Recently, we took a trip to New Mexico to meet up with the New Mexico Raptor Run group. This planned run took place between Alamogordo and Cloudcroft in southern New Mexico.
On the first day, we headed to White Sands National Park to capture some content before checking into our hotel.
The park is an absolutely breathtaking location, with true white sand dunes formed from eroded gypsum. Part of this trip was focused on testing a new set of Geiser springs we had just installed on our Raptor. This was our first real off-road test with them, and we were looking for better performance than the stock setup, which had been bottoming out under bed load on our previous trip.
We met up with the Raptor Run group at Dunkin Donuts before heading out to the trail. The route started in Alamogordo and covered about 35 miles through the desert up to Cloudcroft in the mountains. It’s designed to showcase the full range of New Mexico terrain, from flat desert and sand dunes to pine forests and higher elevation landscapes. There were 13 Raptors in total, which ended up being the perfect group size, big enough to be fun, but small enough to keep things moving without the typical slowdowns of larger groups.
Pictured above is the lineup of F-150 Raptors and Ranger Raptors.
We cruised for a while before stopping to take turns drifting through the red dirt and lining up for some drag racing. After getting it out of our system, we pushed out of the desert and made our way toward Cloudcroft via a forest road.
Here you can see our Raptor equipped with the ADD Edge Front Bumper.
As we gained elevation, the scenery changed fast. Desert brush turned into thicker vegetation, then eventually into dense pine forests.
By the end of the run, the sun had set and we were driving under a heavy canopy of trees, relying on our auxiliary lighting to see the trail. We eventually rolled into the small town of Cloudcroft, sitting at 8,676 feet. The temperature dropped noticeably, and we wrapped up the day with dinner at a local pizza spot.
The Geiser springs proved to be a solid upgrade, giving us a more progressive feel compared to the stock Raptor suspension and handling the added weight far better.
Huge thanks to the New Mexico Raptor Run group, they’re a great crew to run with. If you’re in the area, it’s worth reaching out and getting in on one of their events.
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