New Mexico!

We spent several days way off the beaten path seeing Mills Canyon without cell service. Mind you, it was a six mile drive on a muddy dirt road, more like Alabama’s red clay! Remember ‘My Cousin Vinny’!  Fantastic sunsets & sunrises with various shades of orange and pink.

As the sun came over the horizon, trees briefly took on amber shades like fall colors. The canyon itself showing it owns beauty of rock formations magnificent in tones of orange and tans.(https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/regions/southwestern/MillsCanyon/index.shtml) Long, long ago in late 1800’s Melvin Mills planted 14,000 trees, an orchard of apples, pears and peaches in a hidden valley on the Canadian River (yes in New Mexico!) A few major floods in early 1900’s wiped it all out except for a few trees and his storage building; remains still exist. Overlooking down to the bottom of the canyon you wonder how he ever survived in business as long as he did. 
Arriving at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains we’re faced with many parks still closed for season. Winter is not over, yet. Expectations for snowfall accumulations exist well into May especially at higher elevations. Taos, Angel Fire and Red River circumvents mountainous terrain between huge valleys. And it’s snowing now for a couple of days. We’ll go slightly south into a valley to Coyotte Creek SP to wait out the storm and have electric to keep our babies warm.  Along the way there was a good sized herd of elk grazing along near some cattle.