NEW MEXICO, DAY 3: A MIRACULOUS VISIT TO THE RIO GRANDE GORGE AND A DRIVE TO THE WHEELER PEAK TRAILHEAD

 June 27, 2021  

From Taos we drove to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, about 12 miles. The scenery was spectacular, as usual. I never ceased to be surprised by the color palette of New Mexico.

Once we got to the bridge, we parked on the far side and walked back to the center where we could see the gorge on both sides. This gorge begins near the Colorado border and runs 50 miles through a volcanic basalt field. At this point it is 800 feet deep. This gorge and 242,500 acres around it form the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument.

Apollo 15, 16, and 17 astronauts trained here in 1971 because of its geologic similarities to the moon landing site.

That lone figure on the bridge is Bob, returning to the car.

Suddenly, we spotted a bighorn ram under a tree at the end of the bridge. Bob only had his point-and-shoot camera on him, and I only had my cellphone, but we started taking pictures immediately, thinking it was a rare moment to be this close to a bighorn sheep.

We weren't the only members of the paparazzi. But then, just look at how he is posing for the photo shoot.

When we realized that there were several other bighorn sheep grazing nearby, we hurried to the car to get our bigger cameras.

We soon got a much better view as they ended their naps and started to move.

If rank is determined by the size of the horns, the second guy from the left is the CEO. A pair of horns like that can weigh up to 30 pounds. 

It is hard to see in my photos, but in some light the horns appear to be almost translucent.

It's so bizarre the way the horns grow out of the head like an extension of the skull.

For the most part, although they were clearly used to their fan club, they stayed in pretty tight clusters.

It didn't seem to matter that they were all bucks. In Africa they would call this a "bachelor herd." It's what happens when it isn't breeding season and the ewes have littles ones to take care of.

This feller, however, obviously did not know the rules. He was across the street.

He finally figured out that wasn't cool and joined his buddies. As you can see, he was also too young and dumb to be afraid of people.

I can distinguish ten sheep in this photo, but Bob says he thinks there were fifteen.

Are you getting tired of sheep pictures yet? Believe me, you're getting just a fraction of what I took. 

This one has the gorge in the background.

They had quite the salad bar.

See the blue tag on the ear of the sheep on the right?

Look closer and you'll see he also has on a collar with an antenna poking straight out. 

So embarrassing. No wonder he stays behind the other ram. 

Oh dear, he also has a broken horn. Poor guy! (Maybe he broke it when he was being tagged and collared? 😟)

Such majestic animals. Look at how the tips of the horns have a slight upward curl. This guy looks like he has been using a curling iron.

Uh-oh. Is this the same feller who was on the other side of the highway earlier?

He looks left, then he looks right . . .

. . . then up and over he goes, right next to the guy standing on the concrete baricade.

Watch out, Simone Biles. You've got competition on the balance beam.

The grass is always greener on the other side of the street.

I counted--only 29 photos of bighorn sheep. I think I showed remarkable restraint. 

This was one of those "once in a lifetime" experiences. We compared it to the time we sat in the tall grasses of a large clearing in the rainforest in Washington State with our three children and watched and heard several large elk bugling to each other.  That was magical, and there were no other people around. What this experience lacked in privacy it made up for in the sheer numbers of animals and their proximity to us. Incredible.

The sheep gradually moved away from our parking spot, and so we decided to move on. We saw several other herds in the distance as we headed to our next adventure, the trailhead of  Wheeler Peak.  The closest we could get by foot was this ski resort, which was right next to the trailhead.

At 13,159 feet, it is the tallest mountain in New Mexico.

Next up: Bandelier National Monument