Mike Matz, Director of the Pew Environment Group’s “Campaign for America’s Wilderness,” recently blogged about his family’s Thanksgiving trip to the Rio Grande del Norte. Mike gives a wonderful description of his family’s inaugural journey to Rio Grande, and provides some beautiful photos to boot.

From the Pew Newsroom - Dispatch from the Taos Plateau:

On our first day, we drove to the edge of the gorge where the Rio Grande cuts through the surrounding plateau of igneous rock and looked down 600 feet to see its shimmering, roiling waters. Traveling on rugged routes marked by the Bureau of Land Management, we startled a herd of pronghorn, which raced across the sparsely vegetated tablelands at an astonishing clip—beautiful white flanks flashing in the sun.

Each of the brisk mornings in the predawn darkness, we were serenaded by the yipping and yowling of coyotes, prompting our domestic canine to answer back with annoyed barks. The nights are frigid this time of year, but we had a wall tent, with a wood stove, on which to cook meals, read books, play cribbage, and have a family slumber party. My wife and I gave the kids the choice of pulling up the stakes and heading into Taos each day, and they voted to stay and camp.

The plateau surrounding the gorge is remote and full of Elk tracks and pellets. Though we never caught a glimpse of any, it’s abundantly clear they’re there, and the mixed sagebrush and lush pine forest provides excellent habitat, which makes this region a hunter’s paradise.