Bosque del Apache: A world of birds, creosote, rock and water

Birdsong comes in layers.

Red-winged blackbirds call.

Doves coo.

Sparrows titter.

A northern harrier lords silent in a cottonwood.

And we haven’t even left the parking lot.

This is Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.

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Around us, mountains stand in states and shapes of erosion.

The Chupadera Mountains got tired of mountaining and relaxed into rock waves.

The San Andreas Mountains got tired of mountaining and let a giant creature take jagged bites off the top.

Unfamiliar mountains in every direction.

Sage plain pastels. Blue marsh.

360 degrees of stimulation.

We’re at the highest point of Canyon National Recreation Trail. Creosote and sand stretch back to the Chupaderas.

Solitude Canyon brought us here. Nests, burrows, bird droppings lined the ravine’s rocky walls.

It’s a holiday weekend, but the canyon earned its name.

Short, efficient switchbacks lifted us to a panorama that looks like it should have required way more than 30 feet of climbing.

Blue finds new gradients, unbroken by cloud.

Silence. A few cranes call from the marsh. The end. In November there were thousands.

Later, at the marsh, two harriers wheel higher until we can’t separate them from the blue.

The first javelina we’ve ever seen trundles across the road in front of our car. He munches leaves on the shoulder, stares at us. We hear him snuffle as he walks away.

The refuge is so vast, the land so open, you forget cities and towns and mountains that are tall. The entire world becomes creosote, rock, water and creatures.

From the top of Canyon Trail, you can see it all.

Hike length: Canyon Trail 2.2 miles, Marsh Overlook Trail 1.5 miles

Difficulty: Canyon Trail moderate-strenuous; Marsh Overlook Trail easy

Trail traffic: none on Canyon Trail, very light on Marsh Overlook Trail

Wildlife spotted/heard: doves, harriers, sparrows, red-winged blackbirds, crows, ravens, lizards, butterfly, flycatchers, heron, ducks, cormorants, cranes, eagle, javelina, geese, quail, roadrunners