Wanderers in Wonder

A nice sunset on the Little Florida Mountains of Southwestern N.M. greeted us at Rockhound State Park.

Beautiful hikes to be had…Thunder Egg Trail.

Interesting creatures to entertain one along the way, Eighteen inch rattler trying to down a meal to help make it through the dormancy of winter.

Lover’s Leap Trail in Spring Canyon.

A furry tarantula wanders across our trail.

The Deming Museum of History is in the old armory building. The museum has the largest collection of Mimbres Pottery outside of the Smithsonian in Washington D.C.

Mimbres Pottery is black on white. These early occupants of the Gila River Drainage in Southwestern New Mexico incorporated local fauna into their exquisitely painted pottery. Mimbres means ‘Little Willow’ in Spanish. The first evidence of Mimbres occupation dates to about AD 200. Their culture thrives from 900 – 1200 and then moved on during a drought that upended settlement in the Southwest during the 1200’s.

The museum contains a major display on the Bataan Death March. One in ten American soldiers who died during the March were from New Mexico. Three units from New Mexico, the 111th Cavalry and the 200th and 515th Coast Artillery, were stationed on the Bataan Peninsula when the Japanese attacked in early 1942. After three months of fighting the Americans and Filipinos surrendered. They were forced to march 112 miles in blistering heat with little food or water to a railhead in the northern part of the peninsula. Ten thousand Americans and eighteen thousand Filipinos are reported to have died during the March. Every Spring a Marathon and Half Marathon commemorating the March takes place at White Sands in southern New Mexico. 

https://bataanmemorialdeathmarch.itsyourrace.com/event.aspx?id=6574

Mother Nature bids us a fond farewell from Rockhound after a week of learning and exploring.

Peace…Wanderers in Wonder.