A Love Note to a Mystical Peak in New Mexico
Carmichael Dominguez is a former city councilman from Santa Fe and a passionate advocate for public lands.
Hermit Peak in the Santa Fe National Forest in New Mexico was a mystical place for me growing up. It is named for an Italian religious recluse, Giovanni Maria de Agostini, who lived in a cave on a narrow ledge on the southeast side of the mountain in the 1860s. He lived in self-imposed isolation, foraging for food and getting water from a nearby spring. People who visited him said he could cure ailments.
I spent much of my childhood in a little village just west of that peak. The lands, the wildlife and the vegetation below the peak were a source of life for the village, providing physical, emotional and spiritual nourishment. We hunted for food. We hunted for shelter. We worked the land to grow vegetables and food for every part of the seasons. These lands made us who we are.
As a child, I often wondered what is was like on top of that 10,000 foot mountain and what Agostini’s life had been like. I often heard my grandparents talk about pilgrimages people would make up the mountain. I was curious, not only because the peak was magnificent, but I also wanted to walk along the trail my ancestors had walked.
I finally made it up to the top of that peak and even discovered the natural spring. The views were even more spectacular than I had imagined, looking out at the Pecos Wilderness below. We are lucky: this area is protected so that future generations will be able to enjoy the peace and the serenity that Agostini enjoyed 150 years ago.
But there are other wild landscapes in New Mexico that are equally rich with wildlife and cultural values that don’t have those protections. That’s why I devote so much time to educate people about these lands and why it’s important to conserve them so that the stories and traditions of our people are preserved.
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So many of our country’s parks and public lands written about in these love notes would not exist but for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). This important conservation program was permanently funded when Congress passed the Great American Outdoors Act earlier this summer. You can learn more about the Land and Water Conservation Fund here.
Would you like to write about public lands that you cherish? Please email Mary Jo Brooks at brooksm@nwf.org for guidelines.
