I love dirt roads for all the usual reasons: the chance they offer to go into and through pristine wilderness, over mountains and through canyons, across rims and ridges where we are immersed in landscapes of silence and beauty. I love dirt roads for the stories they tell, too. And they always have a story. These roads—and the foot, horse, and wagon trails they follow—always tell tales of people and place.
New Mexico has 25,000 miles of unpaved roads. Dirt, sand, clay, stone, and caliche constitute up to 75 percent
