Rio Grande Gorge

Memorial Day 1

Rio Grande del Norte National Monument

Note the new “Photo Blog” category above. All future essay-free photo posts will show up there with just a click!

We were all alone for this, 800 feet above the Rio Grande. Sometimes it really is too much to take.

Chthonic Engine Noise

Rio Grand Gorge

Horizon line from hell

“Look, over there!” she said. I stared across the Rio Pueblo gorge until I spotted them, half a dozen somethings that weren’t rocks or trees, and then it clicked. “Bighorn sheep! See their white butts?” And so they were. It was like watching giraffes from a helicopter flying low across the veldt. What is this [...]

Razor Blade Tightwire

wife on sofa with cat

Laughing ’cause the cat wants the cheese

The engine screamed cleanly climbing out of the canyon at 5,000 rpm in 3rd. With the road to myself on a sunny cool day, I was taking the curves as fast as I could, windows wide open and the heater on full. Back in the motel in Albuquerque, she’d told me this wasn’t a day [...]

Bighorns on the Rocks

bighorn sheep in the Rio Grande Gorge

Definitely noticed us but didn’t mind too much

We saw these female bighorn sheep hopping over boulders at the bottom of the gorge near the Rio Grande. Some of the rocks are full of holes from gases trapped while the minerals were in a molten state. The geology of this place is only partly known to me, but they look like chunks of [...]

Rift Valley Afternoon

Rio Grande del Norte National Monument

Every mountain in this view is an extinct volcano (we hope)

Yes, it’s that view again. Why not? It’s different every time, and yesterday was perfect. I don’t have much to say right now, just look at this. That’s the gorge of the Rio Pueblo in the foreground, with the larger and deeper Rio Grande Gorge behind it. The tectonic plate on the other side thinks [...]

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