FOREST LANDS ABOVE THE DESERT
by Ruth Bush Jones[3]
Today, as in earlier times, people of New Mexico look to their mountains with a new and greater appreciation of their forest land heritage. Today, also, people seek aesthetic values of peace, beauty, and serenity found in nature’s solitudes, in addition to forest products for economic use. Basic to the enjoyment of the high country are the forest treasures of clear, pure water ... of wild game and birds ... of trees for shade and solitude, fuel, shelter, and forest products ... of grass and browse for cattle, sheep, horses, and wildlife ... of magnificent grandeur and panoramic vistas. These basic treasures coupled with understanding of the purposes and many benefits of the National Forests bring true recreation to the visitor.
The high country of New Mexico, much of it in the National Forests, is entrusted by law to the care and administration of the U.S. Forest Service, an agency of the Department of Agriculture. These vast public properties located in several sections of the state are administered as Carson, Santa Fe, Cibola, Lincoln, Gila, Apache, and Coronado National Forests, the latter two lying primarily in Arizona and being directed from there rather than from New Mexico. Visitors to New Mexico traveling along main highways see the high forest country outlining the horizon and often regard the lofty masses of rugged rock as unapproachable and lacking in friendliness.
“Not so,” says the Forest Ranger. There are broad highways welcoming the traveler into the high country where forest trees stretch to the sky. There are cool invigorating streams sparkling clear and clean from mountain fastnesses and developed campgrounds and picnic areas ready for use. Outdoor recreation from simple relaxing and picnicking under a pine tree to the most strenuous of wilderness backpacking or horseback riding, winter sports, and skiing awaits the visitor. There is fishing in mountain streams and in big open lakes or in precious, secluded mountain lakes. And for those who like their surroundings interpreted for them, there are nature trails and/or forest naturalists to explain local rock formations, vegetation, and the natural and human history of the immediate country.
The Forest Ranger asks only that each visitor do his share in cleaning up a camp or picnic site and being sure that camp fires, matches, and cigarettes are thoroughly extinguished: “Keep Your National Forest Green and Clean!”
Carson National Forest
Located in north-central New Mexico, with headquarters at Taos, the Carson National Forest nurtures and cradles the Rio Grande as it leaves its birthplace in Colorado en route to the south. Carrying water from high country snow melt, the Carson adds precious, clear water from its high mountain streams and lakes to the Rio Grande in support of the prosperous communities along its way. The Carson includes some of the highest water-producing lands in the state and is the source of several permanent streams and lakes.
Map of National Forests in New Mexico
Named in honor of Kit Carson, the noted scout, Carson National Forest offers some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in the Southwest, including the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Red River Canyon, and Wheeler Peak, which at 13,160 feet is the highest point in New Mexico. Part of the famed Pecos Wilderness Area and the Wheeler Peak Wild Area are included in this Forest and are available to those willing and able to hike, ride a horse, or pack into the rugged mountain country. For the winter sports enthusiast, the Red River Ski Area, Sipapu Winter Sports Area, and Taos Ski Valley operate in part within the Carson National Forest and offer some of the finest alpine skiing in the Southwest.
Good roads lead the visitor to Spanish and Indian villages where life and culture are almost unchanged since the ancient and comparatively recent days of settlement. Towns with singing-sounding names like Picurís, Taos Pueblo, Las Trampas, Truchas, Santa Barbara, and Tres Ritos nestle along forest streams and add charm and beauty to a scenic trip in the northern Sangre de Cristo range (name given to the mountains by early Spanish settlers, meaning Blood of Christ. The analogy relates to the reddish glow that sometimes colors the mountains at sunset.). Radiating from Taos are roads leading into the eastern half of the Forest, bringing the traveler into fascinating and colorful country. Taos Canyon, Arroyo Hondo, Questa, and the Red River country abound in old mining ghost towns, Indian ruins, and legendary Spanish villages located in canyons and on mountain tops.
