Friday, March 30, 2012

Gila National Forest (and Elk)

We've been having some pretty hot afternoons.
What best then but to go to the mountains?
The 10+ degree difference has been delightful

This day we took a 7-hour (from our campground round-trip) loop drive through the Gila National Forest.
We began the scenic part of the trip on Route 59 which is a grassland. 

It's not long before we entered the Gila National Forest.




A side route went up to Lookout Mountain.
According to the sign it was 8 miles to the top.

At 7.5 miles we came to this gate.
With only a half mile to go, we left the jeep and headed up on foot.

And then we came to this.....
Of course I was wearing sandals and this was deep!
There was a narrow side trail a short way back....
Where there's a will,
there's a way.

Interesting, FS Route 226 was where we turned to come up here.
  Eight miles by road and only 1.2 miles as the crow flies.

The fire tower at the top.
8878' elevation

I climbed the first two flights to get the photos above and below.
The third was closed at the top so
I had to quit here.
Annoying.
So near and yet so far.

Beautiful view from the top!


Returning through the tracks we made going up.

Those of you who have followed this blog for any length of time know about our continuing 2-year quest to see elk.
We have seen more signs for elk than I can count;
made numerous drives through elk habitat
and
have seen hundreds (literally) of piles of elk scat.
But nary an elk.

Finally, between 8 to 12 of them!
Naturally they wouldn't pose
or
come out where they could easily be photographed.

Lousy photos
but
it is proof that we saw them - finally!
We can go home relatively happy.


Many miles later we had this view
of  the
Lookout Mountain Lookout


Monticello Canyon and the San Mateos






















Fortunately the road only got this rough for a very short distance.



I don't think I could ever tire of exploring this countryside.



Great Horned Owls

If you ever find yourself in Las Cruces, they have the most wonderful museum.
We were there several years ago and enjoyed it immensely.
Unfortunately this year we have not had the time when in town to visit again.
They have expanded the outside exhibits to cover acres.
We could easily spend hours here.

We only stopped to buy pistachios but, that's another story.

One small view of the
New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum

This is the front of the main museum building
and
if you look very closely
up in the rafters.....
Can you see them?

A pair
of
Great Horned Owls !

The female.
We were told there is another pair in one of the farm buildings.

Now isn't that alone worth the trip?

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge

Seven years ago we worked as volunteers at the Bosque for the winter season.
Elephant Butte, where we are camped this February and March, is about an hour south of the refuge.  We decided that before the winter ends we should go back, see the sandhill cranes and snow geese, visit the refuge office and drive the loop road to view any changes.
The biggest change we could see was the staff.
Only one person that we knew was there.
We had a great visit with LeighAnn
catching up on all the happenings.

There were very few birds and those were mainly ducks and coots.

I hadn't really given it any thought until the morning of the trip.
The sandhill cranes and snow geese usually leave in February to begin the spring
return to their breeding grounds.
This year was no different.
They left right on schedule, about February 14th.

The refuge has many canals that are used to manage the fields.








This was Vic's "toy" while we were there.
He put a few hundred hours on this piece of equipment,
much of it on the tamarisk eradication project.
Tamarisk is non-native. 
Unlike plants and trees that are native, tamarisk uses
a copious amounts of water and crowds out the native species.

We were happy to see that the project was successful.
No signs of tamarisk anywhere on the refuge!


During the winter the cranes and snow geese feed on the
corn and alfalfa
provided in the farm fields at the refuge.
These irrigation ditches provide coyotes with a place to hide while stalking the birds.
They were fondly referred to as 'coyote runways'.
A coyote could run out of sight along these ditches, put it's head up at intervals while searching for an unsuspecting crane or goose that wasn't too far away.


The green in the canal is Parrot Feather, also a non native species.
One of Vic's jobs with the excavator was to clean this out.
The job has to be done every few years as it comes back again and again.


Why did the turtle cross the road? 
So I would photograph it and make it famous on the internet.