Empire Ranch

 The Empire Ranch, a Las Cienegas National Conservation Area is a spot I have wanted to visit. Yesterday we finally made it there.   The original ranch was formed in 1876 and comprised 160 acres.  It grew to over 1 million acres.  Currently 42,000 acres are under the control of the US BLM. Its 42,000 acres contains six different types of ecosystems.  A lot of the acreage is open range and has a good population of cattle grazing it as I type this.  

As the picture shows we hiked the Heritage Discovery Trail.  What did we discover you may be wondering... 

Well Tom discovered that while hiking BLM land with cattle it is a good practice to hike near, but not too near,  someone who is wearing a white shirt.  Gloria on the other hand discovered that a bright white shirt attracts horse flies by the hundreds.