Lincoln National Forest; New Mexico

Our drive out of Carlsbad and into the Lincoln National Forest to get to the Air Force Base was beautiful! Once we started getting closer into the mountains though we saw smoke. Our first thought was a forest fire, but we shrug it off. However, as we drove around the curve and the smoke was billowing into the sky we were told by firemen to turn around! It was quite an adventure! We could see the huge fire that covered a tall evergreen tree.
When we got in that night to the campground, we looked up the latest news on the forest fire. It had started at 2pm that day (we were there around 4) and it had already covered 2,000 acres by that night! The wind was atrocious which didn't help. About 4 days later the Mayhill fire had covered 21,000 acres!!

Our drive:

Lincoln National Forest sign. Smokey the Bear was a real, baby bear found around 1950 that had been burned. He was found at the top of a tree and rescued! He was found in this forest!


This is where we stopped to stretch our legs, let the cars rest from the mountain we just drove up and to enjoy the scenery. This is at 9,200 feet elevation!

The fire: