Talpa Ridge

From our house, the flying crow finds the Carson National forest a 1/2 mile southeast.

A walking Paul finds the forest 3/4 of a mile to the east. A mile later and a 1,000 feet higher, a huffing puffing and, by now, panting and resting Paul reaches the crest of the Talpa Ridge. And that same Paul walks along the ridge 8,200' above sea level and, using his camera as an excuse, stops frequently to snap photos and pant some more.

And here are some of those photos

Looking towards the west, we see both Talpa and Ranchos de Taos. South Taos, if you will.In the distance are the Tusas Mountains and, towards the north, is the Taos Plateau, the volcanic field I mentioned in the previous post.

To the north is Taos. And what is commonly called Taos Mountain with the tip of Wheeler Peak (the highest point in New Mexico) and the Taos Ski Valley visible in the distance.

Hard to see stuff in these small photos. Here is a closer view of those mountains

Turning around, looking to the south, we see Truchas Peak, which I think is the second highest peak in New Mexico.

And continuing to turn a bit to the southwest, we come to Picuris Peak.

Let's see. Where else can we look?

Oh, lets look down

I don't know the name of this flower. If you know, please let me know.

This one I do know. It is a Castilleja (aka Indian Paintbrush) at the base of a Cholla.

So I stumbled back down the hill, falling only once. And at home I found the apricot tree in full bloom

And inside, I checked up on my hand planted yucca seeds and found them happy as can be

And the best part: I encountered no one on the trail. Social distancing at it's best.

Hope you are doing well.

Mountainous Hill

I gotta blog about something.

Bored, I'm bored. And you must be bored too, since you are reading this.

So blogging is something for me to do. But what to say?

I've always been aghast with wonder at those who have so many words and so little to say. But now I will try to emulate them.

You know me, many of my words are spoken with pictures. Here's a picture

A pretty average photo, eh. But it's where I'm isolated, here in Taos. Actually a pretty good place to be isolated. And at least I now have an excuse for not receiving visitors.

But I've watched enough tv and I'm pretty sure I've seen every show ever recorded.

So I head out to be even more by myself, like here

Where I saw this

which you recognize as a juvenile borrego ram.

I wandered a little bit around Cerro Montoso, which my version of Spanish translates to Mountainous Hill. A pretty good name. Cerro Montoso is in the middle of the Taos volcanic field and is the largest volcanic field in the Rio Grande Rift. The field was most active 1 to 4 million years ago and today is dormant, perhaps even dead, but there are hot springs around the area, so who knows?

Wandering up the flank of this moutainous hill, I saw lots ... I mean a LOT ... of this

That is elk poop (you can tell by the taste).

As I wandered, I snapped a few photos

In the distance is the west side the Sangre de Cristos mountains, which themselves are the southern & eastern most part of the Rockies. And if you look closely, you can see the dark gash of the Rio Grande Gorge, which looks like this when you get closer

Well, as I wandered, I came across this

Lots of long bones and a complete spinal column of what?

I've already given you a hint but I'll give you a better view of a bit

You are right! This is the pelvis of an elk. I think it's a male. And it's worth $32 (online price comparison).

I brought it home.

Hey, it's worth $32. What am I supposed to do? Leave it there?