Snowbound Ranch

Winter.

A time of cold and a time of snow. And in this particular case, a time for a whole lot of that wonderful white powdery stuff.

This ranch is located within Valles Caldera National Preserve and from the looks of things, humans don’t bother with wintertime occupation. Who can blame them really, for it would probably take somewhere just this side of forever to get through all that snow. And make no doubt about it… this is a lot of snow. Those drifts are fairly significant.

This photo was taken late in the afternoon with the dying sun, providing the long shadows. The ranch sits in the lee of a small hill, casting it in shadow (and one would presume that whomever built this placed it quite intentionally); shadows that grow even longer during the late winter afternoon. If you look close, you can see that the structure has been left to its own devices.

The Valles Caldera National Preserve is an interesting place; one, at the moment, full of snow. But that just adds to the charm and serenity that holds it in thrall until the springtime thaw.