???

[TxDelta]

Howdy overland fam! I’m going to be in El Paso, TX in December and would like to take the family on a weekend overland trip while I’m there. My Tacoma OR will be stock still besides my tires and my grandfather may tag along with his stock Jeep JLU. I looked at sections 1 and 2 of the NMBDR but it looked like mostly highway driving so I’d like a bit more off-roading in it. Big Bend also looks interesting but I’d like to have a few more options maybe in the las cruces area? Thanks y’all!

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

Howdy overland fam! I’m going to be in El Paso, TX in December and would like to take the family on a weekend overland trip while I’m there. My Tacoma OR will be stock still besides my tires and my grandfather may tag along with his stock Jeep JLU. I looked at sections 1 and 2 of the NMBDR but it looked like mostly highway driving so I’d like a bit more off-roading in it. Big Bend also looks interesting but I’d like to have a few more options maybe in the las cruces area? Thanks y’all!

Okay Chris, your going to be in my area (east of me) I live In Silver City NM area about 156 miles east of El Paso. I am from EP though. From EP you have three choices to find some dirt road driving. If you go North towards Alamogordo (80 miles from EP.) About half way (40 miles) there is a turn off going east to Timberon NM. From there you can continue northward to Cloudcroft (about 7500 ft elev.) Once there you can roam around the mountain roads and enjoy a lot of scenery. From EP going east off I-10, you can exit at Fabens TX.,(I think 25 miles) drop down southward to Hwy. 20 and turn left (east) continue driving until you are east of McNary and you will see hwy 192 on the right. Follow 192 until it turns into a dirt road and continue on to Indian hot springs. Along the way there is a road marked Quitman Pass road. I have never traveled that road but it would be interesting as it is a pass road. You will be following the Rio Grande and Mexican border all along the way, though you may not see it unless you take a side road southward to the river. Back to Indian Hot Springs, it's been years since I was down there and I don't know if it is open any more but it may be. From Indian HS continue SE an it winds around to hwy 1111 that brings you to Sierra Blanca Tx about 90 miles east of El Paso. That would give you about 60 miles of dirt road driving, mostly maintained by ranchers. There are many side roads off Indian hot springs road (FR 192) that are interesting driving. All that land in that area was the old stage coach roads back in the day.
I wont give you a complete third area today but google the maps around Silver City NM area and see if that interest you. The third route is westward of EP towards me, follows the Rio Grande North (back roads south of I-10) to Hatch NM, then on to Carballo Dam and westward to Hillsboro on Hwy 152 across the Black Range mountains, to hwy 35 and follow it to the Gila Cliff dwellings The places near me are endless.
Lanlubber Jim

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

Howdy overland fam! I’m going to be in El Paso, TX in December and would like to take the family on a weekend overland trip while I’m there. My Tacoma OR will be stock still besides my tires and my grandfather may tag along with his stock Jeep JLU. I looked at sections 1 and 2 of the NMBDR but it looked like mostly highway driving so I’d like a bit more off-roading in it. Big Bend also looks interesting but I’d like to have a few more options maybe in the las cruces area? Thanks y’all!

Las Cruces has a NM4wheer club you can find on internet. They are mostly rock crawling guys but many are like us and just like to boondock on the back roads without too much technical driving stuff. Check them out..
Lanlubber Jim

 

[TxDelta]

Las Cruces has a NM4wheer club you can find on internet. They are mostly rock crawling guys but many are like us and just like to boondock on the back roads without too much technical driving stuff. Check them out..
Lanlubber Jim

Thanks a lot Lanlubber! I’ll definitely follow up with them. Do you have any issues with snow in your area around December? The Gila National forest looks like it'd be a great area to explore

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

Thanks a lot Lanlubber! I’ll definitely follow up with them. Do you have any issues with snow in your area around December? The Gila National forest looks like it'd be a great area to explore

Hi Chris, I live on the edge of the Gila. I'm roughly at 6000 ft. high desert area, below the tree line as they say here. It's rare for us to get snow that hinders travel at my altitude. I've drive around at the higher altitudes without difficulty. Of course the main highways are maintained except in really high altitudes during a storm. December is not especially known as a heavy snow month but you can check google for snow depths for each month. Most of our snow is in the 2-3 inches at a time and within 3 days is completely gone. I think for a newbie to the area the fun would be to travel the state highways and find roads of interest without going anywhere specifically. One fun drive is from Silver City to Glenwood. During the depression the government had what was called CC camps that gave people jobs building projects for the public at government expense. One of those projects was called the catwalk which was built in a canyon that had a mountain stream year round. It originally was a wood catwalk structure but about 15 years ago it was washed away from a few bad storms that turned the stream into a rushing river. It took about 5 years to rebuild using steel frame work. It is a favorite place for even locals to visit and it is about a three hour or better hike up the canyon. Glenwood itself is a small town with a few good restaurants, fishing pond and a few quaint old motels. The whole area has roads that go off into the mountains and lakes, there are several. You can get so wound up traveling you can end up in Flagstaff Az. easily with miles and miles of off road paths. I could spend the rest of my life permanently exploring all the back roads and trails in just the Gila area. Another NM OB'er named @Firemedic15 has extensive travels in NM. Maybe he will check in on this thread and offer even better info than me. Or you can start a conversation with him in the forum. Keep a look out, I'm sure you will get more responses when they realize you are interested in this area and not El Paso, which offers little unless you want to off road the Butterfield trail that goes from EP to Carlsbad NM across a few hundred miles of desert.
Have fun planning your trip. Landlubber Jim
You can Google that too if it sounds interesting.