The high range rising between the Rio Grande and the Chama River to the west is the major part of the western half of the Carson National Forest. Tres Piedras, El Rito, La Madera, Canjilon, Lagunitas, and San Antonio are a few of the picturesque communities here. Farther to the west is the Jicarilla Division of the Carson, the high mountain country adjacent to the Jicarilla Apache Reservation. Bisected by State Highway 17 between Farmington and Chama, this section is a test of true pioneering skill for the traveler who is willing to follow dim tracks of roads and trails to enjoy the Forest. However, modern civilization is introduced by the 150 oil and gas wells in this area, even though the country is rugged and broken.
Carson National Forest is a trout fisherman’s delight. For the hunter, Rocky Mountain mule deer, elk, and antelope are found in all parts of the Forest. Small game is plentiful, and rabbits provide many hours of hunting pleasure. Beaver, muskrat, mink, weasel, marten, and skunk are the principal fur bearers, and turkey, grouse, ducks, geese, quail, and doves make up the game bird population. Predators include the mountain lion, bobcat, coyote, and fox.
More than 40 developed camp and picnic grounds, most of which are accessible year round, welcome the visitor. Among them, Echo Amphitheater picnic ground on U.S. Highway 84, south of Canjilon, is a striking natural echo chamber formed by centuries of wind and water erosion in the rugged sandstone rock. “If you stand near the chamber, you only have to whisper, and your words come back in a spooky echo.”
About five miles south on U.S. Highway 84 is the Ghost Ranch Museum, with live native Southwestern animals and conservation exhibits, including a living and growing display showing on-the-ground Forest Service Multiple Use Management of the mythical Beaver National Forest, the “smallest National Forest in the world.”
Ranger stations at Canjilon, El Rito, Gobernador, Penasco, Questa, Taos, and Tres Piedras provide local information and recreation maps.
Echo Amphitheater surrounds part of the trail to campground
Santa Fe National Forest
The Santa Fe National Forest, with headquarters in Santa Fe, lies directly south of the Carson National Forest on both sides of the Rio Grande and is the center of a region rich in natural resources as well as historic and geologic interests. The two divisions of the Forest contain the high mountains to the east and west in the central section of the state. The Pecos Division to the east of the Rio Grande is the location of the major part of the Pecos Wilderness Area, one of the earliest of such areas to be established.
The Pecos Division is so named because the Pecos River, which later joins the Rio Grande in Texas, heads among its towering mountains in a beautiful alpine basin sometimes called the Pecos Horseshoe. The Pecos River is one of the state’s largest streams and supplies some of its most important irrigation projects. This division of the Forest includes the southern part of the Sangre de Cristo range and was first known as the Pecos River Forest Reserve, established in 1892—the oldest National Forest in the Southwest. The division abounds in clear, cold mountain lakes and streams. Truchas Lakes, Pecos Baldy, Stewart Lake, Spirit Lake, and Lost Lake, as well as many mountain streams, lure not only the fisherman but the hiker and camper to their wilderness beauty.
Twenty-three developed campgrounds and picnic areas located in cool glades are ready for the visitor along roads leading into the Forest from Santa Fe, Pecos, Glorieta, Las Vegas, and other communities. Skiing and winter sports are available at the Santa Fe Ski Basin northeast of Santa Fe; the chair lift operates year around for those who wish merely to view the spectacular scenery. The Pecos Division watersheds of the Santa Fe National Forest, like the eastern section of the Carson, contribute generously to the water flow of the Rio Grande.
Wild game, game birds, and fishing attract visitors at all times of the year, while the golden hues of the aspen in the autumn tempt artists and photographers to record on canvas and film nature’s fall colors. A trip just before the winter snows to the aspen country of the Santa Fe National Forest is a must. Ranger stations are located at Santa Fe, Las Vegas, and Pecos.
