In the Shadow of the Carmens: Afield with a Naturalist in the Northern Mexican Mountains

22. Canon Moreno

Many of the canyons in the Carmens are tucked away in the mountain, hidden from view. Until you are very familiar with this mountain chain, it is not evident just how much country is here, and how the many canyons and mountains are assembled. Moreno is one such canyon. I have been to Moreno many times over the last nine years, and yet I never tire of it. Cañón Moreno is one of the well-kept secrets of the mountain; there is no roadway for vehicles. Once there was a road of sorts but with time it has faded to a trail that heads up the mountain to intersect with Cañón Carboneras. Traveling up Cañón el Álamo into the Juárez area, you come to a couple of forks in the road. The first goes right and up toward the Mesa de los Fresnos and the second goes straight by the old casa and up the canyon. Soon the canyon ends, and off to the right Cañón Temblores begins. Across the creek and to the left there is a faintly marked trail. Crossing the boulder-strewn arroyo you start walking along the left bank of the creek winding through the oaks and pines. The air is hot and close in the confines of this narrow passage up the canyon. Breathing deeply, you smell the hot scent of pine and a gentle puff of wind rustles the oak leaves. Taking care, I always watch along this part of the trail: northern black-tailed rattlesnakes are fairly common in the area. They blend in well with the leaf litter, grasses, and weeds, and it is always a breath-catching moment when 22 Cañón Moreno In the Shadow of the Carmens 136 you hear that warning rattle. Sometimes you see them before they rattle, coiled up in the trail or off to the side under a rock ledge. Farther on the canyon widens and you start seeing the first of many pools of water that you will encounter for quite a distance up the canyon. The trail winds along the creek; the pools are quiet here. The water is clear as crystal and not as cold as the high mountain pools. Farther on, the trail begins a steady climb to the high country. The air is cooler, and oaks and grama and muhly grasses make small park-like areas. There is a spring where the water flows year-round, and since cattle and horses have been removed the native cottonwoods are finally beginning the regeneration process evidenced by saplings springing up. The remains of an old corral and water trough are in a clearing about midway up the mountain. Vaqueros camped here and used the corrals to pen their horses and cattle when grazing them in the high country. Black bears love this canyon; there are many oaks with acorns in the fall, the slopes below the summits have many overhangs and cliffs that bears can use for hibernation sites. In early spring the grasses , Wright’s tick clover, and Mexican conopholis provide food for bears emerging from hibernation . Climbing ever upward, twisting and winding around the mountain on a late spring or early summer day, you marvel at the wildflowers, the many species of oaks, the dark green of pines against the blue sky, plains prickly pear cactus with yellow flowers, weeping juniper, and pinyon pine. Long-petal echeverias are common—light green rosettes with tiny bloom stalks topped with orange-red flowers that grow among the rocks. These succulents form small rock gardens, their roots firmly entrenched in crevices and cracks in the rocks. The trail gets steep in some places, and then levels out for a short distance. You climb steadily upward, and finally reach the summit of the canyon at Carboneras. One of the most beautiful canyons in the Maderas, Moreno begins in a park-like setting of Black-tailed rattlesnake, Cañón Moreno. Photo J. D. Villalobos, 2005 137 Cañón Moreno oaks and native grasses and ends high in the mountain in a pine-oak association. The many pools and tinajas in the arroyo are magical places ; birds, reptiles and amphibians, and the native wildlife all depend on these water sources. The clear pools of unpolluted water gently flow downward , going underground in some places and then springing back to the surface farther downstream . In June 2005 it...