The Middle of Nowhere

The Middle of Nowhere

I thought about making this another section of the Little Farm Blog, but after I thought about all there was to tell - potentially - I decided that the ranch needed it's own page. 

The story of the ranch began before the story of the farm.  The story of the ranch began before we had horses, before I had retired, and while we were still living in the inner city.  It was ten years ago.  Our children were grown and out of the nest.  We were each working hard at our chosen careers, although mine was not my first choice.  We decided we could afford to look for a vacation place: a second place, out of the city, maybe to retire in eventually.  So we began our search.  We looked in the mountains and out on the plains.

This search eventually led us to a piece of property: "unimproved" ranch land only fifty miles from the New Mexico line.   It is eighty acres out on the high prairie east of the I-25 corridor.  Forty acres are on top of the canyon.  Roughly forty are in the bottom of the canyon.  And there is a six hundred foot drop from one to the other.   There is a ravine that provides access from the top to the bottom, There are three or four separate biomes.  The eastern boundary of the property adjoins BLM  land and  the canyon , itself, has been designated as a wild place.  This place stole our hearts.

But it is not an easy place.  The first few summers, when we were using it for tent camping, we had to learn a whole new skill set for surviving in the dessert in the summer.  But it is impossibly beautiful, with the front range from the Spanish Peaks to Pikes Peak in  the front yard and our canyon in the back yard. 

I will try to write about it in categories, like the Little Farm Blog.  That way you can read the parts that interest you and skip what doesn't.  We have a ten year history here, so there could be a lot to tell about the past.  Or maybe I will just log things in as we move forward, telling past stories as they come up. 

The categories, for the moment are:

The Archeological Ruins and Artifacts
The Canyon Bottom
The Canyon walls
The Historic Ruins and Artifacts
The New buildings
The People
The Prairie
The Ravine
The Rim
The River

We were down there  this past weekend.  It was the first time in  over a year for me.  We usually take horses with us as the riding is spectacular.  There is quite a bit of open range, still, on the prairie.  And the canyon loop is wonderful as well.  But we did not take them this time because we had work we needed to get done and no time to play.  I feel badly that it has been so long, because it is such a compellingly beautiful place, I miss it.

Here are a few photos from this weekend:

Above is the canyon looking north from the rim.  Below is the canyon looking south from the rim

Above is a natural amphitheater that overlooks the ravine.