New Mexico Travel Log Day 6

Day 6 was a beautiful day. We had been up late the night before keying out plants (this was to be the status quo for the trip), and had an early morning. But I was really excited to see new sites. We had decided survey the plots that required the longest hike, to get them out of the way. I don't remember the distance of the hike, but it took us about an hour to get to the furthest site. We did have to climb a hill to get there, but this afforded me a great view of the river valley below.



I was surprised by the size of the trees along the river. I knew there would be trees, but I did not expect such beauties. The largest trees were the Arizona sycamores (Platanus wrightii, the white-barked tree below) and the Fremont cottonwood (Deltoides fremontii).


Here is a closeup of one of the sycamores.

I also fell in love with these ant mounds (I should really look up what ant species they are). The ants clear most of the vegetation surrounding their mounds.

New Mexico Travel Lot - Day 4

Sunday morning I awoke at Lake Roberts, which was to be one of two "bases of operation" for the field work. Although field work would not start in earnest until Monday, Sunday was to be a day of training. Most of the field crew worked on this project last summer, but this was my first time to New Mexico as a trained botanist (I had been when I was about 11, but did not really pay attention to the plants). Kelly, the head of the project, was leading a plant walk around Lake Roberts for the local chapter of the New Mexico Native Plant Society. So this was my opportunity to get start learning the local flora. Learning to recognize new plant species is one of my favorite learning experiences, especially when you have the help of an expert out in the field.

Here is a picture of Lake Roberts. They have had problems with algae in the lake and there are these robotic mechanical "bees" which aerate the water in an attempt to reduce algal growth. You can see one towards the bottom of the picture.


I did learn many new plants that day, but for many of them I was unable to get good photos. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the plant walk.

The green gentian (Fraseria speciosa). Earlier I posted a close up photo of the flower. If I am remembering correctly, this plant stands about 4 feet tall. Despite having little color (other than green) it is a stunning plant.


Lotus wrightii - a delicate plant with these amazing bi-colored flowers.


I was also able to get a cool picture of a common plant, that is very familiar to me (Lactuca serriola, prickly lettuce). I really like how well you can see the small spines on the leaves.


I am embarrassed that don't remember the name of this plant species. But I really love the photos. We can just call it a DYC (darn yellow composite), composite referring to a plant family.



Later that evening we went to the Gila Hot Springs for a soak, a first for me. The hot springs themselves are natural, but the pools containing the hot water are completely man-made. The experience of soaking in the springs was enhanced by the charming folk art scattered around the pools and the stunning rock cliffs along the river (not the mention the fabulous company). I did not get a picture of my favorite folk art piece, which was a bird cage with a model of a T-rex skeleton inside. Really funny, and I would like to duplicate it. I also learned that getting up close to the hottest pool in the hot springs will fog up your camera (I know, common sense should have told me this, but sometimes I just have to learn by experience). If you are in the area, I highly recommend these hot springs. It was a wonderful experience and I will definitely seek out hot springs in the future.

New Mexico Travel Log - Continued

I have decided to continue the day-to-day travel log. The last post travel log post described the second day of the trip, in which my travel companions and I had spent the day botanizing with a friend in southeastern Colorado.

DAY 3 - From CO to NM

On the third day we woke up to






We left the Comanche National Grasslands via a sunflower-strewn road.


From the grasslands we headed to the town of Trinidad, CO. We had two objects in Trinidad, breakfast and a new tire. My traveling companion, Q, had been in this town before and described it as a rough and tumble town, reminiscent of the old west. While it was calm and quiet on that Saturday morning, it looked as if Friday night was rough. At least 13 windows of downtown businesses appeared to have been busted with a baseball bat. Several business people were out and about boarding up their windows.

We did have a lovely breakfast (burritos covered in chili sauce) at the C and H restaurant downtown.


And we lucked out on the tires at the local Wal-Mart. Apparently the tire we needed is not normally kept in stock, but a woman had ordered them but then decided not to buy them. So after an hour delay we were back on the road.


