A night on Capitan Mountain

Description of a walk across the top of frozen Capitan Mountain, NM through the Aspen and Moonlight

A night on Capitan Mountain - Capitan Mountain Wilderness, New Mexico

By Jaromy D. Jessop

I was bored one evening in El Paso so I decided that I wanted to go and spend the night out in the mountains. I looked at my maps and determined that the Capitan Mountain Wilderness would be a good place to find some solitude so I left Fort Bliss around 6:30pm and drove up US HWY 54 towards Capitan Mountain. I drove up a very rough Forest Road 56 from Capitan Gap to Padilla Point at 9,627 feet. As I climbed the mountain on the rocky dirt road in the dark, I could see stars peeking through the trees and far below the twinkling lights of the tiny town of Capitan, New Mexico. As I turned the corner at Capitan Gap, a large half moon rose over the peak and I came face to face with it through the trees as it bathed the rock slides in its pale eerie light " what an impressive sight. At Padilla Point I parked in a large grassy meadow and shut down my truck and turned off all the lights. It was 12:51am and an inviting two track leading into a thick group of Aspen beckoned me in the moonlight and I could not resist so I put on my gortex jacket, grabbed my USMC K-bar which is a pretty serious knife in a leather sheath and I walked toward the forest. As I approached the edge of the trees I could smell the autumn leaves on the breeze and it seemed as though the forest was breathing and her breath was sweet. Even though it was dark, I could tell that the Aspen leaves were no longer green but a brilliant yellow / gold. The moonlight turned the grass in the meadow a ghostly white. As I entered the forest the night closed in and it got quite dark. I felt my feet kicking through a blanket of golden leaves on the ground and with each step I again smelled the must of autumn. The scene was one of utter somber beauty " Thick bunches of match stick aspen leaned in from either side of the two track with their canopies meeting in the center forming a kind of tunnel. The moonlight washed through the partially denuded trees and reflected brightly off the white bark trunks. The canopy cast eerie spider web shadows on the ground and the wind caused the Aspen to quake and flutter their leaves sending golden leaves into the air which swirled and finally came to rest with many thousands of leaves on the ground that fell before. As I emerged from my Aspen tunnel I looked across the open meadow and the sky and forest edge made a striking scene with whispy see through clouds around the moon and multitudes of stars over head and at the edges of the trees. Just above the evergreens was Orion, the Archer, in all his majesty. As I stood in the moonlight at 1:25am, I noticed the different sounds the wind makes on the grass " swooshing; on the evergreens " whooshing; and in the Aspens " rustling………..interesting distinctly different sounds. I then had the macabre thought that there might be a corpse just out of view in the treeline and I determined I would rather find it in the daylight as opposed to the moonlight if it was there so I avoided the woods. I then felt a pang of sorrow for the imagined corpse out here all alone but I was comforted to know that its spirit was gone, hopefully to a better place. The strange things you think about out in the woods all alone miles away in the middle of the night. I then considered the Lincoln County War and I wondered if Billy the Kid and his Regulators ever fled into the Capitan wilds while eluding Sherriff Pat Garrett and the hang man’s noose. I expected they did as the town of Lincoln was only a few miles south east and about 5,000 feet below of my current position at Padilla Point. As my eyes grew heavy and the icy chill began to freeze my nose, ears, fingers and toes, I turned my thoughts to the Mescalero Apache. How they must have loved these lands. I hear them on the wind and feel them in the grass, forest and leaves. I sense their spirits on the wind and the tears they shed on the banks of the Pecos. Although I never knew them, I miss them and their ways. I said a silent prayer for those who vanished and perished long ago as I feel asleep in the waning moonlight on the summit of Capitan Mountain.

 

Author's Note

This is a description of my night out in the wilds of New Mexico. Alone.

Reviews

[Marie]

I am familiar with New Mexicl, but not this part. I see that you took the photo yourself. Both it and the description are beautiful.

[JD Jessop]

Thank you. New Mexico as you know is an enchanted land in fact, I think that is their State motto "Land of Enchantment". Thank you for the kind compliments. I plan to share a great deal more of my photography here. If you like New Mexico, check out my Santa Fe article on my blog :)

[Marie]

I did check out our artical about Santa Fe. It's been years since I was there, though I lived in New Mexico when I was a small child. It remains one of my fondest memories.

[JD Jessop]

So much more to be told about Santa Fe than can be packaged into one article

[klawrites]

Really enjoyed reading this. My mind always takes me to great places when I'm in nature. I love the picture you painted here. Thanks for sharing your experiance :)

[JD Jessop]

No problem. Positive reinforcement on writing is good stuff :) I always wonder if my stuff is any good. Thanks again for the review