Outdoor recreation in El Paso & Las Cruces?

[malamute]

Originally Posted by Dazey

Thanx so much for all your input and info... I was spoiled growing up and had trails galore right in my back yard (but it was in MN - and I don't do well with the winters there)... I am a very active person - I love horseback riding, running, swimming, water-skiing, hiking. I just hope that I won't need to travel an hour or more to visit my adventure lands.

This is a perfect area for horses. Because the land is being used up fast, it's getting kind of expensive to keep horses -- alfalfa fields are being plowed under at a very very high rate -- but the alfafa is very good quality with 5 or 6 cuttings a year.

As far as trails, it's very nice because of the river and irrigation canals and the mesas. Unlike the Midwest where your rides can be limited by fences and roads, here the irrigation canals and ditches make for great riding -- and the river -- you could ride for days and not find a fence to block you.

There are many people who trailer horses up into the Gila or the Lincoln forests for more riding and more endless trails. The Gila Wilderness is exceptional - miles and miles of mostly uninhabited land.

[malamute]

And unlike MN, horses in this area don't need to have barns and stalls. No mucking of damp cold stables. For horses there is almost no place more ideal as far as weather, the most you really need is a windbreak and a little shade for them, and there's almost never a day that would be unsuitable for riding horses -- or bikes, or hiking. You never have to worry about snow over patches of ice to slip on, or months or being cooped up. Horses don't get the hoof problems from standing in wet cold stalls.

[WildWestDude]

this might help: Las Cruces, New Mexico, Outdoors Recreation

[Dazey]

So, it sounds like the hay is expensive - but the rest of the upkeep is easier. Malamute - you mentioned riding along the river... are there trails? Isn't the river pretty dried up? Where do the irrigation canals go? And this land your talking about.. where I could ride w/o fences it must not be along private property.. Thanx again for everyone's input.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by Dazey

So, it sounds like the hay is expensive - but the rest of the upkeep is easier. Malamute - you mentioned riding along the river... are there trails? Isn't the river pretty dried up? Where do the irrigation canals go? And this land your talking about.. where I could ride w/o fences it must not be along private property.. Thanx again for everyone's input.

You don't have to worry about trails -- you can ride all up and down the river, and irrigation canals and canals are better than trails because you don't have to worry about private property, fences. And there are the open areas, the mesas and desert trails of all kinds. The canals aren't private property and are used for irrigating and people run, walk, and of course ride horses along them. Like a two-track dirt road -- perfect for barefoot horses. The river is damned higher and diverted into canals so you sometimes see it with very little water and you can ride horses in the river bed itself then, but in the summer it has water and can be dangerous.

You have a wide variety of scenary here -- you can be out riding in the desert and you'll see coyotes, jack rabbits, hawks, road runners and lizards or if you're riding along the irrigation ditches you'll see marsh plants and animals, ducks, blue herons, beavers. A couple hour drive up to the mountains and you'll be riding in cool pine and aspen forests with mountain streams.

There are groups who meet for group rides -- potlucks and weekend trips. And many people haul horses up to Ruidoso or the Gila Wilderness where there are countless trails on national wilderness lands and parks.

Many people here are into gymkhanas, team roping but a lot of people are into hunter-jumpers. Quarter horses are probably the most common but you see a lot of thoroughbreds and Arabians. The weather is amazing for horses -- there might be one or two days out of a year that you wouldn't want to ride.

It's probably more expensive but then you have 363 perfect riding days a year versus whatever you think would be perfect days up there which would be many fewer.

[laplander]

Hi Dazey, i just caught your thread, I live in MN and like to Mt Bike, and we do have a lot of trails around our area. I live around the Chaska area, which area of MN did you live in? We are looking to move to El Paso or LC in a year or two, you are right the winters are to long, and to cold in MN. I also would like a area with bike paths, and would like to maybe join a bike club. Although you are a runner, we are kind of looking for the same thing.

[Dazey]

I lived in SE MN for most of my young years and went to college in St. Paul. I've never been one to last long on a bike. I've seen a lot of bikers on trails when I've visited the area.....