Fall Color at Cloudcroft

I meant to go Saturday evening to check out the fall color in Cloudcroft, but didn't. That meant I had to dash up there Sunday. I am soooo glad I made the effort. 

My primary areas to find some autumn color were basically done - we had a strongish wind Saturday night that probably blew the majority of the leaves down. However, right outside of Cloudcroft - less than five minutes - I found a couple of stands of trees in the peak of their color.

Meanwhile, I am getting ready for a fall trip next weekend to Utah. I will be hiking into some canyons, getting my feet wet in the rivers. I scored a ticket to a place called the Subway in Zion National Park; that place has been on my bucket list for quite some time. Now let's hope for clear skies when I go!

Cheers,

Marc

Taos Fall Photo Trip

We were trying to time our trip to northern New Mexico for peak fall color. While I don't know that we hit peak we did get some fantastic color, and the weather was perfect, too.

We got an early start - we were on the road by 6:00 am, and didn't get to Taos until lunch. We did stop along the Rio Grande near Taos, as that was the first real hit of color that we saw. The Rio Grande is much different this far north compared to our usual neck of the woods.

We had a nice lunch in Taos, then took off to drive the Enchanted Circle - a pretty stretch of highway that circles Wheeler Peak in the Carson National Forest.

The trees had the most color (and leaves) at about 9000 ft, but there weren't always pull outs on the road to get out and enjoy. What was available was still very nice!

We got back into Taos just in time for dinner, and with all that driving (and stopping for photos), I turned in pretty early. We also knew we needed to get back for laundry and to get ready for the next week, with a 6+ hour drive home. We were on the road by about 6:30, and since we took the scenic route through the mountains back home, took a bit longer than the way there.

It was cold in the mountains - they had already had their first snows for the winter, and nighttime lows were in the low/mid 20's. We drove most of the Enchanted Circle with the windows down. The sun was warm but the air was crisp - perfect!

Cheers,

Marc

More Sunsets

Have we said that we have more than our fair share of spectacular sunsets?

Tonight was another of those nights. We've had some clear skies lately, which as been great to let me photograph some stars, but I love some clouds to catch the last light of the day.

I was just reading (No Man An Island) a book outside, when the skies started to light up. I grabbed my camera and let Catherine and the kids know. Catherine came out to enjoy the show. 

I stuck around until the winds started to kick up. I was hoping to photograph the Milky Way as it set behind the mountains here, but those clouds and the wind weren't going to be conducive. We are lining up a trip to northern New Mexico shortly to hopefully capture some fall color in the southern Rockies. Otherwise, Ian completed his drivers' ed, now we just need to get his learners permit and have him drive me around the base for a bit.

Cheers!

Marc

Trinity Site

I made the trip north to the Trinity site - ground zero for the world's first nuclear bomb detonation - for the open house.

If you look close, there are loads of people inside the fence. While the sign is ominous, the background radiation is only 10x the average background for the US, with places with naturally occurring higher levels. Still, I wouldn't camp there...

I went to see the sights, but I also had a couple of Soldiers working the open house that I visited.

There isn't much there - it is out in the middle of nowhere (which describes most of New Mexico), other than a slight depression and some Trinitite, some mildly radioactive green rocks. Most of the Trinitite has been pilfered, but with the recent rains, I am told more was showing than in years past.

It was also the first time since 2019 that White Sands has been able to hold the open house, which looked to be pretty popular. There haven't been that many people on the north range in one place in years!

Cheers,

Marc

Lake Valley National Back Country Scenic Byway

Catherine is far too indulging of my desire to get up early and go shoot photos! I got up at 4 am this morning to drive 90 minutes to this spot along the highway between Hatch and Deming that I spotted on our drive back from Hatch when I took the scenic way home after a lunch out with Dad and Pam.

It was a bit tricky to find in the dark, but I found it and had time to spare to find my composition and shoot my photos. Sunrise lasted maybe 30 minutes - it was dark on this rural stretch of highway (no trains) and cool, but oh so worth the early alarm and longish drive. I didn't think I'd have an amazing sunrise, but New Mexico does seem to have more than its fair share!

Once the pretty colors of the sunrise were done, I packed up and drove the couple of miles to the start of the Lake Valley National Back Country Scenic Byway - Hwy 27. I saw fewer than 10 other vehicles, and a couple of those were ranchers who lived on the road. It was vast, empty, and starkly beautiful.

The road ends in Hillsboro, a sleepy little village with no gas station. I drove on to the Gila National Forest driving up out of the grassy desert into the mountains. These are not as high as the Lincoln National Forest, so no aspens, but still very pretty. This road snakes its way through the mountains - and is just as winding on the west side as on the east side (shown below).

This would be a fantastic drive in a Mini Cooper or on a motorcycle, assuming the deer, elk, bears, and mountain lions weren't crossing the road.

It was a great day for a road trip! I scoped out a nice camp area that I will take the family to, should be fun.

Cheers,

Marc

White Sands sunset-moonrise

Dad and Pam came for a visit, timed with the full moon rise that we watched from White Sands National Park.

We got there in time to watch the sunset, unlike our previous attempt.

I really didn't change the color/saturation. You can see from the photo below that the sand really is white. What I love about this place is that the sand reflects the sunset/sunrise colors, turning a lovely golden color this night compared to the pinks and golds from a prior trip, and of course the bright whites in the middle of the day.

We picked up the kids from school, enjoyed a nice picnic dinner at White Sands, and then waited. It was cool and a bit windy, but a very nice night to watch the sun set over the mountains to the west, and then the moon rise over the mountains to the east.

Cheers,

Marc

Hatch Chile Festival

We made our way to Hatch, NM today to experience the Hatch Chile Festival. Hatch is just over an hour away along the Rio Grande.

We were told by several people to get the chile burger at Sparkys, that they have the best burgers in New Mexico. They were certainly the best burgers I've had in a long while - Sparkys should be on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives!

Since the line was forming outside of Sparkys when we passed at 11:00, we decided to wait in line, which turned out to be a great choice. The line was easily twice as long when we left as when we arrived.

We then took a stroll through the rest of town and admired the sights and smells - roasting chiles is a distinctive smell, and kind of cool to see how they do it with the large drum roasters.

After a fairly local couple of weeks, it was nice to get out and sample some more of New Mexico.

Cheers,

Marc