This spring is located a short distance from NM-152,
not far below the crest of Emory Pass.
Sometimes you encounter something that just leaves you scratching your head. This is what happened to me on a recent outing up Southwest Canyon just east of Emory Pass. There is a spring just a short distance from the road there (locally the canyon is called Southwest Canyon but I can find no official record of the name). The canyon’s location is shown below -
It is the work at the spring which leaves me puzzled. The spring is on the side of the canyon about fifteen feet above the canyon bed. It is covered and feeds a watering trough on the other side of the canyon, about forty feet away. The area to the south of the trough (the side away from the spring) is fenced. The area around the spring is not fenced. If a person is thinking spring maintenance then this makes no sense at all.
It does occur to me now, however, that if you are rounding up cattle and want an enclosure with a water source (trough) it makes perfect sense. Not lawful of course but then this is the west.
