This post is one day late for International Mountain Day. But right on time for Mountain Monday! It highlights a relatively remote place in western New Mexico. I’d been wanting to go to this part of the southern Rockies for a long time, and earlier this year I finally made it. I drove up a dirt road that ended at a gate marking the boundary of the Gila Wilderness. The road continued beyond the gate, growing worse and clinging to the side of a mountain.
I parked and began to hike along the rough jeep track, recognizing it as an old mining route. I followed it toward the head of a canyon. Poking around I found some weathered shacks, a couple adits and other remnants of the gold & silver boom of the late 1800s. There is a ghost town not far from here called Mogollon. On the way back, as the sun sank lower, the air cooled and fog began to form over the mountains to the west. It made for a mystical scene. The sunset that followed was nice, but this shot was my favorite because of its mysterious feel.
The Mogollon Mountains of New Mexico’s Gila Wilderness march off into the distance.
Wow. What a picture! I live right in nearby Silver City and drive by these mountains every week…..but I have never gotten a cool shot like this.
Thank you Carolyn! I just got lucky on my 1st and only visit. I want to go back and do some hiking and horseback riding.
Truly breathtaking…almost an abstraction.
Thank you Sally!
Superb image!
Thanks Robin!
Stunning shot.
Thanks very much!
Thank you Jeff.
Wilderness in the true sense. Great image, as always, Michael.
Thanks a bunch Dries!
What a stunning capture!
Thanks so much!
That is a great, ethereal shot!
Thanks very much!!
Awesome photo, and I LOVE your cover photo with the big moon.
Thanks so much Maria!
My pleasure, thank you!
Beautiful image with mist lifting. Your description of following disappearing jeep trails sounds tantalizing. When are you going to start doing photo workshops?
And, thank you for your regular posts.
Catherine
Thanks very much Catherine. Someday I’ll give it a shot. I used to be a teacher and I know I’d do things differently than most workshops out there. I’d want to mix in some natural history/science enrichment, for e.g.