Last weekend, Nina and I climbed a 10,098' mountain in central New Mexico called "Manzano Peak." We were in a cloud for the bulk of the trip so the pictures aren't that great, but we did find a spherical mushroom bigger than Nina's head. Manzano Peak is the highpoint of Torrence County, NM. Combined with a nearby unnamed point which happens to be the highest in Valencia County, I now have 99 county highpoints under my belt and am rapidly approaching some sort of arbitrarily-defined threshold of dork++.

This weekend I will not be passing into the realm of county highpointer centurion status. I will, however, be climbing a couple of mountains near Carrizozo, NM which happen to be some of the most prominent peaks in the state. I'm joining a guy I met this spring, who may become my climbing partner for Orizaba this winter (though I think that trip might be slipping to next year). He speaks fluent Spanish and is already eyeing the peak, so I'm hoping we can make that happen. 18,500'... here we come. But first, Carrizo Peak and Palko Peak.