Picking the Perfect Campsite

Posted on by Annie

That might be the most misleading title ever. There is no perfect campsite. There’s only the campsite that fits what you want. So to start the process of picking a campsite, first figure out what you want. Or, as we say in project management, specify your requirements first and the rest is easy. Nailing Your Requirements How big is your rig? If your trailer or RV is smaller, you can snag the smaller spots where a bus-sized RV can’t go. Sometimes those small spots are the last to go, so I can get a spot at the last minute. Some parks have…

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Sunday Serenity: In the Details

Posted on by Annie

The space is so wide open here in the Chihuahuan desert that scale is sometimes a bit hard for me to grasp. Those mountains are 25 miles away. I can see that dust storm from 30 miles away. And the sky itself seems endless, 180 degrees of blue so wide from side to side I feel like I’m under a dome. I’ve started taking photos of details in the deserts I am passing through. I can appreciate the desert more in the myriad pieces of diversity that are all around me than I can by staring out at the endless horizon. This spent…

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Hachita

Posted on by Annie

Too windy to do much hiking or even walking around without getting blown sideways today so I went for a drive down old Mexico way. Saw lots of Border Patrol vehicles and one check station. Those hills below are in Mexico about 3 miles away, with the photo taken from the most southerly road in New Mexico that parallels the border. If someone wants to build a wall, the logistics are going to be rather daunting. The two roads to get here are one lane each way, and those two and this one that connects them are rough and potholed….

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Sunday Serenity: Chiricahua Canyons

Posted on by Annie

Yesterday’s hike through Echo Canyon and Rhyolite Canyon was a much needed exercise. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking the last week (amazing how much time I have when there’s no internet…) and something about walking for three hours through rock formations that are 27 million years old helped to put things into perspective for me. At times, I was right at the base of these huge formations, looking up at things that had survived wars, countries, politics, and everything else that we humans inflict on ourselves. I felt so small, so young, so untested, next to them. This was…

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Chiricahua National Monument

Posted on by Annie

This will be a short post because I’m sitting at a parking lot at Whitewater Draw wildlife refuge, with enough signal to post, but running out of laptop battery. However, Friday postings must continue! Chiricahua is nicknamed “the wonderland of rocks” and I totally can see why. About 27 million years ago, a volcano exploded, spewing ash over 1,200 square miles. That ash formed rhyolite, which got cracked as time went on. Ice, water, and wind then did their work to create these fantastic looking things we see today. Yesterday, I hiked up to Natural Bridge. The hike itself was…

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