the cloudhaus in cloudcroft, new mexico

  Pumphouse Ridge is just south and southwest of Cloudcroft. An old logging road runs along the ridge, and there are five trails off the ridge. I chose this trail after a long day of remote working as a quick little, nearby hike with four additional hikes to try. Boy, was I wrong! You access the trails via a five-mile jaunt down Pumphouse Canyon Road. However, that road is a little rough, and it took me just over 30 minutes to drive on it to my hike, Pumphouse Ridge 1 Trail (page 94 of the trail guide). You'll definitely want, at a minimum, an SUV or a rental car. My Model Y Tesla mad it fine, but it was slow going due to consistent patches of rough road where the underlying geology formed the road base. Although this hike wasn't spectacular, what made it special was that there was no-one out here, and no road noises or any other noises. Cell coverage was essentially non-existent with small pockets of SOS service. I was alone and became concerned that if I was bei...

updated April 27, 2026 Driving down the hill early last week we noticed a new place in High Rolls, Levain It Up Sourdough Bakery . After a couple attempts to stop in, we hit the bigtime just before Thanksgiving.  We could tell it was good. The second time we stopped in, it was some 30 minutes before opening, and there was already a line to get in (for a bakery!). Since we were on a tight schedule on that visit, we had to roll on.  Garrett and his partner Steve run the bakery, and they provide an array of baked goods including dinner rolls, croissants, cookies, breads, and more. We picked up a loaf of sourdough to bring back to Austin, and my-o-my it is good! On a subsequent visit, in addition to a loaf of sourdough, I picked up a savory monkey bread (ain't heard of that before) and a sourdough cinnamon raisin swirl brioche loaf. The sav monkey was AMAZING!! Loaded with enough garlic to keep the werewolves at bay, and tasty as all get out. The brioche loaf makes the best...