Slow Down in Cloudcroft

“Cloudcroft has what many places don’t have—lots of space and clean air,” says Offolter, a High Rolls native who left first for Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and then San Diego, where she worked as a chef on private yachts. But the mountains called her back, and in 2023, she opened her bright, welcoming shop on James Canyon Highway. “I’m always amazed that in 10 minutes I can be on a trail by myself and see no one for hours,” she adds. “There’s so much peace to be found here.”

I want to experience it for myself. So I head across the street for a stroll down the creaky boardwalks of Cloudcroft’s main drag, Burro Avenue, where shops in aged brick and brightly painted wood buildings offer wares from local art and antiques to Peruvian alpaca hats and camping gear. 

Offolter’s pals and former courtyard neighbors—Nicole Alcorn, owner of the boutique Aspen & Ivy with its bespoke alpaca outerwear, and Trey McCurley, an artist and proprietor of the Little Gallery next door—relocated to Burro Avenue to take advantage of the heavy pedestrian traffic. “They’re thriving in their little shops,” Offolter assures me, since neither was open yet when I visited in late morning. One of the charms of the village is that even during its busiest summer months, merchants don’t rush to open. Must be on mountain time, I think.

Instead, I pop into Base Camp 9K, an outdoor adventure shop that also carries novelties, like a set of 50 scratch-off cards called New Mexico Adventure Bucket List, each of which features a New Mexico locale. I grab a box, ready to plan my journey. Back outside, I spot a bright blue Little Free Library box filled with well-loved reads fit for an evening in a mountain cabin or with a morning cup of coffee on the Lodge at Cloudcroft porch.

All that sauntering leads me to Cloudcroft Brewery Company, where I order their pizza margherita, a luscious pie of homemade sauce, mozzarella, basil, and garlic oil. I devour one slice and take the rest to go. Their roster of microbrews will have to wait until a companion can drive back down the mountain. 

Before I leave, I stop at Old Timey Candy & Ice Cream Shop. The retro spot oozes nostalgia from top to bottom, complete with faux-metal stamped ceiling, whimsical cookie jars, ice-cream-parlor-style seating, and bins and shelves stuffed with candy and soda from bygone eras. An entire row is dedicated to pastel-colored saltwater taffy. 

Other sweets jog childhood memories of endless summers and family vacations: Bit-O-Honey, Chuckles, Lemonheads, even the legendary road treat Stuckey’s Pecan Log Roll. “A lot of people say things like, ‘I used to get Chuckles when I was a kid,’ ” says Vicky Wiley, who opened Old Timey over Memorial Day weekend with her husband, Dusty, as an addition to their Dusty Boots Motel and Cafe. The ice cream counter beckons with 12 varieties of hard-pack, chocolate and vanilla soft serve, and three types of cones. Feeling adventurous, though, I opt for a chai shaved ice that I polish off just before leaving town. 

Wiley leans into a metaphor to describe Old Timey’s success in Cloudcroft: “The locals are our bread and the visitors are our butter,” she says. “I don’t want to sound corny, but they’re all part of this community that supports us.”

➤ Pair your mountain getaway with a road trip south to New Mexico's chile capital.