Black Mountain and Ozone Falls

One of the other Post-Docs at NMBios has kids that are Levin and Adas ages. They also really like going on hikes and exploring the area, so it seemed only natural that we should meet up for some exploration and playing. I suggested Black Mountain as our primary destination, an area I've had my eye on visiting since it supposedly has an easy loop hike, great rock formations (and even rock climbing) scenic views and of course, geocaches.

As you can see from the pictures below, the area lived up to my expectations.

The kids hit it off, and were soon running around, jumping on rocks, yelling, playing hide and seek, just having a great time. We had a leisurely picnic and I even got a chance to put on my climbing shoes and do a few bouldering problems. On the hike back to the car, we stopped at a geocache, GC2524, one of the older ones in the county and I hoped that it would have really neat kid toys in it so that we could show the other family how cool geocaching is.

Turns out the cache was mostly filled with junk, even melting gross M&Ms. Kind of a disappointment for such a nice cache container in a great area. I cleaned out most of the garbage, and we left a new toy in the cache. I think the the other family still might enjoy geocaching, but I wish the cache had been in better shape.

Instead of just heading home after our hike, I suggested we stop at Ozone Falls, which was nearby and shouldn't take long to see. Yes, of course there is an Earthcache there, but it was also becoming a hot afternoon and I thought that we might want to take a little dip to cool off. The falls were amazing, a 110 ft plunge into a large pool. We all stripped down and got in the water, cooling off, and enjoying the novelty of swimming underneath the falling water. A great finish to a great day.

All in all, 3 earthcaches logged and 2 traditionals, but more importantly, a great family outing to an area I hope to return to.