Horse Mountain - New Mexico State Trust Lands

 

Horse Mountain

big pines

Allegres  Mountain

Horse Mountain

Immediately adjacent to the Teepee Ranch subdivision (home of our little red cabin ) on the east is a 2000+ acre parcel of New Mexico State Trust Lands.  I had decided to do a little hike there at some point and a few weeks back Nessie and I went out one Sunday morning and did just that. The parcel's main feature is a cluster of  flat-topped hills that rise about 300 feet from the generally flat grasslands that surround them. We parked just outside of the Teepee Ranch  entrance and began southeast through the meadows  sparsely  accented with piñon pine. I noticed that most of the junipers  had gone missing, but I then noticed the reason why. At some point in the not too distant past they had extracted and ground many of them up and the abundant remains littered the landscape. Perhaps the state had done this work, or the rancher had done it with their blessing and perhaps the state's help as well. I 'm not completely sure the reasons why to do it  except the most obvious which is to open the rangelands and keep the pastures from turning into PJ forest, although I'm not sure why it seemed that only junipers were falling victim to the chipper-shredder.

 We arrived after a bit at a  drainage with a grassy bottom that hugs the west side of the tallest of the hills. We followed a cow trail  along its banks until reaching an intersection with small tributary wash coming in from the west. Growing here were several respectable grandfather ponderosa pines that I was surprised to find. We then cut out up the steep hillside, zig-zagging our way to the top while enjoying the views of Horse Mountain whenever we stopped for a breather.

 We had a lookaround at the lichen covered cliffs before scooting up to the very top. Heading north for little ways, we then began to descend the very steep opposite side of the hill,  enjoying views to the Crosby mountains as we carefully negotiated the rocky trail-less terrain.

 We circled around the north tip of the hill, all the while hearing the most godawful bellowing of single cow that I've ever heard in my life. I thought it must be being killed or giving birth or something, but I was going to steer myself and my dog clear of it if I could. While crossing the swale of the drainage we had crossed earlier, I caught a glimpse of two bulls, quiet now, off to my right, one red, one black standing close to each other. The black one gave us a look. The red one didn't and I'm thinking it was the source of all the noise, but I don't know what it was all about.

  The rest of the trip was thankfully uneventful.