First trip in the new ride

[GordoJay]

Took a five-night trip down to central New Mexico last week.


We were careful about social distancing and wearing our masks. My hiking companion.

Oddly enough, people avoided us. They were probably just following the distancing rules. Or possibly it was the unbuttoned fly ...

We ended up running about 75 miles of Forest Service, BLM, goat tracks, and ranch roads, along with a few miles of soft dry wash sand between hikes. It was a blast. Now reading the manual will make more sense. It's one thing to read that in Baja mode shifts are delayed and it's another to be rolling along in second gear at 4-5000 rpm and not getting an upshift. Similarly, the shifting in crawl mode felt odd to me. I'm used to just staying in 4L between obstacles and shifting up and it didn't want to upshift on the easy sections. Do most folks put their trucks in manual mode for that? I've always driven a standard, so this automatic tranny will take some getting used to. I will say that the soft wash sand was a complete hoot in mud/sand mode. I didn't preview it, so I didn't get too wild, but it was still amazing fun.

A parting shot.

 

[smurfslayer]

Awesome

 

[Oldfart]

Looks like a blast!

 

[911 Crazy]

Cool

 

[WC114]

Nice

 

[dart raptor]

How did you find the forest service road is there a map somewhere to find them ?

 

[BenBB]

Ahh, love the smell of greasewood and gunpowder (creosote and cordite?). How far south? That first pic looks like Alamogordo/Holloman, lots of good trails throughout the state though, right on!

 

[GordoJay]

How did you find the forest service road is there a map somewhere to find them ?

Got a Gazetteer and a Forest Service map. Google maps helps. GPS on my phone.

Edit to add: Google maps with the satellite view is really helpful. Resolution is often so good that you can tell whether or not a road goes through or is washed out.

 

[Rocsteady]

The unbuttoned fly was a bold move Cotton! I often skip pants altogether when I'm baja-ing

 

[GordoJay]

Ahh, love the smell of greasewood and gunpowder (creosote and cordite?). How far south? That first pic looks like Alamogordo/Holloman, lots of good trails throughout the state though, right on!

First two pics are southeast of Socorro about ten miles. Last pic is in the Datil Mountains. In between we visited the Gallina Mountains out of Magdalena. Both are west of Socorro. Charlie's Bakery, aka The **** and Span, in Las Vegas was open for takeout so we got a really good lunch both going down and coming back. There's a park one block south with picnic tables.