New Mexico & Colorado

Ruidoso, New Mexico

Our travels in New Mexico began in Ruidoso. As you can see from the relief map, Ruidoso is located in the mountains, surrounded on the east and west by desert. Ruidoso is a closely guarded secret, seemingly only known to Texans trying to escape the heat of the summer. The evidence was overwhelming; all anyone has to do is look at the license plates! Ruidoso only landed on our itenerary because of some Internet searches.

After driving from Amarillo, TX through desert terrain with temperatures in the 90’s, we started climbing in elevation just west of Roswell, NM. By the time we hit Ruidoso, the temp was a wonderful 75° and we were surrounded by pine trees and mountain peaks. Ruidoso is a small, tourist-oriented, one-street town, filled with restaurants, galleries, and shops—some of them quite good, and some of them quite junky. A world-class horse racing venue, Ruidoso Downs in just outside of town. Although relatively isolated from any major population areas, Ruidoso was a pleasant first stop, one we enjoyed very much.

Ruidoso is in the shadow of Sierra Blanca mountain—at 11,977 feet elevation, it is the tallest, southern-most mountain the the Rockies. It is also home of Ski Apache, the southern-most ski resort in the US. On the way to the ski area is a dirt road that leads to Monjeau Lookout. The Ruidoso photographs were taken from the lookout.

White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

The Tularosa Basin lies at the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert. Surrounded by mountains, it is the home to 275 square miles of glistening gypsum sand dunes — reaching as far as the eye can see. Ever changing from continual southwest winds, the dunes cover everything in their path. The road through the national monument must be regularly plowed as if the landscape were covered with fresh fallen snow each evening.

The dunes are wonderful to photograph in the late evening and early morning, when a low sun illuminates the intricate wave-like patterns in the sand. Broader scenic shots focus on lines and multi-layer shades of white. Background mountains and interesting clouds add a contrast to the stark desert scenes.

Taos, New Mexico

Gathering Storm Clouds

Taos was a destination more out of curiosity than anything else, and it was delightful. It gave Sandy more opportunities to peruse art galleries—on a smaller scale that what Santa Fe has to offer, but still good. I discovered through Internet research that the nearby Rio Grande Gorge was a sight to see, and it certainly was. We also added a mild white-water raft trip down the "Racecourse" section of the Rio Grande (no camera) and drove up to the ski resort.

For our entire stay in New Mexico, we were impressed by the clouds, and the ability to see multiple thunderstorms in different directions while traveling down a highway. In most cases, it rarely rained on us, but we coud see the rain in the distance.

Near the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge

Rio Grande River -- looking north

The Rio Grande has cut a gorge 650 feet deep and 1200 across the desert. Conveniently, it can be viewed from a bridge on Highway 64 just north and west of Taos. While driving across the high desert terrain, there is no evidence of the deep canyon until you are almost on top of it.

While we were there, Native Americans had set up tables of jewlery they were selling in a parking lot at the end of the bridge. It was here that I captured the two shots of the threatening clouds.

Rio Grande River -- looking south

Later in our Taos stay, we took a half-day float trip on the river south of this point by several miles to an area accessible from the road. Longer trips will float through the gorge. During August, the water was relatively quiet, but there were enough rapids and large rocks in the water to give us a few thrills. Next time, we would like to do a full day trip in the spring.

The bridge (pictured below) is an interesting platform from which to photograph. The structure is so long that traffic, especially large trucks, will cause significant enough bouncing so as to warrant waiting to snap the camera’s shutter when using slower shutter speeds.

You also want to be careful about stepping into the roadway to navigate aound people standing on the narrow sidewalks. Traffic here rarely seems to slow for crowds of visitors. Personally, I did not see the "speed up" signs at each side of the bridge, but they must have been there. We even witnessed a drag race taking both lanes across the bridge...peeling rubber and all.

Rio Grande Gorge Bridge

Return ski run to the base lift

Taos Ski Valley, New Mexico

2257 feet above the high desert floor provides a striking change of environment. High desert changes to verdant alpine scenery in only 8 miles of climbing on Highway 150. There are plenty of turn-outs, hiking trails, and campgrounds along a stream that follows the road deep in the National Forest. The ski area was mostly deserted in late summer, but a visitor’s office was open, and the woman working there was pleased to provide ample information about accommodations for the coming ski season. There is some lodging available on the mountain, but nothing like the more developed resorts along Interstate highways or closer to larger population centers. The relative isolation of Taos Ski Valley may explain the limited off-season activities. Hikers and campers, however, will most likely appreciate the quiet beauty of the surroundings.

