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I'm wondering if there is a direct paved road from Cloudcroft to Mescalero. From there i would take 70 into Ruidoso. Or does one have to come down the mountain from CLoudcroft to Tularosa and then up to Ruidoso. Thanks for the help. Maps are not good for this info.
Rt 244 gets you close to Mescalero, a little bit east of there. It's paved the entire route. I don't know of an alternate route that is paved, though I am sure there are some unpaved trails that might be more direct, but at the obvious expense of time. This beats going down the Sacramentos into Alamogordo then going north into Tularosa. My first night ever in New Mexico, I was driving from Cloudcroft to Ruidoso and used 244. An elk ran in front of our rented car, and we came within about 15 feet of totalling it. This was at nighttime. I thought it was an optical illusion.
The road is fine in winter as long as you wait for the plows to go through. Great drive year-round. There are multiple routes on dirt roads, but they are through the reservation. Not at all advised. You will not be welcome on that land.
Be VERY careful on Route 244 at night. The number of deer and elk out and about in that area is pretty amazing. And they don't look out for you, so you HAVE to look out for them.
My parents lived in Cloudcroft and used to go to dinner in Ruidoso frequently. I'm pretty sure that's the route they took. As I recall, it's a very easy drive, and takes just about an hour. They came home after dark all the time and never hit anything, but you do need to be alert in general on the mountain roads.
If they never hit anything after dark, they were definitely paying attention! It's a beautiful road.
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