New Mexico Travel Log Day 6

Day 6 was a beautiful day. We had been up late the night before keying out plants (this was to be the status quo for the trip), and had an early morning. But I was really excited to see new sites. We had decided survey the plots that required the longest hike, to get them out of the way. I don't remember the distance of the hike, but it took us about an hour to get to the furthest site. We did have to climb a hill to get there, but this afforded me a great view of the river valley below.



I was surprised by the size of the trees along the river. I knew there would be trees, but I did not expect such beauties. The largest trees were the Arizona sycamores (Platanus wrightii, the white-barked tree below) and the Fremont cottonwood (Deltoides fremontii).


Here is a closeup of one of the sycamores.

I also fell in love with these ant mounds (I should really look up what ant species they are). The ants clear most of the vegetation surrounding their mounds.