Petroglyph National Monument.

In just a few minutes, Lindsey, Joe, Erin and I are heading to Petroglyph National Monument. I am really excited to get on a hike and see the west-side volcanoes and some great views of the Sandia Mountains. I have really been taking my city for granted. We have some of the most awesome natural surroundings in Albuquerque. For the most part, Albuquerque and New Mexico is arid, but then you travel just 10 to 15 miles east and you have the Sandia Mountains that are covered in dense forest. It's not an Oregon or Washington forest by no means, but a forest none-the-less. There are tall pines and meadows with gorgeous flowers. The New Mexico landscape is really diverse. Much of the landscape is covered with short juniper bush and desert grasses, but then other parts are covered in lush forests. If I could take a guess, then I would say that our forests cover an area of maybe the size of the states of Vermont and New Hampshire. I can find out. New Mexico has 16.68 million acres of forest land according to http://www.statemaster.com/state/NM-new-mexico/geo-geography. Vermont and New Hampshire's combined total acreage is (5.919 million from VT + 5.74 million acres from NH) =11.659 million acres. So, New Mexico's total forested area is more than the combined acreage of New Hampshire and Vermont.