In the course of working on Wandering in the Clear Light of New Mexico and after other travels, I managed to get to the Northwest, Northeast, and Southeast corners of New Mexico. But I never ventured to the Southwest corner of the State, where New Mexico, Arizona, and Mexico converge. This gave me the idea that I should check it out. (If you’ve read The Gentle Art of Wandering, you may remember the importance of having an Idea to initiate a wandering adventure.)

While gathering information, I learned that the Southwest Corner is located in a very rugged and remote tract of BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land. I also learned that the best (and only) access would be from Douglas, Arizona and that the adventure would involve walking through Guadalupe Canyon on private land. Fortunately, after reading various write-ups that I found on the Internet from other people who had explored the area, I learned that access is okay if you’re on foot and don’t hunt or trap. (You may also remember from The Gentle Art of Wandering the value of fleshing out your Idea by developing some Context for your adventure is important, but ultimately the Idea and Context only have meaning when you take Action and actually get out there and do it.)

In further readings, I learned that Guadalupe Canyon has plenty of history related to the Apache and Old West Lawmen and Bad Guys, but more importantly it is located where multiple eco-zones and wildlife from both sides of the border come together to make this a sought after location by birdwatchers. It is also where jaguars are believed to cross from Mexico into the United States.

This is from a BLM Land Status map. White is private land; Yellow/Orange is BLM land; Green is Forest Service land; and Blue is State Land.

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