Introduction

The 1200 square miles of New Mexico's Boot Heel is the most amazing place to live. With an average of about 1 person/square mile there is a lot of open space. The Bootheel lies at the eastern end of the basin and range region in the southwest and covers the San Simon, Animas, Playas, and Hachita Valleys. Essentially, 4 valleys separated by north/south running mountain ranges. As part of the territory acquired by the Gadsen purchase , Hidalgo county which covers the bootheel is the southern most part of New Mexico. The favorite topics of conversation in the bootheel are cattle, border security, cattle, fences, cattle, feed, cattle, and local gossip. This is cattle country and many make their living raising beef. But things are changing, the San Simon valley for instance has a number of amateur astronomers who covet the dark skies in the bootheel. Artists have also discovered the bootheel and several galleries are found in Rodeo. Biologists have known about the area for years and the American Museum of Natural History has maintained a research station in the area for over 50 years and a the new Chiricahua Desert Museum has opened it's doors. Aviation has also reestablished itself in the bootheel with the Amigos del Cielo airpark.

So the bootheel is slowly moving into the 21st century. New people are arriving with a variety of different interests and rubbing shoulders with the long time residents. The goal of this blog is to document these changes and highlight this scenic part of the country.