Somewhere in the West
Continuing my month long series of posts with images made in New Mexico with the Great Divide as my focus or jumping off point: the Very Large Array, upon the Plains of San Agustin, seen from afar.
Driving west of Magdalena, I had the thought that I might find a hill to climb to get an overview of the Very Large Array (that I'd shot the previous night). Indeed, I found a hill to the east of the Array with an antenna perched at the peak. I parked my car and slogged half way up where I found this mini-peak, punctuated with a cairn of sorts.
The picture turned out to not be worth the effort to climb the hill: the Very Large Array was just too spread out to be "seen" from this spot. I'm posting the image here just to record the fact that I climbed that darn hill. Here's a second view with my rental car parked down below.
This image supplies one reason why I love being in the West: one can see twenty, thirty, forty miles or more, even without climbing a hill to do so. How far can one see in the east? Usually, where I live, two miles at best.
Two images by Richard Koenig; taken April 5th 2026.