An Izaak Walton along the Pecos river
West of the Rio Grande are the Jemez Mountains, which form the Jemez Division of the Santa Fe National Forest. The Jemez country is a favorite area for fishermen and hunters. For the sturdy hiker and picnicker, there are hundreds of fascinating points to visit and peaks to climb. Capulin Peak, Dead Man’s Peak, Nacimiento Peak, and Cerro Pedernal are a few of the exciting ones. The Jemez country contains the San Pedro Parks Wild Area, northeast of Cuba where San Gregorio Lake is waiting for the fisherman or hiker willing to walk or ride horseback. This section abounds in unique geologic formations—Battleship Rock, Tent Rocks, Teakettle Rock, to name a few.
Eighteen developed camping and picnicking areas welcome the visitor to the Jemez Division. Youth groups also favor the Jemez for their summer camping. Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, YMCA, and others have camps adjacent to the Santa Fe National Forest. Timber production, wildlife habitat management, livestock grazing, and watershed protection are among the activities of the Jemez Division, while visitors and travelers enjoy the forest, the streams, and the unique scenery. Ranger stations are at Jemez Springs, Cuba, Espanola, and Coyote.
Cibola National Forest
A mountain playground for people who live or visit near U.S. Highway 66 is Cibola National Forest, with headquarters in Albuquerque. Embracing the Sandias, Manzanos, and Gallinas Peak areas east of the Rio Grande in central New Mexico, this Forest also includes most of the mountain ranges in the west-central section of the state, the San Mateo Mountains, with 11,389-foot Mount Taylor, and the Datil, Magdalena, and Zuni ranges.
Outdoor recreation is the fastest growing use of the Cibola National Forest and more than a million visits are made each year to this popular Forest. The name is a Zuni Indian word, pronounced SEE-bo-lah, meaning buffalo. Buffalo may have roamed the Cibola in years past, but today’s big game animals making the Cibola their home are the Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, Rocky Mountain mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, antelope, and bear. Game birds include turkey, grouse, quail, and dove; spring and fall migrations of ducks and geese use the Cibola as a resting place. There are 18 campgrounds with 249 family units and 14 picnic grounds with 382 family units scattered through the vast domain of the Cibola National Forest.
Sandia Crest in the Sandia Mountains east of Albuquerque is a goal for many travelers. Here on this 10,678-foot mountain top, there is a breathtaking view of the middle Rio Grande Valley and the Estancia Valley—a jet age view of nearly 10,000 square miles. The visitor stands on rocks which in eons past were under the sea, as indicated by fossils found on the peak. Recent recreation developments have been made at the Sandia Ski Area where a new 7450-foot double chair lift will carry 700 riders an hour on a 1650-foot vertical rise to the restaurant and upper terminal on Sandia Crest. A tramway ascends the west face of the Sandias to meet the Ski Area chair lift at the Crest.
The fabled Manzano Mountains rising above the plains to the west of State Highway 10 and south of U.S. Highway 66 are fast becoming a haven for the camper, picnicker, or sightseer willing to follow secondary roads to find the perfect spot to enjoy the forest. Capillo Peak, 9368 feet high, Mosca Peak, Cerro Blanco, and Manzano Peak lure the mountain climber. Legends surrounding the old Spanish communities of Tajique, Torreon, and Manzano are exciting campfire stories after a day spent exploring the high country.
West of the Rio Grande, the San Mateo Mountains north of Grants and the Zuni Mountains forming the backbone of the Continental Divide southeast of Gallup can be a new experience in outdoor recreation. McGaffey Lake recreation area, not too far from the route of the conquistadore Juan de Oñate, is a cool retreat after crossing the desert and lava flow.
West of Socorro on U.S. Highway 60, with Magdalena as headquarters, the high Datil, Gallinas, and Magdalena mountains and another San Mateo range rise above the San Agustin Plains, an ancient lake bed. Mt. Withington and Mt. Baldy, 10,787 feet high, dominate the landscape. Good roads and developed campgrounds are available. Hunting for wild game as well as for unusual gem stones and geologic finds are favored activities in this western section of the Cibola. District ranger stations are at Grants, Gallup, Magdalena, Mountainair, and Tijeras.
