- Dates
- Thursday 2 to Sunday 5 July 2026. Four days, three nights.
- Altitude
- 8,676 feet in town. The brewery prints 9,000 on its glasses. We are letting it slide.
- Population
- 750 at the 2020 Census. The Saturday parade felt like most of them were in it.
- Mornings
- Low fifties, going by our own phones, not a weather station. Austin was over a hundred the day we left.
- Crew
- Two humans and Mowgli, a Shih Tzu in a red harness who inspected every picnic table in two counties.
- Car
- Rivian. Topped up at a Francis Energy charger in Artesia on the way in.
Why we went
America turned 250 this summer and Austin was celebrating by trying to cook us. So we did the most un-Texan thing we could think of for the Fourth: we went somewhere small and cold.
Cloudcroft is a mountain village in the Sacramento Mountains of southern New Mexico, wrapped in the Lincoln National Forest. The film tells the story. This page is the notebook: what we saw, where, what it cost and what we would do differently.
- Days
- Four. In on a Thursday night, out on a Sunday.
- Driving
- One long day each way from Austin. Out on I-10 through Junction and Ozona, north at Pecos, US-82 up the mountain from Artesia. Home through Big Spring and Llano.
- Fees
- Smokey Bear Historical Park: $2 an adult, cash only. Tunnel Vista and the trestle overlook are roadside pull-offs.
- Dog
- Good trip for one. Picnic tables everywhere, and the trestle overlook has a spot set aside for dogs.
- Vehicle
- Any car. The climb up US-82 is long but paved all the way.
- Best season
- Summer, exactly because the rest of Texas and New Mexico is on fire.
The log
Written as it happened, a day at a time. Numbered stops run through the whole trip.
Day one · the drive
Austin to Cloudcroft in one go. Hill Country, then I-10 west, then north at Pecos into New Mexico.- Afternoon
Left Austin with the car thermometer reading triple digits like a threat. The Hill Country lasts about an hour, and then I-10 turns into a ruler and the world goes flat for the rest of the afternoon.
- Sunset
Pecos. The sky put on a show like it was getting paid by the minute. Even the Sonic ordering screen was in on the birthday, pushing an America 250 slush in collectable cups.
- Night
Topped up at a Francis Energy charger in Artesia, then the last climb on US-82 in the dark. You cannot see the mountain. You can feel it in the air through the vents.
Leave Austin by lunchtime. We arrived after dark and missed the climb, which is half the point.
Day two · the village, then north
Cloudcroft in the morning. Afternoon north through the forest to Ruidoso and Capitan, back up the mountain after dark.- Morning
Grand Cloudcroft Hotel. Woke up cold for the first time since roughly April. A game of table tennis in the lobby, a slow walk under the pines across the road, and absolutely no plan, which was the plan.
- Late morning
Burro Avenue, the main street: wooden porches and the village’s Fourth of July schedule taped in a window. Parade Saturday at noon. And at the bottom, in bold: fireworks are never allowed in the village or the Lincoln National Forest. A Fourth with no fireworks. In a forest, that is just good manners.
- Lunch
Brother-N-Law BBQ on James Canyon Highway, then a cone on the porch at Burro Street Bakery while Mowgli supervised the sidewalk.
- Afternoon
North through the forest toward Ruidoso. Elk grazing on the roadside like they owned the frontage. Then Capitan, and Smokey Bear Historical Park with twenty minutes to spare before last entry.
- Evening
Island Noodles at a picnic table in midtown Ruidoso, a walk out to Grindstone Lake as the light went, and the long drive back up the mountain.
Smokey closes to new visitors at 4:15. We walked in at five to four, with twenty minutes to spare.
Day three · the Fourth
Parade on Burro Ave at noon, then 2,500 feet down US-82 to a canyon waterfall, then back up for the trestle and dinner at The Lodge.- Morning
Hot breakfast at the hotel while the town filled up around us, like the whole county had the same idea.
- Noon
The parade, right on time, down Burro Avenue past Mad Jack’s Mountaintop Barbecue. Riders carrying flags, fire trucks, old pickups, and one pink Volkswagen Beetle that won the day with no competition.
- Early afternoon
Down US-82 to the Tunnel Vista pull-off, our phones reading about 6,100 feet, so roughly 2,500 below town. A short, steep scramble down to a waterfall in the canyon. The water is cold enough to reset your personality.
- Mid-afternoon
Pizza at Cloudcroft Brewing Company. Their glass says “righteously brewed at 9,000 feet.” Our GPS said about 8,700. Nobody wanted to argue with a pint.
- Evening
The Mexican Canyon Trestle overlook as the light dropped, then dinner at Rebecca’s inside The Lodge at Cloudcroft, open since 1899, watching the sun go down over the basin.
We hit the waterfall just after lunch on the Fourth and shared the pool with a crowd. Go early.
Day four · home
East out of the mountains, back into Texas, home through Big Spring and Llano.- Morning
Down off the mountain and east across the plains. Mowgli asleep across the console by the Texas line.
- Afternoon
Big Spring water tower, sorghum fields so red-gold they looked painted, and wind turbines turning like they were in no hurry either.
- Evening
The Austin skyline just before eight. The temperature came back to meet us like a dog that had missed us. Unfortunately.
Sightings
One entry per thing worth looking for: where, when, and how to see it yourself.
Elk
Cervus canadensis
- Where
- Roadside outside Ruidoso, heading for Capitan
- When
- Friday afternoon
- How close
- Close enough to film from the car
- Tip
- Drive the forest roads slowly. They do not look both ways.
Smokey Bear
The real one, 1950 to 1976
- Where
- Smokey Bear Historical Park, Capitan
- Story
- Found as a cub after the Capitan Gap Fire in spring 1950, lived at the National Zoo, buried in Capitan after he died in 1976
- Cost
- $2 an adult, cash only
- Tip
- Last entry 4:15. Closed Mondays.
Mexican Canyon Trestle
Built 1899
- Where
- West edge of Cloudcroft, off US-82
- Story
- Carried the Alamogordo and Sacramento Mountain Railway, built by Charles B. Eddy to haul timber. Passenger trains ended in 1938, freight in 1947
- Cost
- Free overlook
- Tip
- Evening light, when the canyon goes gold.
Mowgli
Canis familiaris, Shih Tzu
- Where
- Every picnic table we passed
- When
- Constantly
- Behaviour
- Asleep for most of west Texas, extremely awake for barbecue
- Tip
- Bring a jacket for the dog too. The mornings are cold.
Correction to our own beer glass: Cloudcroft sits at 8,676 feet, not 9,000. The glass is wrong, the beer was not.
Where we stayed
Grand Cloudcroft Hotel on James Canyon Highway, three nights. Dog-friendly, hot breakfast, and table tennis in the lobby, which turned out to be the most competitive thing we did all trip. The forest starts across the road, and Burro Avenue is a few minutes away.
What we would change
- Leave Austin earlier so you climb into the mountains in daylight.
- Go to the Tunnel Vista waterfall first thing. After lunch on a holiday you share it with a crowd.
- Bring cash for Smokey Bear Historical Park. It takes nothing else.
- Book Rebecca’s ahead for the Fourth. The Lodge runs its own celebration that day.
Get the next field note
One email when the next field note is written. No schedule, no filler.