Our final destination was Lake Roberts, NM, located in the Mountains near the Gila Wilderness Area. After driving all day through New Mexico (including the town of Truth or Consequences), we arrived at Emory Pass, which goes over the Continental Divide of the Mimbres Mountains. The view was gorgeous.


The road from Truth or Consequences to Lake Roberts (which was one of our base of operations for this project), was a windy mountainous road, but absolutely gorgeous with wildflowers. Luckily, I was not driving and thus I was able to look at the plants. We arrived in Lake Roberts at around 7:30 pm. There we met up with the rest of the field crew and had a great dinner.

Some Eye Candy From New Mexico

New Mexico Travel Log - Day 2

I began the second day of my trip by photographing sunflowers in the early morning light. We had spent the night with our friend B.K. in the Comanche National Grassland. The morning light was beautiful and I was able to get some nice photos. Since I worked on sunflowers for my Ph.D. dissertation, I am always interesting in taking pictures of them.








Our goal for the second day was to head up to Rourke Ranch, on the Comanche Grasslands to help B.K. collect plants. The Ranch was located near the Purgatoire River within a nice canyon. Driving out there was really interesting. For most of the way you are driving through shortgrass prairie and rangeland. And it is fairly flat (though not completely). You see lots of grasses, several hundred cows, and some cholla cactus. But then the landscape starts to change. It becomes hilly and the hills are dotted with juniper trees. Getting down to the ranch there were some pretty rough roads. But it was totally worth it.



Of course there were some stumbling blocks along the way out there.




We had a full size spare, and Q had changed the tires on this vehicle before, so it was not that big of a deal. Though I did learn that the spare is not in the back of the truck, but rather underneath it. I had no idea. One good thing about the flat, was that we got to see this guy up close. This lubber grasshopper was about 4 inches long.








Here is the view from the ranch. It is pretty amazing to think that this hilly and woody area exists in the middle of the shortgrass prairie.





We stayed the night in a research building on the property. I really loved the posts carrying in the electrical wires to the house.



Once we got settled in, we went for a hike and plant collecting trip. There were a lot of interesting plants. Close to the river, in the flatter areas, there was mostly brome grass and other weedy plants. In the picture below the tan is all brome grass mixed with some weeds. Not much fun to walk through.



But we soon climbed up one of the slopes and found all sorts of wonderful plants.


My favorite was Dalea aurea, the golden prairie clover.


We also waded through the river, but I seem to have deleted all of the pictures that I have of that part of the trip. Which is too bad, as I had some really cool pictures of a milkweed just completely covered with yellow aphids. Wading through the river was fabulous. I really like getting in the water and the mud.


We ended the day hanging out and eating frozen pizza, chips and salsa, and the best Rainer Cherries I have ever eaten.

New Mexico Travel Log Day 1

For the next two weeks I am on a Botany Expedition to the Gila River in New Mexico. I will be sharing my travel log with you, hopefully on a nearly daily basis.

On the first day, we (myself, Gi, and Q), left Lawrence, KS to head west. Our destination was the Comanche National Grasslands in southeastern Colorado, where our friend B.K. is working on her Master's degree. The first day was filled with driving. And we did not really stop much on the way. One stop that did surprise me was Salina, KS. I had never been there before, but the town is really nice. A cute little downtown with really neat looking shops. Including a yarn shop, but I did not take the time to go in. We ate lunch at a nice restaurant called Capers. I highly recommend their brownies.

There were a few interesting points of interest that I did get photos of.

Wind Farms
They look really alien and futuristic. Seeing them in person, I can understand the concern of windfarms killing off migratory birds. The windmills are massive and placed closely together. It is an impressive sight, the photo does not do them justice.




Cheyenne Bottoms
One of the largest wetlands in KS, and very important for migratory birds. I have never been there before, but know people who have worked out there. Recent floods in Kansas has left the Bottoms overflowing. The water was nearly to the road. The amount of water was impressive.


Pelicans at the Bottoms.


At about 7:00 pm we arrived in Springfield, CO and met up with B. K. We had a lovely dinner on the patio of a burrito place. All in all, a good first day.