Exploring Cloudcroft New Mexico
We have family in Cloudcroft New Mexico so we find ourselves out this way nearly every year to enjoy the peace, quiet and the afternoon happy hours on the deck. When it comes to finding a place to stay we always end up at Lazy Day Cabins and RV Hideaway.
If you haven’t visited Cloudcroft, NM it’s this tiny town that sits high above the deserts of Alamogordo, NM. You drive 5,300 feet straight up the mountain as the surrounding terrain changes from hot desert to piney woods full of elk, wild turkeys and more deer than you can possibly count (and look out for the elk)!
The town is tiny but the main street is full of charm. The most unique place in town has got to be the Lodge; it’s a historic haunted hotel that serves up the best food in town and the spot where we spent our 2012 Halloween doing a crazy costumed golf tournament.
Cloudcroft is a mountain top village that’s covered in National Forest and I’m pretty sure we didn’t even scratch the surface of the trail system with our four days of exploring. From snow covered to warm sandy trails, you’ll want to be prepared for anything!
This is our 3rd time to visit the campground and each time it’s been perfectly quiet and relaxing. The Lazy Day Cabins and RV Hideaway is located between the tiny towns of Mayhill and Cloudcroft New Mexico, so other than people looking to escape the desert heat, or the hunters during the hunting season, it’s pretty much a guarantee you’ll be forced to kick back and relax.
The park has full hookups and all that stuff but the big bonus for us, and the cats, is it’s surrounded by National Forest! Each day we took a break from our computer work, grabbed the cats, walked up the hill and hit the trails. That’s right, there are two short trails right there at the campground…and keep your eyes outside just before sunset as you’re likely to have some unexpected furry friends stop by!
Since we’re “regulars” here we had the opportunity to hang out with the owners. Cody is a ‘yes’ guy. You want to know the best recipe for Dutch oven cornbread or the nearest 4×4 trail he can tell you. Better yet, get a group together and he’ll probably offer to teach a Dutch oven class or be your trail guide. Somehow we convinced him to cook us a yummy breakfast with his famous sourdough pancakes and fresh farm eggs from his neighbor (it might have been all the Breckenridge Bourbon we polished off the night before). The people we meet and making new friends like Cody, his wife and his furry family are what make this roaming life so incredible.
Anytime we’re passing through New Mexico we make a point to visit Cloudcroft, and with that we know we’ve got a place to call home where we can get work done, visit family and friends, hike some killer trails all while kicking back and escaping the normal campground scene. Can’t wait to visit again.
