Hiking In The Arid Hills of Santa Fe, New Mexico

A quick trip to New Mexico left us enchanted with the life found in its arid landscape

In the arid landscape, pops of color signal life. Dale Ball HikingTrail, Santa Fe. © Carol Labuzzetta, 2024.

My husband and I returned to Santa Fe, New Mexico for a visit this week. It was a quick trip of five days which included our two travel days.

But we made great use of our time. The arid landscape calls to us there. On the first two full days of our visit, we hiked in the morning, after breakfast.

Choosing a trail was hard because there were so many options. On the first day, I chose the Dale Ball North Loop Trail. This hiking trail was less than 15 minutes outside the city limits and it was a 2-mile loop. We saw plenty of dogs with their owners and a couple of runners as well.

The trail is coming off a lookout ridge. Here it seemed hot, although the temperature did not reflect that. © Carol Labuzzetta, 2024.

You’ll see from my photographs that the environment is arid and brown. Coming from a forest of mixed hardwood and white pine, it is shocking to have so much brown meet the eye. Immediately we missed the verdant landscape of home.

But…then you start noticing things. There is life in this desolate, rocky, undeveloped landscape. It’s filled with different species than we encounter…