Think of your favorite road trip? I don’t mean a one time occurrence. I mean a road you would take, even if it means adding an extra 30-60 minutes to reach your destination, because traveling through this section, brings you more peace and stability than going the usual “common” path. The road. The scenery. The weather. Do you bring someone along to share it? Keep it to yourself? What about it makes it so memorable? This is another Road Trip Gem. You wouldn’t spend/plan a whole vacation just for this one destination, but are definitely glad it crossed your path.

Connecting two towns

Between two small towns in mountains in New Mexico there is a road. Both towns are in the middle of a forest. A pine forest with open meadows blooming with purple flowers in the spring, and warm colored hills of the leaves in the fall. If you keep your eyes peeled, you may see some of its natural inhabitants, like deer, hawks, ravens, cows, wild horses, wild turkeys, elk, and maybe even a bear. How to get there

To get to this town you’ll need to cross through a tunnel portal. As you cross the tunnel you begin to see the desert shrubs disappear. You begin to see trees. Then taller trees. More trees. You can’t see the mountain floors anymore. You are immersed in the Lincoln National Forest. A trestle can be seen from the side of the road, which brings to the image to your mind of what this must have been like to experience this scenery from the inside of the train riding the trestle. A “cloud climbing” rail. You soon arrive at the little town in the mountains known as Cloudcroft. Very small town with a population of less than 1000. It could almost seem like it was a town trapped in the old west if it weren’t for the paved roads, cars, and gas stations. the whole main strip of town is maybe about a mile long, then you’re back in pure forest.

And as you leave town, there is the road that takes you to another small, about 10 times the population. A tourist town known as Ruidoso, meaning noisy, for it’s “noisy” river. To get to the other town from here, you’ll get to experience the most peaceful and scenic drive in New Mexico. NM-244. NM-244 is also the route you would take to get to Silver Lake. A popular tourist destination. Though I have never been, I still love this drive.

My first encounter on this road

The first time I remember experiencing this I was maybe in high school. It is the only connecting road between these two cities and if you wanted to access it another way, you have to go around to another nearby town and the bottom of the mountain, then go back up. As we were driving through I remember liking the scenery then, because it was more isolated. Less cars and things that may remind you of city life. It is a two lane road. One coming and one going. I have always been fascinated by wildlife in its natural environment so I would always be looking out. This is one of the first times I remember seeing a raven. I was positive this had to be a raven, because it was so majestic. This was not just a black bird that I would see back at home. It was perched on a wooden fence as we slowly took one the roads sharp turns. It also appeared to just be taking in the scenery.

At the time I didn’t really know where I was, but wouldn’t revisit it till much later. I don’t even remember how much later, but it must have been once I was old enough to drive and go there on my own. I have never driven it on my own, so it must have been with Vero or my sister. Once I did revisit, I knew this was the road where I saw the raven. And it’s not uncommon to see other wildlife. We have seen all the ones I mentioned before, except a bear, but I do know they are in the region.

If you are ever in either of these towns, I recommend taking the road less-traveled and rejuvenate your mind to bring that sense of peace to yourself. This road has been a memorable part of our lives since I showed it to Vero. We even took some wedding photos there. It is definitely recommended, you will not regret it.

Check out our video above of our experience from our Ruidoso 2022 trip. Check out our previous entry from our trip where we visit the Alamogordo Toy Train Museum. So what place comes to mind for you? Any Road Trip Gems near you? Leave us a comment down below.