National forest photos you've got to see
The bighorn sheep of New Mexico's Pecos Wilderness seem to enjoy posing for photographers, seven miles in by trail.
Photos are a snapshot in time.
It’s amazing how a camera can see the world so differently than the human eye. Especially when a camera is used by a skilled operator. Just look at these in this tweet.
I approach photography as most people do: looking for a snapshot in time.
Being in the right place, with the right right light and having the right equipment is my key to photography. I get a lot of nice snapshots that way.
I don’t go for a lot of computer enhancement. After finally given up film in 2004, I have still done no photo tweaking other than with programs per-installed in the computers or phones I buy.
It shows, you say.
That’s OK, because I have taken so many photos in so many places I can’t tweak them all. I hardly even look back at them after a first edit, other than to put them online. That’s why I do Substack: to look back at my photos and to keep up with what interests me in the West and the world.
I took these bighorn sheep photos in June 2019 in the Pecos Wilderness of the Santa Fe National Forest of New Mexico. The sheep live in the Truchas Range, above Pecos Baldy Lake.
These are wild sheep, not roadside national park sheep like you see elsewhere. The nearest road is seven miles away by trail, via the south approach to the Pecos Wilderness.
You will need to backpack in from Jacks Creek trailhead and camp at Pecos Baldy Lake. Hike 500 feet up to the south from the lake to reach long grassy tundra slopes where the sheep live. The new trail goes right, the old trail goes left, making a fine loop.
I must have seen 200 sheep during my two days there. I climbed South Truchas Peak, second highest in New Mexico, seeing sheep all the way.
I don’t know why the sheep don’t fear humans, other than wildlife officials drop salt blocks for them to add to their diets. Maybe I looked official. Six rams followed me back to my tent, hoping to see where I would add salty liquid to the ground, if you know what I mean.