August 11, 2025
by David Ryan
6 Comments

Hiking to Sulphur Springs in Valles Caldera

Valles Caldera National Preserve is one of the most amazing places on earth and is worth a drive across the country to check out. It is a collapsed super-volcano that exploded around 1.2 million years ago and is featured in Wandering in the Clear Light of New Mexico, 60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Albuquerque, and in this recent brief article in the Albuquerque Journal. One look at it will take your breath away.

Valle Grande at Valles Caldera

Because of the books and article, I have been to the Preserve many times and have explored much of its backcountry. But there was one remote corner on the western edge of the Preserve that I had not explored – Sulphur Springs. Up until 2020, Sulphur Springs was part of a small privately-owned 40-acre in-holding.

When I last stopped by the Caldera visitor center a few weeks ago, I noticed that the Park Service has recently established a trailhead, at the end of an old Forest Service road to provide easy access to Sulphur Springs. Since Sulphur Springs is in the Preserve’s backcountry and off-limits to dogs, I had to wait until I got back to the area without my dogs.

I finally got back last week to do a quick reconnaissance excursion and didn’t even think to bring my camera. Fortunately, I did have my phone to take some pictures because what I ran into was amazing. Continue Reading →

July 23, 2025
by David Ryan
5 Comments

To All Four Corners of New Mexico

Between Wandering in the Clear Light of New Mexico and several posts in this blog every corner of New Mexico has been covered in one way or another. Getting to each of them is a unique experience and each one of them is significant in its own way. The one thing that they all have in common is that you have to go out of New Mexico to reach them.

New Mexico

I thought I would summarize them in this blog post. Continue Reading →

June 2, 2025
by David Ryan
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An Appalachian Trail Meditation

Exactly 27 years ago in 1998, I was in the middle of hiking the entire 2170-mile long Appalachian Trail. For me, it was an opportunity to spend five-plus months away from the world of noise and busyness to be totally immersed in a natural world of quiet and contemplation. Again for me, it was, and still is, one of the best experiences of my life.

Every day on the trail for me was a day of adventure and new surprises. One of the biggest surprises was an unusual geologic anomaly in the far southwest corner of Virginia – a remote valley totally encircled by mountains called Burke’s Garden or God’s Thumbprint.

Looking at a Topo Map or Google Earth, you would think that Burke’s Garden could be a collapsed volcano or meteor impact crater. In fact, it’s a collapsed anticline. An anticline is an upward pointing bulge much like a rug shoved against a wall, and in the case of Burke’s Garden the upper layers of rock collapsed when the lower layers of rock eroded away.

With Covid and other projects getting in the way, I haven’t had a chance to go back to the Appalachian Trail for a hike in over ten years – not even for a short hike. Last week my little dog Sparky and I finally had the opportunity to do several short hikes on the trail including one at Burke’s Garden.

My three main objectives for my hikes last week were to check out Burke’s Garden from the ground, hike on some sections impacted by Hurricane Helene, and to talk to some long distance hikers to see how much has changed since my long distance hike. Continue Reading →