Sidetracked Charley

Map of Rio Grande Del Norte National Monument Took another photographic outing to the lower end of our newest national monument. There are other accesses to the beauty this monument holds but from where I live the lower end is the easiest to access. Many of the highway travelers to Taos are familiar with the scene below taken after the horseshoe turn. Turning north off of Hwy 68 on to 570 at Pillar gets you into the beautiful camping and day access areas of the monument. Rio Grande Gorge in the Taos Volcanic Plateau The Rio Grande River is very low because of the drought but my photographic partner and I were thrill to find the river a bit higher than our last trip due to recent rains.  The gorge and canyon walls that enclose the Rio Grande in the monument area are primarily basalt. The Taos Volcanic plateau was formed by seven different lava flows. The remnant cones of the volcanos are throughout the park area. But between flows the run off created layers of...

Big Horn Sheep My friend Jessica and I went looking for animals to photograph, and specifically yesterday we were looking for Big Horn Sheep. A few weeks ago, totally by accident, we stumbled on the Red River flock. I knew these gentle and magnificent animals had been reintroduced into Arizona and then New Mexico wilderness areas after having been almost totally killed off by diseases carried by domestic sheep. I did not know how well they were doing until I saw them in Red River, and then yesterday along the eastern and western edges of the Rio Grande River Gorge. In the two weeks since the accidental sighting along the Red River photographers have been quietly telling us where else they can be found. But as the picture above indicates you have to look closely. They camouflage quite nicely, and make you wonder how many I have seen but not noticed. Watching Us This small flock with two adult rams was along an escarpment defining the path of the Rio Grande Ri...