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New Mexico

And even higher up, there were aspens, and eventually near the summit of Mogollon Baldy it returned to open grassland, which is probably a result of it being windswept, grazed, and burned.

Atop Mogollon Baldy there is conveniently a lookout tower and caretaker's cabin, the porch of which afforded me some shelter during a nasty hailstorm.

Looking west into the 550,000-acre Gila Wilderness, the first wilderness ever designated, back in 1924.

An old growth Douglas fir below the summit of Mogollon Baldy.

A colorful mountainside of aspens

More aspens

And even more aspens!

The Gila Wilderness is cool enough and wet enough for blowdowns to rot back into the soil, instead of deadfall having to burn into ash.

The view west near the small hamlet of Alma, NM

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