Way down Second Street, there’s a refuge

Valle de Oro is in such an unusual location for a wildlife refuge.

Miles down Second Street, outside the city limits, past metal recycling and barbed wire and construction. Only the bosque beyond – golden now, rich green in summer – shows you you’re headed in the right direction.

Then, suddenly, a dusty track leads into fields of deep green at the first urban wildlife refuge in the Southwest.

Today, lemon-yellow butterflies flitted up from the fields. A red-tailed hawk spiraled slowly, a smaller hawk nearby.

Brilliant blue sky beckoned three of us – me, my husband and his cousin Matt – from the car. The tops of tall cottonwoods glowed yellow and gold, leaves gliding down one at a time. The instant we entered the trees, the light took on a deep, warm cast. Matt and I dove deeper into the trees to try to capture that light in photos.

 

We followed meandering jeep roads and trails through the trees, then the underbrush, reaching the bank of the Rio Grande. Rich red-brown runoff swirled past us. A single sandhill crane held a stately perch on a midriver mud flat.

When we emerged from the underbrush further up the bank, a single black duck swam by, then burst upward in flight.

A gaggle of about 30 cranes flew high overhead, burbling their comforting rusty-hinge call. A seemingly helicopter-sized dragonfly buzzed past.

It was blazing hot on the bank, so we sought the cool shadow of the trees again. Grasshoppers skipped by, displaying red-and-black undercarriages. Geese flew low overhead. As we rounded a corner onto an acequia, the Manzanos’ Mosca Peak came into view before us.

This property has had many lives. Today, after days cooped up inside, it breathed life back into us.

Hike length: 4.7 miles

Difficulty: easy

Trail traffic: light

Wildlife spotted: sandhill cranes, geese, ducks, butterflies, grasshoppers, dragonflies, nuthatches, hawks