Dripping Springs

This is my first blog post about what it is like to live in Las Cruces. I’ll be talking about events, places, and people. I’ll be drawing on the expertise of others to produce this blog and have some great fun in the process.

My first entry is about Dripping Springs, a Bureau of Land Management recreational area. I hiked there with a friend yesterday. Dripping Springs is east of Las Cruces. It is a very beautiful area on the west side of the Organ Mountains. The views are panoramic looking westward—there are mountain ranges to the south, west and north. You get a glimpse of the river valley and all the agriculture it supports. To the east you have dramatic, spectacular, highly varied mountains. The Organ Mountains are beautiful no matter what time of year it is, but when you’re right up there in them it feels like all the problems in the world have fallen away. It’s truly wonderful.

In the late 1800’s there was a resort hotel very near the springs that flow from the steep rock face. It is in ruins now, but at one time it was a wonderful place to escape from the heat of the summer.

There was also a tuberculosis sanitorium on the other side of the springs. The rock buildings are mostly gone now, but you can still see the foundations of where they were. There is still a wood frame house built on stilts that has a decent metal roof on it so the structure isn’t falling apart the way the other rock buildings did.

It’s very interesting to go to Dripping Springs because of its history and beauty. The hike from the visitor’s center is about 1½ miles to Dripping Springs. People need to be in fairly good physical condition because the trail is a continuous incline up the mountain, and it’s a little rough.

The cost to park your car and hike any of the several trails at Dripping Springs is $3/carload, or $20/year which would include all the BLM recreational areas.