Once my post op shoulder was reasonably functional in late March, I decided to do a road trip through NMex and Arizona :-) The first stop was Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge to see if any Sandhill Cranes were around...
The weather was blustery but there were probably 3000 cranes around the refuge, most way out of range for photos, even with a long lens.
Here were a few cranes close enough to photograph with the Sangre de Cristo mountains in the background.
After Monte Vista, I headed south via 285 through northern New Mexico and hopped on I-25 south from Sante Fe. I wasn't ready for the very UN relaxing driving between Sante Fe and Albuquerque - people were driving like loonies! Eventually I found a nice quiet off the road bivy south of Socorro for the night.
It was cold in the morning, so I just brewed up my morning tea in the back of the Rav4 :-)
The first stop this morning was Bosque del Apache wildlife refuge in south central NMex. Although I didn't see many songbirds, there were quite a few water birds and some raptors. Here is a Comorant hanging out.
The Road Runner is fairly common here and this one led me down the road for quite some distance as I tried to get a good pic - I think he was pretty entertained!
My stop for the night was Percha Dam state park - a quiet little park in southern NMex that has pretty good birds as I found out by chance last winter :-)
The dam was releasing quite a bit of water which made for nice white noise to sleep to. That morning I saw about 25 different species of birds before I continued the drive south...
The Organ mountains lie just east of Las Cruces NMex and I had always wanted to stop and check them out. Not only is there lots of high adventure climbing here (next time maybe...) but there are some cool hiking trails and obviously rugged and beautiful terrain.
Some neat flowers on the west side of the Organ mountains.
A very dramatic warning sign but I guess they have to try and educate folks who are not used to being out 'in the woods'...
More cool flowers on the west side.
After checking out the kind of hot and somewhat barren west side, I drove over to the east side which was more lush. Here are some cool Yuccas in bloom.
Check out all that granite up there! There are quite a few established climbing routes on the east side of the Organ mountains, but most are guarded with pretty nasty approach hikes in the 1-3 hour range - big adventure.
A late day shadow selfie pic.
The last rays of sun catch the tops of the Organ mountain needles. Some of the rock formations get as high as 1000' with summits over 8000' above sea level.
I got a nice campsite with a great view at the Aguirre Spring campground on the east side. Unfortunately the easter Sunday crowd had just left and there was an incredible amount of trash left behind, how sad... I cleaned up my site and enjoyed the evening view :-)
The east side of the Organ mountains at sunrise.
A wider shot showing the moon setting as the sun had just risen.
A different view of the east side a little while after sunrise with the moon about to disappear behind the needles.
Juniper berry close up
A White-winged Dove on a branch against the backdrop of the Organ mountains. There were a fair number of desert birds around in the morning which was nice.
After breakfast and checking out the birds, I hiked the Pine Tree Trail which was a really nice 4 mile loop with about 1000' of elevation gain. Cool terrain and great views and only a few other people :-)
Scenery along the Pine Tree Trail
Pine tree trail selfie
More views looking west towards the Organ Mountains west side.
A view to the east from near the high point of the trail with White Sands NM in the upper right corner in the distance.
A female Vermillion Flycatcher that was hanging out at Percha Dam state park. Next stop after the Organ Mountains was Portal Arizona to connect with my friend Steve and do some birding :-)
Once my post op shoulder was reasonably functional in late March, I decided to do a road trip through NMex and Arizona :-) The first stop was Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge to see if any Sandhill Cranes were around...
Here were a few cranes close enough to photograph with the Sangre de Cristo mountains in the background.
After Monte Vista, I headed south via 285 through northern New Mexico and hopped on I-25 south from Sante Fe. I wasn't ready for the very UN relaxing driving between Sante Fe and Albuquerque - people were driving like loonies! Eventually I found a nice quiet off the road bivy south of Socorro for the night.
It was cold in the morning, so I just brewed up my morning tea in the back of the Rav4 :-)
The first stop this morning was Bosque del Apache wildlife refuge in south central NMex. Although I didn't see many songbirds, there were quite a few water birds and some raptors. Here is a Comorant hanging out.
The Road Runner is fairly common here and this one led me down the road for quite some distance as I tried to get a good pic - I think he was pretty entertained!
My stop for the night was Percha Dam state park - a quiet little park in southern NMex that has pretty good birds as I found out by chance last winter :-)
The dam was releasing quite a bit of water which made for nice white noise to sleep to. That morning I saw about 25 different species of birds before I continued the drive south...
The Organ mountains lie just east of Las Cruces NMex and I had always wanted to stop and check them out. Not only is there lots of high adventure climbing here (next time maybe...) but there are some cool hiking trails and obviously rugged and beautiful terrain.
Some neat flowers on the west side of the Organ mountains.
A very dramatic warning sign but I guess they have to try and educate folks who are not used to being out 'in the woods'...
More cool flowers on the west side.
After checking out the kind of hot and somewhat barren west side, I drove over to the east side which was more lush. Here are some cool Yuccas in bloom.
Check out all that granite up there! There are quite a few established climbing routes on the east side of the Organ mountains, but most are guarded with pretty nasty approach hikes in the 1-3 hour range - big adventure.
A late day shadow selfie pic.
The last rays of sun catch the tops of the Organ mountain needles. Some of the rock formations get as high as 1000' with summits over 8000' above sea level.
I got a nice campsite with a great view at the Aguirre Spring campground on the east side. Unfortunately the easter Sunday crowd had just left and there was an incredible amount of trash left behind, how sad... I cleaned up my site and enjoyed the evening view :-)
The east side of the Organ mountains at sunrise.
A wider shot showing the moon setting as the sun had just risen.
A different view of the east side a little while after sunrise with the moon about to disappear behind the needles.
Juniper berry close up
A White-winged Dove on a branch against the backdrop of the Organ mountains. There were a fair number of desert birds around in the morning which was nice.
After breakfast and checking out the birds, I hiked the Pine Tree Trail which was a really nice 4 mile loop with about 1000' of elevation gain. Cool terrain and great views and only a few other people :-)
Scenery along the Pine Tree Trail
Pine tree trail selfie
More views looking west towards the Organ Mountains west side.
A view to the east from near the high point of the trail with White Sands NM in the upper right corner in the distance.
A female Vermillion Flycatcher that was hanging out at Percha Dam state park. Next stop after the Organ Mountains was Portal Arizona to connect with my friend Steve and do some birding :-)
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