Bravo4, I live just south of the Arctic watershed.......New Mexico...hot yes...cold not hardly
Hi tsitenha, I missed your reply earlier here on the great pee bottle debate. Actually,,,New Mexico has mountains as high as 13,000 feet above sea level with the treeline being roughly 11,000ft in the northern portion of the state. So, same environment as the far north at sea level and just as cold in the winter here, up in the mountains at least. It's all about the elevation, not the latitude.
Down south it is the hot desert most people imagine NM to be, but still there are ski areas as far south as Cloudcroft NM thanks to the Sacramento Mountains. As you head north towards Colorado you start gaining elevation. Albuquerque sits at 5,000feet, which is roughly the same elevation as most of the Colorado Plateau. It snows in Albuquerque but doesn't stay on the ground more than a couple of days. I live in Santa Fe which is at 7,000 ft.and it is much cooler here than most people think. Outside of town weve got the Sangre De Cristo Mountains which are the geological tail end of the Rocky Mountains. Part of this range is known as the Pecos Wilderness, where I sometimes camp up high during winter, just below the treeline. I was raised in Maine; it can be very cold in New Mexico, bring a jacket.
We also get some pretty strong winds, and there lies the real danger to exposed flesh in sub-freezing temps and high altitudes. Im not THAT lazy, you have my word. Its just that falling makes me nervous, and possible frostnip, down there
eeee. It also has to do with the ridiculous amount of time required to get fully dressed. No wind, no problem. Blowing 60mph, bottle time. Standing in strong winds, on the side of a mountain at night is simply not the safest place to be hanging around with your fly undone. I do agree that a pee bottle is absolutely nasty. I used to scoff at the idea myself and then one night I had to readjust my perspective a little bit. Peeing in a bottle was suddenly no big deal. I've had a few good spankings round here and been near-hypothermic more often than I'd care to admit. It is very possible to freeze to death in New Mexico, believe it,,, or not.
Ive lived out here for 15 years and its a truly amazing place. There is ALOT of Public land, mostly useless mountains; lots of deserts, ghost towns, hunting, fishing, skiing, white water rivers, you name it. Most folks imagine the whole state is a hot, dusty, uninviting sort of landscape and that is usually fine with me. Everybody here(BCUK) seems pretty cool and so I thought it might be safe to share this info on New Mexico, here in this thread where no one will look for it. The invite was for real, my place is a little small, but thats what the Pecos is for. Seriously, anybody who might be interested in travelling out this way and looking for info, just let me know. Spring thru Fall is probably a better time to get outdoors here. The southern part of the state is nicest Fall thru Spring.
A few New Mexico Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangre_de_Cristo_Mountains
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=87501
http://www.newmexico.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mexico
For a taste of Northern New Mexico culture and a really good read, try The Milagro Beanfield War by John Nichols.
http://www.amazon.com/Milagro-Beanfield-War-Novel/dp/0805063749
Oh, and the food is what keeps me here, for I have become addicted to green chile.
http://www.zianet.com/focus/chile.htm
You may have seen a little of New Mex already, many films have been shot here. "The Missing" is one that comes to mind. Have a look-see, the film is not bad and the landscape is all New Mex.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338188/
Best Wishes,
B4