Breaking Trail in Socorro
INTIMIDATING, SHARP PINK BLUFFS FACE the trailhead, but the path wraps around to follow a sloping ridgeline. Rob Selina brought me here because it’s his favorite hike, and likely for sentimental…
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Find These Birds in the Gila
LOCATED AT THE NORTHERNMOST end of some birds’ range and the southernmost of others, the Gila Wilderness climbs from cactus-filled desert to steep, pine-covered peaks. Those features, combined with…
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Pinyon Jays Flourish in the Gila Forest
PINYON JAYS LIKE TO ANNOUNCE THEMSELVES with a chuckling kind of call, sung out while they fly overhead or settle into chatty flocks, often perched in the branches of the pine tree with which they…
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Motor Lodges Worth a Stay
Lulu Motor Inn. Just outside downtown Silver City, the Lulu blends retro touches like chrome-style handles on the microwave and minifridge, and a rotary phone on the nightstand. A contemporary…
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Discover Retro Charm in Ratón
AS YOU HEAD SOUTH down the steep curves of I-25 into New Mexico, the Raton Pass Motor Inn’s cheery turquoise siding and red-trimmed windows mark the first sign of humanity in the state. It’s both on…
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Los Alamos Heats Up for the Winter
WHEN ERIC SCHALLER GREETS me for a day on the Pajarito Mountain Ski Area slopes, the ski patroller welcomes me to “the land of no-lift mazes.” True to his word, not only do we ski directly up to every…
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Protecting the Caja del Rio
AS HE WALKS ALONG A DARK BASALT mesa rimmed with piñon and juniper woodlands, Joseph Brophy Toledo, a member of the Pueblo of Jemez, browses a generous landscape. Juniper berries supply antioxidants…
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Nurturing Community in La Madera
LA MADERA TUCKS INTO A NOOK OF green surrounded by sun-burnished canyons. A few houses perch on gnarled, rocky slopes dotted with dark piñon and juniper trees, but most line the valley floor along the…
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Pronghorn Find New Homes in New Mexico
THE TRAP WAS SET BEFORE SUNRISE on a crisp, sunny morning in late February. From the helicopter where New Mexico pronghorn biologist Anthony Opatz watched, it resembled wings spread across the…
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Life’s a Breeze in Corona
JEAN HEWITT BOUGHT HER HOUSE IN Corona by accident. The longtime Mainer farmed oysters until her perpetually cold toes compelled her to spend one winter in Arizona. Driving back east, she stopped for…
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