Ojito Wilderness March 28

You are probably wondering what we are doing here yet again.  Well as I mentioned earlier this hike is close.  I’m certain that you have noticed from the pictures it is desolate, sun scorched and more than likely hot during the summer.  So we ...

come here during the winter to get away.

We did some real mileage this time, at least in comparison to the last couple trips, just over 4 miles round trip.  This time we went on a Saturday, there are a lot more people out in this area on a weekend than on a weekday.  We saw several vehicles pulled off the road doing who knows what, and part way into our hike there was a lot of shooting going on.  I’m glad to say it was not close to us.  There could have been a small war going on for all the shooting we heard.  There were no people on the trail the entire time we were on our way out, on the way back, mid afternoon we ran into five or six groups of people, maybe 20 people in all.   By the end of the day we hiked about 1/3 of the way around the Bernalillito Mesa.  You can see the red line showing where we hiked along with point where we made a number of photos.

Hoodoos

Hoodoo

Hoodoos are rock formations that have formed through wind and water erosion.  The ones I photographed here reminded me of sentinels guarding a passageway. With a good imagination one can see almost anything in the rock formations.

Who do you see?

There are too many other formations to discuss; besides I am far from knowledgeable in geology.  If you are interested in reading more of the geology of the San Juan Basin Badlands and the Ojito Wilderness go to http://www.phototreknm.com/index.htm There are many photos and descriptions of these areas.

Panorama - click to enlarge

Cabezon Peak

Part way along our hike I spied a small flat spot about 50 or so feet above our trail.  I had to climb up and see the view.  It turned out to be a great spot for a panorama image.  It is almost a 180° view around the point.  Cabezon Peak is the small point just above the horizon about ¼ of the way in from the left edge of the image, 12 miles away.  The Sandia Mountains are the light shadow just above the horizon about ¼ of the way from the right edge of the image, about 45 miles away.

My next post will be about somewhere else, I promise.

   

Thank you for stopping by,

Mark