Lincoln National Forest
Named for the great president, the Lincoln National Forest, with headquarters at Alamogordo, has characteristics distinguishing it from all other National Forests in the state. The high mountains and canyons of the Sacramento, Guadalupe, Capitan, and White mountains, rising between the Tularosa and Pecos basins, were the backdrop and often the prize of the Indian and cattle wars. Stories and legends of early day happenings in the Tularosa Basin, mining operations, battles between rival cattle ranchers, large timber operations providing lumber, poles, mine props, and railroad ties are warp and woof of the Lincoln country. This Forest includes the high mountains north and south of the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation.
During the last decade, the Lincoln National Forest gained new fame as the birthplace of the world-renowned Smokey the Bear, symbol of forest fire prevention. In the Capitan Mountains, travelers like to visit Smokey’s birthplace near Capitan Pass, and in the community of Capitan on U.S. Highway 380 is a log museum which features the activities of the bear cub found near there during a disastrous fire.
For the outdoor enthusiast, the Forest offers superb beauty, graceful and majestic snow-covered peaks, and the peace and serenity of a forest sanctuary. Each year, thousands of visitors from the plains seek its cool refuge from desert heat in summer and its readily accessible sports area in the winter. Ten campgrounds with many picnicking and camping sites are provided. Canyons, mountains, and streams in many instances feature anglicized names—Big Dog Canyon, Mule Peak, Bug Scuffle Hill—though the influence of the early Spanish settler still remains in names such as Sacramento, Agua Chiquita, Ruidoso, and Rio Penasco.
Lincoln National Forest abounds in points of interest; Monjeau Lookout overlooks the headwaters of the Bonito, Eagle, and Ruidoso creeks as well as the tall slopes of Sierra Blanca to the southwest. Sierra Blanca, 12,003 feet high, is the most southerly mountain of that elevation in the continental United States. Just north of the peak is the Sierra Blanca Recreation Area, with one of the finest and best-equipped skiing facilities in the country. The restaurant and gondola lift operate during summer months, and from Lookout Mountain observation site, near the gondola’s upper terminal, the traveler can view White Sands, the Malpais (lava flow), and the 28,000-acre White Mountain Wild Area.
Hunters find deer of three distinct types in this Forest—the Rocky Mountain mule deer, the desert mule deer, and the Texas white-tailed deer—and, of course, black bear from which family Smokey the Bear came. Game birds like wild turkey, quail, and chukkar partridge challenge the hunter. Fishing the Lincoln’s lakes and streams is a recurring delight to the angler. Aspens and oaks flaunt their brilliant autumn coloring against the warm green of pines and spruces, heralding the advent of winter snows and provoking numerous aspencades for those who wish a share in this ever new pageant of nature’s beauty.
Like all the National Forests, the Lincoln is managed for the production and wise use of water, timber, and forage for livestock and wildlife and outdoor recreation. District ranger stations are at Cloudcroft, Carlsbad, Mayhill, Ruidoso, Sacramento, and Capitan.
“Anybody for a run?” at Sierra Blanca ski area
Gila National Forest
The Gila National Forest, with headquarters in Silver City, is a big, wild, wonderful country in the southwestern section of the state. It has been scarcely affected by the hustle and bustle of modern living. Within its boundaries are 2.7 million acres of public-owned forest and range land, with almost a quarter of it devoted to wilderness and primitive areas. It includes the famous Gila Wilderness, the first such area set aside in the United States and the largest in the Southwest. Most of the Gila National Forest is north of Silver City, though part of it lies in the high country between Silver City and Lordsburg.
