The Gentle Art Of Wandering

March 17, 2016
by David Ryan
51 Comments

Road Trip on U.S. Highway 60

For my money, U.S. Highway 60 from Socorro, New Mexico to Phoenix, Arizona is one of the great two-lane highways in America. It is remote and full of surprises. It is a peaceful and relaxing drive where you don’t have to worry about heavy traffic slowing you down or large trucks blocking your view. When you leave Socorro, make sure that there’s gas in your tank as it will be almost 150 miles until you reach a town, all the way in Arizona, with full scale services and a McDonalds.

Earlier this month I had the pleasure to drive U.S. 60 again when I went down to Phoenix for a couple of Spring Training baseball games. The drive was wonderful.

The trip begins from Socorro with a brief climb out of mesquite and creosote bush country of the Rio Grande Valley.

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February 25, 2016
by David Ryan
4 Comments

Preparing for a Long Walk on the Camino

For those of you who live in Albuquerque, I will be giving a talk on the Camino de Santiago at the Albuquerque REI on Tuesday, March 15 at 7:00pm. (Click here for information on reserving a spot.)

For me walking the Camino was a magical experience from the moment I reached St. Jean Pied-de-Port until I finished at the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela five hundred miles later. There are several posts about the Camino in this blog. (Just enter Camino in the “search block” or click on the category of “Camino de Santiago.”)

St. Jean Pied-de-Port!

Santiago!

Since walking the Camino, I have been asked about necessary gear and how to prepare for walking the Camino. As a regular walker and hiker, I really did not do much in the area of preparation and already had the gear I needed. But I have attempted to cover preparation and what you might need in this blog post. Continue Reading →

January 28, 2016
by David Ryan
2 Comments

Wandering Around the Tierra Amarilla Anticline

The previous post in this blog described the world class natural area of White Sands National Monument in southern New Mexico. This post describes another amazing geologic feature only forty miles or so northwest of Albuquerque – the Tierra Amarilla anticline. (It is also called the San Ysidro anticline.)

An anticline is where the earth’s crust has been pushed into an upward pointing fold. It is very much like an upside down “V”. When you add in tens of millions of years of erosion you get an amazing array of formations and exposed rock layers. As a result, the anticline is a great place to wander and explore.

With most of the anticline being on public land and its proximity to Albuquerque, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has built several miles of trails on top of the anticline that are very popular with mountain bikers. A full description of the trails can be found on page 247 of the 3rd edition of 60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Albuquerque by David Ryan and Stephen Ausherman.

This is the heart of the anticline, that has been eroded away, where the bike trails begin. The upward slope comes up from both the left and the right. The top of the anticline would have been somewhere in front of us.

This is the heart of the anticline and where the bike trails begin. Upward pointing slopes come up from both the left and the right. If the heart of the anticline had not been eroded away, the top of the anticline would have been in front of us.

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