Nuff said?

I know these posts are lame. Too much to process.
I was in heaven today walking along the Gila. Yes I was close to a campground and road. But no I didn’t care. Maybe one car drove by. And why is that the defining factor anyway? The defining factors: a pair of hawks’ high pitched tiffs, chasing each other in and out of the rock face. The willows’ chesty breath  in the wind. Minnows. Cool water and a rocky bottom. Dazzle of sun. Green, green grasses and I counted at least 25 species of plants, many in flower. Typical heaven.

I loved being there, but I’m not that schooled yet in healthy rivers. This is, as it turns out, good riparian. You can see willows on the left bank, and many varied grasses. But there is another area along the Gila with dense riparian – trees, brush, grasses, so thick you can’t see through it. Is that super healthy?

On highway 12 from Reserve to Aragon, I passed the Tularosa River that I (two weeks ago) would have thought picturesque:

But in a flood, there’s nothing to hold debris back or silt from collecting in it.
It’s most likely been overgrazed with little rest to allow the natural riparian to return.

Super volcanoes! 30 million years ago. Map of volcanoes and that flat sided ledge is the leftover center of one of the caldera.
I was told today that the Chiricahua Apache walked this land when the ground was still hot.

Drive through Pinos Altos to Gila Hot Springs:

The store and resort in Gila Hot Springs where I spoke with owner Ysabel Campbell, 4th generation (still in the Gila Wilderness because they homesteaded this land)