Turtleback Mountain, Truth or Consequence, NM, 1/22/2012

The top peak on the right is the actual turtleback. We hiked up and down the peaks until we to the foot of the last peak.

View of T or C with the Rio Grande river winding thru town. The plant in front is an Ocatillo. We walked thru a small forest of Ocatillos at lower elevations.

I like this picture because you can see my shadow taking the picture and also Katy taking a picture on the other side.

De rigueur group picture. From right to left, Katy, Marlin and Jim.

As we reached a little elevation Elephant Butte lake became visible. The sun appeared and disappeared in the clouds and made the colors of the lake change constantly from bright turquoise to a dark stormy grey.

There is the peak, finally.

This was a fabulous hike because of the terrain and especially because of the views. It felt like you could see all of the mountain ranges in New Mexico. The hike is not published in any NM hiking book that we know about. When we asked, the tourist office staff person told us it was a dangerous hike and strongly discouraged us. At the Riverbend Hot Spring office we were told that they had shredded all of the information with directions. They did give us verbal directions to the trailhead however.