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New Mexico

Sedimentary bluffs outside of Cuba, NM.

A dry wash. Note how quickly the terrain changed from Colorado: from alpine, to high forest, to high desert; the change coincides with both a shift in latitude and elevation.

A sandstone mesa south of Cuba

A larger escarpment

The landscape in New Mexico and Arizona was created by two geological forces: the bedrock is primarily sedimentary sandstone and shale, and more recently there has been volcanic activity that, among other things, punctuated the horizon-flat ground with small volcanoes, the erosion-resistant plugs of which are visible in this photo.

Pillars of sandstone

Arroyo Chico, a muddy creek that rages when the rain falls.

This section can be brutal for CDT hikers early in the season, if they are going northbound. But I was here in October, when temperatures have come back down and the chances of clouds or rainstorms have increased, so the lack of water was not so much of a problem.

Looking back down towards Arroyo Chico

At over 11,000 feet, Mt. Taylor is an ecological island: the vegetation and wildlife that you'll find on it are distinct from anything else around for many miles.

The effect of elevation: aspens glow gold in the foreground while pinyon-juniper forests and eventually sagebrush scrubland can be found far below.

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