The Gila is an exciting and exhilarating place to explore, sightsee, hunt, fish, and just enjoy. Indian ruins are evident almost everywhere, but the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, adjacent to the Gila Primitive Area, is the best preserved. Ancient tree stumps and abandoned Indian ruins record the history of man; old mine dumps contain ores and minerals not known nor appreciated in the heyday of local mining; microscopic plants and forest grasses which may hold the key to man’s future health abound; and the traveler may experience great delight in finding a dried root or branch to add to a native rock garden; the majestic peaks, deer and other wild game, and cool, splashing waters of a mountain creek delight the camera hobbyist.
One of the most beautiful and spectacular box canyons in the Southwest is on Whitewater Creek about four miles northeast of Glenwood. A catwalk built against the rock walls of the canyon enables the traveler to thrill at the unusual beauty and colors of the canyon and the cool depths of the trout stream below (see [Frontispiece]).
Good roads lead into the Gila National Forest at Reserve and Alma from U.S. Highway 260. An enjoyable loop trip which touches the Gila Wilderness at Willow Creek can be taken on State Highway 78 from Alma. Another beautiful trip is through the Black Range from the junction of State Highway 180 and U.S. Highway 85 to Silver City. Approach to the Gila from the north can be made through Beaverhead, Apache Creek, and Reserve, where good roads lead into the Forest.
Fifteen developed recreation areas provide camping and picnicking for the hiker, horseback rider, and motorist and are complete with fireplaces, tables, and benches. Elk, deer, antelope, bear, javelina, and game birds are plentiful, and fishing in the high mountain creeks is usually rewarded with a satisfying catch.
District ranger stations are at Magdalena, Truth or Consequences, Reserve, Glenwood, and Mimbres.
Apache and Coronado Forests
Although small parts of these forests lie in New Mexico, they belong to forests in Arizona. Apache National Forest touches the northern edge of the Gila and its attractions are much like those of the latter. The Coronado National Forest, which is in the extreme southwest corner of New Mexico, lies in an area of aridity and is difficult to reach from New Mexico. It is surrounded by Sonoran desert, at least in its environment in this state.
Gila Hunters with Happy Thanksgiving (wild turkeys)
These far-flung public lands in New Mexico provide many resources besides varied kinds of outdoor recreation: timber for industry, water for city and farm, forage for livestock and wildlife. As long as our National Forests are protected and developed—used but not abused—they will continue to yield rich harvests, both tangible and intangible, forever.
Lake Roberts
This 70-acre lake thirty miles northeast of Silver City on State Highway 25 lies in the Gila National Forest.
The State Also Preserves[4]
State Monuments have been established to preserve some of New Mexico’s historic and archeologic sites of importance. These include the mission ruins of Abo, Quarai, Pecos, and Jemez, the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, pueblo ruins at Coronado State Monument, the old Lincoln County Courthouse, the archeologic site at Folsom Man State Monument, the plaza and nearby Mexican Colonial-style buildings in La Mesilla, and Fort Selden. The history recorded at these sites dates from 10,000 B.C. of Clovis Man to 1878 of the cattlemen’s Lincoln County War.
State parks cover areas of scenic beauty, geologic wonders, and historic interest. Reservoir lakes yielding necessary water, good fishing, swimming, and boating include Conchas, Storrie, Bluewater, El Vado, Ute, Elephant Butte, Caballo, Alamogordo, Clayton, Morphy, and Bottomless Lakes. The latter are natural sink holes east of Roswell. Hyde Memorial Park and Santa Fe River Park, near and in Santa Fe, provide scenic picnic spots, as do Rock Hound State Park near Deming and Oasis State Park near Portales and Clovis. Picnicking, fishing, and spectacular canyons attract the visitor at Rio Grande Gorge Park west of Taos. Weird erosional figures carved from volcanic layers distinguish City of Rocks State Park near Deming. Pancho Villa State Park at Columbus and Kit Carson Memorial at Taos mark historic sites. Valley of Fires State Park west of Carrizozo preserves the black twisted lava of a relatively recent volcanic flow.