Out of Silver City, we climbed through the Gila National Forest, which looks almost like Colorado.
After the stark flatness of the California/Arizona/New Mexico deserts, it was a rich visual feast. Then, the cragginess opened up into a big, wide valley - we're talking, stealing from the world of Broadway musicals, Brigadoon - total magical enchantment. I was not the only lady who admitted to riding along mildly teary & choked up at the truly breathtaking beauty and thinking, "What did I do to deserve this?"
This is the view from Emory Pass, the crest of the Black Range, elevation 8,828'. The climb, by the way, wasn't all that bad - long, but not impossibly steep and I didn't have as hard a time with the altitude as I'd thought I was going to. Note to Self: "Things are Never as Bad as Anticipated."
The end of our ride was the Black Range Lodge - dating from the 1880's, off the grid, owned and run by a couple who are into straw bale building, with two wonderful resident dogs, Pepper and Charlie.
The next morning we continued down into the valley. Now, when I think "New Mexico" I think "Taos, Santa Fe, Albuquerque." This wasn't that NM at all - vast farmlands of...
pecan orchards...
...pima cotton fields...
...and miles of red and green chili peppers.
2 comments:
Where is Susan Rosenthal's blog?!
You can find Susan Rosenthal's blog here: http://web.me.com/sus22222/Susans_Blog/Blog/Blog.html
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