Cool enough for a light jacket, Sandy and the pups joined me for a brief hike up ski run. Wildflowers were blooming everywhere along the way.

The Colorado leg of our trip was almost an identical repeat of a trip we took the previous winter over the Christmas and New Years holidays. That trip overlapped somewhat with the solo photo trip I did about four months earlier. Yes, we like the area! The San Juan Mountain Range in southwest Colorado is among the prettiest anywhere, supporting outdoor activities year around. Winter in Colorado is about skiing, and we took advantage of trying three resorts for the first time: Durango Mountain Resort (Purgatory), Telluride, and Crested Butte. All are off the well-traveled and beaten path, and all were un-crowded and delightful.

Durango, Colorado

Durango is one of my favorite small, mountain towns. We were excited to return in the summer to see a different season, ride the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, and try our hand at fly fishing.

The trip on the D&SNGRR to Silverton follows the Animas River upstream for 45 miles and it takes about 3 1/2 hours. So, you are on the train for the scenery, not the speed. And incredible mountain scenery it is, although the origins of the line were for more pragmatic reasons—servicing the booming mining town of Silverton. The narrow gauge rails are three feet apart rather than the four feet eight and one-half inches of the standard gauge tracks. Why? To more easily navigate the sharp twists and turns of the mountain environment.

Today, over 200,000 people take this trip trip each year, keeping the line busier than its founders ever imagined.

Virtually all my nature photos are taken with my camera firmly mounted to a tripod. This allows maximum sharpness with a variety of shutter speeds. Tripod on a train? I don’t think so; consequently all photos were taken with the camera hand-held.

ALL ABOARD!

Silverton, Colorado

I had never caught a fish before—never. In fact, I had deep psychological issues about fishing going back to my childhood. See, I had given up the opportunity to go to the state fair in favor of sitting at a small park pond all day waiting for a crummy little fish to bite the worm on my hook. So I had to beat the demons and give it one more good try. What a better place to try than in the locations you see below. If fact, without a fish this time around, the day would hardly be spoiled.

We pre-booked a guide, Tim, from Animas Valley Anglers out of Durango. All gear and lunch was supplied—all we had to do was be ready for Tim to pick us up at our motel in he morning. Not even knowing where he was planning to take us, I was pleasantly surprised to hear we were headed to back to Silverton, this time by highway.

We drove through Silverton for a short distance along a gravel road boardering a small stream which fed the Animas. Tim had Sandy and me don our waders, although by the size of the streams, we barely made it up to our knees in water. Still, the water was snow-melt cold, and yes, there still was snow in the hills.

Tim promised that the trade-off for small mountain streams where the scenery could not be beat, would be small trout...and he was right. After just a little bit of instruction, both Sandy and I were catching small brook trout—Sandy more than me.

After a morning of fishing the Animas, we drove up a dirt road along Cunningham Creek to seek out the mighty Cutthroat.

My first Cutthroat trout . All the fish we caught were released to work again the next day.

Where else do you find fishing scenery like this? The late afternoon lighting on far mountain is just incredible.

Ouray, CO

No, we did not encouter snow in August. We took this shot in December 2006 on a previous trip.

Prospectors discovered Ouray in 1875 searching for silver and gold. Today, tourists flock to Ouray to discover rugged off-road trails that climb throughout the San Juans leading to old mining claims and basins full of wildflowers.

The entire town is registered as a National Historic District with many buildings dating back to the 19th century. Less than a square mile in area, Main Street is flanked by only a couple of roads.

If "Switzerland" means "small town surrounded on three sides by steep mountains, Ouray deserves its nickname. If 4-wheeling isn’t your thing, hiking, soaking in natural hot springs, perusing the trendy shops on Main Street, dining in several good restaurants, or ice-climbing in the winter in the town’s artificial ice park are other possibilities.

