Authenticity plays a key role in the judging
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Put on your cowboy hat and working pair of boots to celebrate the Old West’s restaurant on the range — the chuckwagon. Betcha there will be no microwave ovens in the infield of the Ruidoso Downs Race Track on New Mexico Highway 70 where 40 cowboy cookin’ teams will compete over open fires for a large purse for their beef, beans, potatoes, biscuit and dessert creations. Judges points are swayed by authenticity. This competition is the hottest in the West.
While others are held in convention centers and parking lots, this Chuckwagon Cookoff is located outdoors in a natural high desert racetrack infield. It’s part of the Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium, held the second weekend in October.
Conditions are rugged — no electricity, no running water, no amenities, period. Overhead there is plenty of clear blue sky, the sun beats down all day, and the stars and moon create another one of New Mexico’s enchanted evening.
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Ski Run Road. Photo by Frederick Mora
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Snow Country magazine called Ruidoso, New Mexico’s Ski Run Road “a 15-mile corkscrew with precious few guardrails.” Well, it’s actually only a little more than 12 miles up to Ski Apache (sometimes it just feels like more) and hey – there are more guardrails than there used to be.
“In the early 70s there were none,” Ski Apache General Manager Roy Parker said.
The potholes are gone, thanks to a $1 million resurfacing project. But old-timers remember the early days when it was a dirt road all the way to the top.
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