Three from the road home.

Heading home from Durango yesterday these Canada Geese lifted off from a frozen marsh at the Monte Vista NWR and rose above the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. I got off a few frames as the light faded ...

Canada Geese, with a backdrop of the Sangre de Cristos

 Blanca Peak Range from the Monte Vista NWR, Colorado

click on the image to expand … it's quite large

 … but not before swinging around to the east and catching the last soft light on the 14,000 foot peaks of the southern Rockies.

Highway 142, Colorado

Of course this land is full of last minute surprises. Thirty minutes after the previous location of the mountains and Canada Geese we were about to cross the Rio Grande on Highway 142 to San Luis. Seeing the sunset in the rear view mirror we pulled over, turned the car west and pointed the high beams straight down the center line and into the sunset. Within a couple of minutes and a couple of dozen frames we were back in the car with the heater blasting … the air out there was not as warm as it looks. Nice shot tho' … worth the cold fingers, toes and noses.


Thanks for looking
Geraint Smith
San Cristobal, New Mexico

Around the Block #2

A trip to Cimarron and the Maxwell National Wildlife Refuge on the eastern plains of New Mexico in early November.

I headed out early and arrived in Cimarron and seeing that the "Burrito Banquet" was all shut up as was the "Idle Hour Cafe", I headed to the St. James Hotel an establishment of notoriety with ghosts in the halls and bullet holes in the tin ceilings, all from a bygone era and still lurking around to this day. I ate breakfast there. The egg sandwich and hash browns were great, the coffee could have been stronger. I enjoy an Americano in the morning, but the coffee shop I like to frequent in town, was closed. I've eaten at numerous establishments in Cimarron, except on a Sunday trip around the block, you take it as you find it.

The Burrito Banquet Wagon.

Idle Hour Cafe … now very idle.

Shortly after breakfast I was joined by Santa Fe photographer David Marks and off we went "around the block". We started at the local campground just up the street from the St. James Hotel. Out of nowhere a gale force wind blew in, lasting ten minutes or so, and freezing our digits. We thought the day was shot (pardon the pun). These tipis, however, didn't budge. 

I think they're formed out of concrete.

The front door and deck.

Just up the hill a little ways, and situated on a bluff resembling the "Boot Hill" of western legend, is the "Mountain View Cemetery". There are some image making opportunities for sure, but also a feeling of reverence for the place and people in this frontier town of Cimarron "Where the Rockies meet the Plains" (their motto).

Shrine at the entrance to the "Mountain View Cemetery"

Here lies the Rev. Franklin J. Tolby … a Methodist minister whose 

martyrdom sparked the "Colfax County War," a series of violent 

events culminating in President Rutherford B. Hayes' removal of the 

New Mexico Governor for corruption and incompetence …. read more.

Some of the grave markers are 

elaborate and well maintained … 

Others appear to be moving with ease, through 

the long grasses, which adorn the cemetery.

The sun came out for a moment and it felt warmer. Roaming around and shooting at will we discovered some of Cimarron's quirkier photo ops.

Kokopeli tooting their flutes make the flags dance.

RGB … red green blue.

A wagon wheel on a pastel painted wall ...

… a piece of a larger composition.

One end of a long building …

… and the whole bookshelf of a building  

(click on the image to enlarge, it's a fun read).

My guess is, this store sells so much more!!!

A couple of real pots and some Trompe-l'œil pots.

A very New Mexico icon … "The Skull"

Cut out of a sheet of plywood and painted.

Done for the time being in Cimarron … we headed to the Maxwell National Wildlife Refuge about 20 miles down US Route 64 … we would return for a late lunch at the St. James Hotel mid afternoon. 

It's very peaceful out here on the plains. 

It feels like the middle of nowhere until ...

… we stir up a flock of Mallards who circle us 

for just a moment, as if wanting their marsh back.

We see them off in the distance joined by others 

and then they are gone. As suddenly as we 

disturbed the peace and quiet, the wind breathes 

silence back into the landscape once again.

Traveling on one of the unpaved roads which criss-cross the wildlife refuge, David spotted a small congregation of sheep, a guardian watchdog and a brooding sky. David got a nice wide shot of the sheep and the sky with a hill, a smaller version of Abiquiu's Cerro Pedernal, in the distance.

One of the flock …

… and their guardian angel.

From what I could gather, the large flocks of Sandhill Cranes and geese, appeared to be keeping to themselves. We could see them a few miles away, and through the long lenses, were able to identify the species. 

The elusive Sandhill Cranes.

