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Juan Ramirez-Hopper Juan on
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Springer, New Mexico 2015
This is where I grew up. About a 1/2 mile north of this point. This is on an overlook, a big bluff, overlooking the river. I was up there looking for our missing cows. They had escaped through "the water gap" a term we use where the property lines meet at the river bottom. The property to the east, where the video starts belongs to the "late water gap man". That is what we had always called him. I have no idea what his real name was. Now the property belongs to "the water gap man's son". Whoever that is. If I start playing the lottery, and win it big, I am going to buy all of that property and place my porch right there.
In the video, it start's out looking east, towards Texas, about 100 miles away. Our property and home is to the north, looking towards Colorado. Fisher's Peak near Trinidad is directly North. To the Northwest, is the Culebra Range in Colorado. From here, you can see the southernmost 14er in Colorado, Culebra Peak. The Culebra range is an awesome sight from here. It's difficult to see in the video, but they are there. To the west lies the Cimarron Range , which includes Philmont Scout Ranch. Just the early morning of this video, there was a flash flood in North Ponil Canyon which claimed the life of a 13 year old Boy Scout.
Further South is the southern end of the Sangre de Christo Range near Mora, NM. The Pecos Wilderness covers most of this area of the high peaks. It's a great view that video can only hope to capture. There aren't any trout in the Canadian River, but to the west, there are plenty including native Rio Grande Cutthroats.
To the south, lies more of New Mexico. It drops in elevation and turns into more of a high desert climate. Just a mile or less, the Canadian River joins the Cimarron River and heads southeast a bit, carving a large canyon, Mills Canyon. The rains of Spring sure made this place look like the old days! The cows are happy and now back at home until another big rain comes and blows out the fence and the cows head to greener pasture. Just a tid bit of info here. In 1965 this river just downstream from here peaked at 172,00 CFS!! As you see, the flood plain is huge. No wonder there are no trout in here. Thanks for joining in on the tour!
HJ
