Gila National Forest

I am sure the Wal-Mart guy that sold us our single day fishing license for $22, is laughing his ass off. Because...well… WE DID NOT FIND WATER IN A RIVERBED FOR 200 MILES!!! On a positive note, the view and drive through the Gila National Forest was priceless and worth every extra mile. Today, we started in Albuquerque, New Mexico with a nice dusting of snow covering the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Then saw the golden tree colors tracing the banks of the Rio Grande River that shown especially bright against a beautiful blue New Mexican sky. The land of enchantment may have been rediscovered in the small quaint mountain towns of the Gila National Forest.
Out here the only thing that moves quickly is wind. The wind seems to slow anything moving west, even the livestock set and wait out the wind. We drive through to find ourselves in terrain that looks like the southern mountains of Colorado, even though we were far from home. Pinion Pines and sage quickly turned to tall lush green pines and the roads were steep and windy. We were surprised when we crossed the continental divide at only 9,000 feet then drove like NASCAR drivers down the Gila Mountains in search of waters to fish.