Leaves contain yellow and red pigments all summer, but only as the chlorophyll molecules break down do those colors become visible. Illustration by Chris Philpot. Fall Fade As days shorten in the fall…
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Catch a glimpse of "shimmering" Aspen along the Aspen Vista Trail in the Santa Fe National Forest. Photograph by Tira Howard. ASPEN LEAVES ATTACH TO BRANCHES with long stems, called petioles, that…
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Pockets of fall color glimmer across the charred ridges of the Jemez Mountains. A FEW SLIM, BLACKENED PINE TREES—some now up to their waists in baby aspens—stand sentry on the ridgetops running off…
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Jesus Payan Jr. seeks the notoriously shy beast in a forest near Cloudcroft. FOR YEARS, JESUS PAYAN JR. SPENT LONG NIGHTS in the Tularosa Basin, peering into the darkest corners of the desert sky and…
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Patrice Mutchnick inspects a leaf of dock (Rumex sp.) , a common riparian plant in Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. AS WILLIAM NORRIS AND RUSS KLEINMAN drive through the pink rhyolite-lined…
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A paved road circles Mesa Campground, which offers views of Lake Roberts below. Photograph by Jay Hemphill. DO: Make a plan, then a backup plan. Public-land use skyrocketed last year, and that trend…
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Navigating San Pedro Parks Wilderness trails can be tricky, especially in the boggy meadow. Photograph by Elizabeth Miller. HEAVY RAIN FELL SOME DAYS BEFORE MY HIKE into the San Pedro Parks…
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An El Morro National Monument trail leads to the onetime home of Atsinna Pueblo. IF PEOPLE HAD BEEN THERE TO SEE IT—and there’s a chance Ancestral Acoma or Zuni people were—lava flowing across what’s…
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A backpacker on a loop of the West and Middle Forks of the Gila River makes their way deeper into the wilderness. THE FIRST MILES OF THE TRAIL wound among piñon, juniper, and Gambel oak, through a…
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