The Mountain Archive

Poso | The Pasque Flower is named from the Latin word for Easter, often blooming in season with the holiday in early spring.
This sweet grouse roosted in a nearby pine and stayed a long time. Today the southern drainages were hopping with these beautiful speckled birds.
A stripped elk skeleton rests beside an explosion of fur in lion territory.
Travel safe this season! Many thousands of majestic wildlife are moving across the watershed. Where there’s one, there’s more. This group of 400-500 elk moved south in three waves of two lines at dusk - this is the end of the first wave.
Grazing animals have found their way to the mountain! ‣ Season: Grazing season on La Sierra is usually within May to October, depending on conditions. ‣ Access: Grazers whose property has an easement to La Sierra have unrestricted access during the
Grazing animals have found their way to the mountain! ‣ Season: Grazing season on La Sierra is usually within May to October, depending on conditions. ‣ Access: Grazers whose property has an easement to La Sierra have unrestricted access during the grazing season and may check on their animals at any time. ‣ Conditions: Meadow conditions are currently very dry. At this time, no formal grazing or irrigation plan has been established, and pasture quality reflects those conditions. ‣ Numbers: Approximately 11–12 individuals/families actively grazed cattle or sheep on the Mountain last season. The same group of ~20 families has grazed since rights were established over two decades ago. ‣ Access rights: Grazing access and use follow established legal frameworks, and are not subject to informal or third-party direction. ‣ On-site ranch operations are overseen by a ranch manager, whose role is to support day-to-day management. Part of that responsibility includes ensuring that only authorized grazing use occurs, the burden and cost of which falls on the ranch. Every year, individuals without grazing rights attempt to place animals on the mountain, making this an ongoing and challenging responsibility. ‣ The ranch manager is local and in regular, direct communication with grazers. He is on the ground daily managing ranch operations, supporting practical needs and answering all kinds of questions. Please thank him when you see him! ‣ We encourage everyone to rely on clear, verified information about La Sierra, to stay clear of distractions, and focused on working together! There is a real opportunity here to manage this grazing season well and move forward productively. ‣ If you have specific questions, please reach out so we can provide clear and accurate information. Any updates or changes will be communicated directly through appropriate channels, including this page. Photo: Cattle grazing on the Mountain tract on April 10, 2026.
Reflecting sunlight at its strongest, full moons often appear larger and warmer near the horizon due to atmospheric scattering. This phase marks the midpoint of the lunar cycle, when the Earth, sun and moon are most closely aligned. 🌕 A full moon si
Reflecting sunlight at its strongest, full moons often appear larger and warmer near the horizon due to atmospheric scattering. This phase marks the midpoint of the lunar cycle, when the Earth, sun and moon are most closely aligned. 🌕 A full moon signifies a point of culmination, where ongoing cycles reach clarity and reveal what’s been building beneath the surface. ♥️ [Photo: April’s Pink Moon over a south ridgeline.]
Spring is bringing the forest back to life. The Ponderosa awaken with their signature vanilla-pine scent of sun-warmed bark and sap mixed with the fresh mountain air. The towering trees, many over a century old, are a defining part of this landscape of medicine, thriving in the high elevation sunshine and open slopes. #ponderosa #pine #forest
El Valle Creek.
El Valle Creek.
The birds of our ecosystem are vital indicators of landscape health, reflecting the condition of our water, soil, vegetation, and climate. Cielo Vista Ranch was one of more than 1,150 participating landowners in this year’s bird monitoring prog
The birds of our ecosystem are vital indicators of landscape health, reflecting the condition of our water, soil, vegetation, and climate. Cielo Vista Ranch was one of more than 1,150 participating landowners in this year’s bird monitoring program conducted by the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies and their partners during the summer of 2025. Across the region, approximately 20,500 survey points were monitored, documenting over 280,000 birds representing nearly 400 species. A list of bird species observed on or near the ranch by the survey team is included in the next slides.
"San Luis will fascinate you." A 1930s Chamber of Commerce newspaper advertisement promotes San Luis as a tourist destination for understanding early area colonization against the backdrop of nature. As part of a lager push for tourism, eff
"San Luis will fascinate you." A 1930s Chamber of Commerce newspaper advertisement promotes San Luis as a tourist destination for understanding early area colonization against the backdrop of nature. As part of a lager push for tourism, efforts to create a motor through-way from Chama to Trinidad lasted for decades. Though the pass was never completed and comes to an eventual dead end, the road going up to the Mountain through Salazar Meadow is yet referred to today as Whiskey Pass. Photos: 1, The stone exit/entrance to the Salazar Tract/Petramala's bordering the Mountain Tract (La Sierra) on Whiskey Pass Road; 2, Newspaper ad for tourism, 1934.
Poso | The Pasque Flower is named from the Latin word for Easter, often blooming in season with the holiday in early spring.
This sweet grouse roosted in a nearby pine and stayed a long time. Today the southern drainages were hopping with these beautiful speckled birds.
A stripped elk skeleton rests beside an explosion of fur in lion territory.
Travel safe this season! Many thousands of majestic wildlife are moving across the watershed. Where there’s one, there’s more. This group of 400-500 elk moved south in three waves of two lines at dusk - this is the end of the first wave
Grazing animals have found their way to the mountain! ‣ Season: Grazing season on La Sierra is usually within May to October, depending on conditions. ‣ Access: Grazers whose property has an easement to La Sierra have unrestricted access during the Reflecting sunlight at its strongest, full moons often appear larger and warmer near the horizon due to atmospheric scattering. This phase marks the midpoint of the lunar cycle, when the Earth, sun and moon are most closely aligned. 🌕 A full moon si
Spring is bringing the forest back to life. The Ponderosa awaken with their signature vanilla-pine scent of sun-warmed bark and sap mixed with the fresh mountain air. The towering trees, many over a century old, are a defining part of this landscape
El Valle Creek. The birds of our ecosystem are vital indicators of landscape health, reflecting the condition of our water, soil, vegetation, and climate. Cielo Vista Ranch was one of more than 1,150 participating landowners in this year’s bird monitoring prog "San Luis will fascinate you." A 1930s Chamber of Commerce newspaper advertisement promotes San Luis as a tourist destination for understanding early area colonization against the backdrop of nature. As part of a lager push for tourism, eff

The Mountain Archive supports oral histories, interviews, site visits, archival work, research, on-the-ground ecology, watershed education, and life in the forest with nature’s creations across the ancestral homelands of the Culebra sub range of the Sangre de Cristo mountains.

Production offices, meeting space for committee work and regional education materials are centered from the Puertecito sub-drainage of the Culebra watershed within the North Headquarters of Cielo Vista Ranch.

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