Hawks, on the other hand were plentiful, and a Bald Eagle sat in a tree where I'd spotted him a year ago. I've since learned that he/she is a permanent resident.

David was riding shotgun and started sighting numerous juvenile Red-tailed Hawks and Swainson's Hawks … we think!

This raptor I'm sure, saw us before we saw it.

It didn't stick around very long.

No sooner had we rounded the next bend, David pointed out a second raptor, perched on some sort of gorse bush watching us.

I managed to get a few frames 

from the driver side window ...

… and then it was off on it's merry way to 

tear off some unsuspecting rodents head.

This raptor could possibly be the same bird from the 

last location, having decided to taunt our own 

hawk-eye lenses in this new spot. I get a nice 

close-up and an languorous inquisitive stare. 

When the bird lifted off I was so close that some of 

its wing went out of frame. That said, a shot from 

this angle really shows off its exquisite plumage.

Stirring up the local Red-winged Blackbirds in a 

neighboring tree, upon lift off, the same hawk 

alighted on a nearby power pole unperturbed 

as the disgruntled flock swarms by!

Mule deer are everywhere and definitely posers. The stags are solid and hold their ground firmly, three of them seem to defy the odds until they don't and bolt away through the prairie grasses of the reserve.

"The Watchers" a Doe and a Fawn.

Three stags.

And off they go….

Happy for the days outing and the wildlife we saw, we are hungry now. Leaving the reserve we decide to make a circuitous route north towards Raton in the general direction of the Sandhill Cranes we had spotted early, which are now nowhere to be seen. We did get a few shots of Pronghorn, loping along as they do over the prairie.

Pronghorn

Ok, so now we are ready to eat! It seems like the day is done and we will head home after lunch. On the road back to Cimarron I can't resist a road shot with the storm brewing ahead and what looks like directly above the town. I discovered later, that I would be driving home through sleet and snow with temperatures dropping.

US Route 64 runs for 2,326 miles from the 

Outer Banks in eastern North Carolina to just 

southwest of the Four Corners in Arizona. 

For lunch I had fish and chips … what can I say? David had the St. James burger. We both goofed around taking silly selfies with the St James residents.

The Cat.

The Elk.

We still had an hour of daylight so we trundled off to Rayado, NM. David remembered a little chapel there that was a dark red color.

Kinda dark red

Rayado Church … not red anymore.

And the road beckons the next 

"Around the Block"

"A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it." George A. Moore

Thanks for looking.

Geraint Smith

San Cristobal, New Mexico

Here's a way to join us on a photo safari or a day trip photo tour

NewMexicoPhotoSafaris.Com

Oh! …  I forgot the Mountain Bluebird 

Last but not least, the Mountain Bluebird.

Around the block #1

A trip this week took us south of Taos through the Orilla Verde Recreation Area in the Rio Grande Gorge. We took the road up the canyon with views of the mesa and snow capped peaks beyond, then turning north along the West Rim Road we crossed the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge and headed home to San Cristobal.

This time trip lasted about two hours but might have been longer had we encountered Bighorn sheep as we have on numerous occasions in the past. They, the Bighorn, were more elusive this time.

I've gone around the block many times … "around the block" might take an hour or maybe a short day trip which includes a sunset. On the other hand it might be a trip lasting numerous days. No matter it's length, it is a trip which brings us back home all the richer for the adventure and places we've explored.

Here are some images from the trip "around the block" before the snow storm hit Taos this week.

The Rio Grande Gorge cuts through the Taos Volcanic Plateau and the highway as it descends in to the canyon heading south to Santa Fe

An old dog watching us from the highway. I felt a kindred spirit.

This view of Gold Hill can be seen from the road as it climbs out of the Orilla Verde Recreation Area to the West Rim. At this point the views of the Gorge and the mountains beyond are most spectacular. 

On the West Rim is a very large steel building set off by the light and framed by the clouds and mountains  … I wonder what it is.

A raven soars overhead with a brooding sky. This is the storm building the day before the big snow storm.

A little patch of light hurries across the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo mountains and illuminates some areas of scrub oak and pine trees. 

Heading home through the Arroyo Hondo Valley the setting sun lights up the red willows and a cottonwood tree which only two weeks ago was full of golden leaves. The house on the right looks perfectly situated. The mountains which surround the whole of the Taos Valley and the neighborhoods beyond can be seen in all their evening finery.

Arriving home in San Cristobal the storm clouds build and the last light on the mountain beckons the storm to come.

Geraint Smith 

San Cristobal, New Mexico