The Land of Enchantment: Visiting New Mexico

I think it's easy to overlook New Mexico when people think of going out West to explore wide open spaces, enjoy a sunset with a mountain view or to revel in the local flora and fauna, but New Mexico grabbed me from the moment I crossed the state line. Over the years I've visited the bigger cities, Santa Fe, Taos and Albuquerque and enjoyed all of the culture, art, music and food. I have traipsed through the desert landscape, meandered through what felt like a million museums, crawled through caves and admired a sky full of hot air balloon, but a it's a little lesser known corner of the state that I've come to love the most. A landscape that pulls me back year after year, always showing me more unexpected beauty and life.

Stretching into Northern New Mexico, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains are the southern most subrange of the Rocky Mountains moving seamlessly into the desert high plains. Seeing a mountain range gracefully fall away into a vast wide open landscape is one of my favorite things to see on planet earth. Being able to experience a long beautiful sunset over the plains or watch a dark and moody storm roll in in the same day I've hiked through a dense Ponderosa Pine forest checks every, how to have a great day box, I've got. It gives this admittedly, claustrophobic person, the wide open views I need and the magic of the forest all rolled into one glorious ball of perfection. It truly is The Land of Enchantment.

In a small little corner of this enchanted landscape is the little town of Cimarron. I've had the opportunity to work at a ranch in the area at two different times in my life. Once in my 20's and then again at 40 this last summer. This ranch and the land around it are steeped in history and culture. From the First Nations people that inhabited the land for generations, to old west characters like Kit Carson, there's something to learn and explore for everyone. To be at this point of my life and have the opportunity to spend the summer living in a tent and waking up everyday, for almost four months, to the most beautiful sunrises and all the animals that call the ranch home, makes me feel like I've hit the jackpot in life!

The myth of the West is alive and well. And for better or worse I have to admit, that I have always been one of those people that saw going west as something that could and would change my life for the better. A place that would make a significant impact on me as an individual person....and it did. Maybe not in all the ways I had hoped or dreamed but there is no doubt, my time there did significantly change my life. And I have no doubt it will continue to do so with each journey I make over the course of my life. This land and All The Outdoor beauty it possesses has enchanted me to my core.