Desert Poppies, Pictographs, Desert Bighorn

Doing a lot of hiking as the weather has been spectacular! Yesterday out at Antelope Pass in the Peloncillos I saw my first Poppies of the year - wonderful delicate little beauties. Every year I hope to see the Desert Bighorn Sheep that were reintroduced to the Peloncillos in the early 80's, after being listed on the New Mexico endangered species list in 1980. (for more info. on the sheep go to http://www.wildlife.state.nm.us/conservation/documents/everythingfinalBighornSheepPlan.pdf

Finally yesterday I saw one - a big Ram looking over the top of the mountain, peeking down at me. The last photo is where he would have been if he had stuck around to have his photo taken. I hiked all the way up to the top and tried to spy him or the herd, but they were long gone. I will be happy with my glimpse. On some of my hikes I come upon pictographs and grinding holes and pottery shards, remnants of past inhabitants. The second photo is of pictographs found on an undercut wall in the Peloncillos. I wish I could pass on more information about them, who, when, how..... but I just don't know.

Granite Gap, Peloncillos

The last couple of hikes have taken me to the Peloncillos (little baldies) and Granite Gap. This is a beautiful desert/mountain area with exotic rock formations. Desert Bighorn Sheep have been re-introduced here. I ran into the New Mexico Bighorn Sheep biologist who was radio tracking some sheep and he said he found four babies. I hiked all over hoping to spot them but never did. I did see a Ringtail though, a small cat-like creature with a huge ringed bushy tail. Makes it seem as if I am in another country!

"To inquire into the intricacies of a distant landscape, then, is to provoke thoughts about one's own interior landscape, and the familiar landscapes of memory. The land urges us to come around to an understanding of ourselves."

- Barry Lopez