San Acacia Butte is located immediately west of the Rio Grande near the settlement of San Acacia a few miles north of Socorro, New Mexico. Some maps identify it as Black Butte and the locals call it Indian Hill. Some locals also call the settlement San Acacio rather than San Acacia.

Most people who visit San Acacia Butte come because they want to see rattlesnakes or they want to visit the New Mexico Principal Meridian.

Several Principal Meridians were set across the country for surveying the country’s public lands. This meridian is the starting point of the New Mexico public lands survey. Land descriptions in New Mexico and parts of Colorado are based on this point (see the map above).

There are people who make the effort to visit Principal Meridian locations across the country. To learn more about where to find meridians, see – http://www.pmproject.org/. Continue Reading →

When I started working on The Gentle Art of Wandering almost three years ago I thought that it would be a book on how to explore the backcountry. But very soon into the project I realized that seeing and wandering were more important and changed the focus of the book to show how you can wander anywhere.

With that being said, the backcountry is still a great place to wander and has many surprises out there waiting for you to find. I have mentioned finding prehistoric archaeological sites in the book and in several posts in this blog. But there is much more for you to find. Here is a sample of what’s waiting for you.

On top of a mesa in the middle of the badlands west of Cuba, New Mexico, you can find a set of unexplained cairns. Nobody knows if they were made by Native Americans, sheep operations, or ranchers or their purpose. But if you make the effort to hike there you’ll the cairns, an amazing landscape, and many other surprises.

Continue Reading →