With less than two days remaining at the end of a long trip, we planned two off-road adventures. Having learned the limits of my stock Honda Pilot, and a line I did not want to cross from my September 2006 trip to the same area, it was an easy decision to rent a Jeep Wrangler. This was my first time driving a Jeep with high and low gears and a manual four-wheel drive. This is going to sound like my wife, but the Jeep also had to be bright red for maximum contrast against the mountain scenery backgrounds.

The goal of our warm up trip the first day was the trail up to Imogene Pass and back, based on the recommendation from the woman we rented the Jeep from at Switzerland of America. Had we gone the entire way, and that would have been way cool, we would have descended into Telluride, then taken the long highway route back to Ouray. She told us, however, that some rocks slides on the other side of the pass might make it more difficult for our first time out. We easily decided to take her recommendation to stop and turn around at the pass.

We almost made it.

It took half the warm-up trip to get used to the Jeep, its gearing, and its clearance. I’m not even sure it had a suspension as our insides were considerably mixed-up by the end of the trip. The first part of the road was 2-wheel passable and deceptively easy, but then we turned left at the sign...

Nervous sounds from Sandy (or were they from me?) did not deter our progress. Rocks that I would have normally stopped for and removed from the road with a bulldozer were nothing for the Jeep. What scenery? I had my eyes glued to what was immediately in front of me. Occasional stops, however, allowed me to pry my fingers from the steering wheel and smell the fresh mountain air.

Fields of wildflowers with Imogene Pass in the distance

See why I picked red? When my tripod took this shot, we were about to finish the last leg of the trip up to the pass, pictured in two shots before this one. We braked as three jeeps a couple hundred feet in front of us were stopped on the narrow shelf road. Drivers were scratching their heads—must have been trying to figure out how to navigate over an obstacle. Finally, the lead Jeep set out, but became stuck.

Meanwhile, a few ATV’s approached us from the rear, but I wasn’t about to budge until the rush-hour traffic in front of me dissipated. Their vehicles were small enough to pass me, so impatiently they did. Then they tried to pass the 3-Jeep roadblock, and although we could not see very well, one ATV must have tipped over, given the commotion and arm waving that ensued. We figured there must have been an injury involved. As this was going on, a guide-led, multi-passenger tour truck was descending the road. It was quickly becoming a cluster thing, and we hoped the guide could sort things out. Not wanting to add to the blockage, I backed down the road a hundred feet or so, turned around, and abandoned the goal of reaching Imogene Pass. So close!

On our way back down the hill, we pulled off on a side road by an old collapsed mining building. We followed the road for a short distance back into the trees and discovered a wonderful little water cascade.

The Chi’s loved the lunch stop, both for the handouts and the ability to run around with their sniffers going a hundred miles per hour. They were even less enamored than we with the severe bouncing conditions in the Jeep, so they were grateful for a break.

On day two we headed back down to Silverton on the highway to pick up the southern half of the Alpine Loop over Cinnamon Pass to Lake City on the east.

By the second day, I finally felt comfortable with the Jeep, so we tried quite a bit longer trip. The first part to Silverton was on the paved highway, so I got to try all six gears on the very infrequent straight-aways. Leaving Silverton, we were on a nicely graded and level gravel road as began to follow the Animas River to its source high in the mountains. But we couldn’t get very high in the mountains until the road narrowed and it became significantly steeper...and bumpier. When we hit the turn-off to Cinnamon Pass, the white knuckles were back—briefly. Using the lowest of low gears, we were glad no one was coming down. There was no room on the stream we were climbing...uh, I mean road.

Cinnamon Pass

After the first steep section, the road became much easier. The reward would soon come at 12,640 feet. Above the tree line, we had unobstructed views for miles in each direction.

Great shot of Sandy’s showing the trail descending from Cinnamon Pass.

Once again, THE red Jeep

One of my favorite shots Sandy took as I was behind the Jeep setting up the two previous pictures. She just kept walking down the road after I stopped-- it was less bumpy that way! I love the photograph as it, more than any of the others, shows the scale of the mountains. If you are wondering, I eventually picked her up and asked her out to lunch in Lake City.

If you have made it this far, you have come to the end of the show. Thanks for coming along. Please send your comments to bill@ShadesOfNature-Photo.com and tell me what your favorite image is.