Organ Mountains National Monument, Las Cruces, New Mexico – Sierra Vista Trail There’s a wind coming off Las Cruces, I tip my head just enough. The trail is easy, a combination of gravel and loose rock. Arroyo crossings surrounded by prickly pear, fishhook cactus, lechuguilla and ocotillo in bloom. Dry desert grass dancing in the …
Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, Las Cruces, New Mexico – Baylor Pass
It’s a hard drive across west Texas with the sun in my eyes. Visor permanently down. One hundred miles straight shot, no services. Moving across the flats of far west Texas toward El Paso, cell coverage drops and I’m counting the miles to what I hope will bring gas in the next forty. Air conditioning …
Guadalupe Ridge Trail via Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Connecting Texas and New Mexico Riding tonight I sense a change in hoofbeats as my horse moves through the desert. A hollowness unfelt before. As I contemplate the consistency of his steps, a barn owl rises from a jagged hole of white strata. Layer on layer of rock descending into the earth. Soaring to the …
Continue reading "Guadalupe Ridge Trail via Carlsbad Caverns National Park"
Black River, New Mexico
Campfire throwing shadows across my horse. Dog rolling in the hay - dirty of course. Ever searching for that last buried bone. It’s early morning, the sun still asleep. We sit, listening to distant sounds of highway mixed with propane flames. Coffee brewing. Color slowly unrolls to the east as I prepare to ride and …
Desert Treasure
Caballo Lake State Park, Caballo Mountains, New Mexico The land here in southern New Mexico is harsh and gentle at the same time. You see this most clearly if you follow the Rio Grande north from Texas. A ribbon of green snaking along the valley, flanked by desert mountains. Mountains which look soft from a …
Chihuahuan Desert Education Coalition 