FIRST DESIGNATED WILDERNESS • PLAINS OF ST. AGUSTIN, NM

Miles and miles of open-space. New Mexico at its finest! Had to stop for this photo opportunity as the sun was setting behind me. This is the Plains of St. Agustin near Socorro, New Mexico. Thanks to Aldo Leopold, for showing us the importance of the wilderness. As a Forest Ranger, hunter and ecologist, he saw the need to protect the wild lands he enjoyed and valued. Wilderness, to Leopold, was an area still wild enough and big enough to travel on horseback for two weeks without crossing any roads or seeing other signs of human development. He found that the Gila Forest was big enough and still wild enough to do this. In 1924, he persuaded the Forest Service to set aside 765,000 acres of the Gila so people in the future could have this experience as well. This became our country's first designated wilderness.Be sure and check out the wikipedia link above. I had read quite a bit about Mr. Leopold and it really enriched the experience of traveling through this glorious open area.