Jemez Mountains, New Mexico

Jemez Mountains, New Mexico

This trip was one of the best trips to New Mexico in a long time! My family has a hand-built A-frame cabin in the Jemez mountains that I have been frequenting since I was a child. While cabin trips are always amazing, this one just tops them all! One significant difference in this trip was my camera gear. In addition to my 75-200mm lens, I rented a 200-500mm telephoto lens! This lens has been on my wishlist for years and renting it was fairly inexpensive and super easy to do!

Our trip was just over a week long and boy did we jam-pack it with adventure! By the end of the week, we had walked/hiked over 50 miles! The first batch of photos below shows photos from around the cabin and on surrounding hikes.

The next batch shows photos from the Valles Caldera National Preserve. The Valles Caldera is a 13.7-mile-wide volcanic caldera. Hot springs, streams, fumaroles, natural gas seeps, and volcanic domes dot the caldera floor landscape. This park is different from most national parks. Instead of leaving your car in a parking lot you drive through the park to see the wildlife. There are several places where you can park and hike or fly fish as well.

The last batch of photos are my favorite photos from the entire trip. HUMMINGBIRDS!! Those who know me know I LOVE hummingbirds. I spent countless hours sitting on the back deck of the cabin photographing the beautiful birds. My favorite is the fluorescent orange male Rufus.