A Walk at City of Rocks

 

A Walk at City of Rocks

City of Rocks State Park is small but mighty!!  It covers about one square mile in the Chihuahuan desert region in southern New Mexico.  The City the name refers to the large rock pinnacles rising as high as 40 feet!  These formations occurred when there was a large volcanic eruption about 35 million years ago.  After all these years, the rocks have worn down to the rounded forms they are today.

Here’s our great campsite!  We really like this specific site and try to get it every time we stay here.  We are nestled in between some of those huge volcanic rocks.  It’s actually quite a large site, with plenty of seating space.  We spent a lot of time in our chairs under the tree.

We were camping here for one full day, and in the morning of that day, we decided to walk along and in between the rocks on the hill behind our campsite.  Jeff and Max managed to find a rock with a natural sort of bench carved out.  Taking a rest at the top of the hill!

Every so often as we walked along, we’d come across a nice little quiet spot – this one with a lovely tree setting in it!  I think it would be a great place to meditate, if I meditated!

As I walked past this area where two rocks are very close to each other, I thought that no one could manage to fit through this narrow crevice.  Then, Max shows up at the top of this crevice, very proud of himself, racing around and finding fun new places to explore! When he started down the crevice to reach us, he seemed to get stuck for a minute, because it was so narrow and so steep.  But, after a moment, he just sort of jumped over the narrow, steep area and joined us!

Here’s another great view from up in the rocks.  One thing that’s fun for those folks who camp in tents is that there are a number of tent sites that look similar to this.  Again, nestled in the rocks.  It sometimes feels like you’re protected, as the rocks block some wind, etc.  It’s a very basic, simple place to camp and just relax!

And, the opposite of relax is Max!  I do believe that he walked, ran and jumped at least 2-3 times what we did!  Here are some images of him playing in between the rocks.  He had a grand time, as did we!!

This was our last camping trip of this year, so see you next year!!

Enjoy!

 

 

Max meets the Dunes

 

Max Meets the Dunes

One of the reasons we wanted to visit White Sands National Park was to introduce Max to one of the largest and best doggie parks we knew of!!  Now, technically, Max was to be on the leash the entire time we were there, but one look around tells you that people regularly violate that “rule”.  The trick to not getting in trouble is to Walk far enough onto the dunes so the park rangers don’t see you!!

We weren’t far enough on the dunes when I shot these, and shortly afterwards, the park rangers used their speaker to tell us he needed to be on his leash – yes, officer!  But really, who could keep this much joy tied up??

Isn’t this a handsome boy of a pup? For a brief moment, when he was deciding which way to run, Max struck a pose!  It only lasted for a second!! LOL!!

Oh, he saw me while running around and just had to come by (at full speed) to say hi!!  We have thought from the very beginning that Max was a very happy pup – and here he gets to be exuberantly happy!!

I really like this image of Max on the dunes.  He almost looks contemplative, like he’s reflecting on his life….almost!!  I think it’s more likely that he’s wondering what lies down the dune and beyond!!

Max met a friend while at the dunes!!  This little pup was so charming – she (I’m assuming she was a girl) came up and kept sitting, then sneaking a few steps forward, then lying down, etc., until we decided it was ok to let him off his leash. We tend to be a bit careful when another dog comes close, but it was clear all she wanted to do was play with Max. They had a grand time, and both sets of puppy parents got some laughs just watching them racing around. And, no, Max never did catch her!!

After all that running around, Max felt like he had to just chill for a bit and catch his breath. The warmth of the setting sun helped him to momentarily relax!

At the end of all this fun, max took one last stroll around as the sun set on his fun time at White Sands National Park! He slept well that night!

Enjoy!

Dunes at Sunset

 

Dunes at Sunset

The next day when we visited White Sands National Park, we drove further into the park and stopped at the area where the dunes are higher.  Families will visit this part of the park and bring disc types of sleds, for the kids to “sled” down the dunes.  Whenever we’re there, we always see some kids (of all ages) doing this, so it is obviously great family fun!  That wasn’t what we came for though.  We just wanted to enjoy the beauty…

At times, walking along on top of the dunes, the landscape strikes me as being very stark.  This image represents that.  I processed it in black and white, simply to show off the textures of both the nearby mountains, and the dunes themselves.

This scene also gives you a sense of starkness.  In this one, the mountains have taken a bit of a step back and let the flow of the dunes be the star!  At times, even though my feet are firmly on the ground, I almost feel like I’m at sea, looking at rolling waves.

As the sun sets, the scene warms up quite a bit!! And, we have lines everywhere!  There are what I think of as the larger flow lines of the dunes, and up close, you can see the pattern that the wind makes in the dunes.  Since the wind is never ending, any steps one may leave are quickly erased by the breeze and the dunes.

As the sun sinks further on the horizon, then the scene becomes very soft.  Details in the sand melt into the shadows of the dunes and you just have the feeling of the sands softly moving, with almost absolute silence, except for my breathing.

Again, as we were walking back over the dunes to our car, we faced the opposite direction and got a lovely view of the moon rise over the mountains that had been behind us all this time.  One interesting thing about being on the dunes is that you must always be aware of where you walked.  Since all dunes tend to look alike, it would be very easy to get lost!

Enjoy!

Dunes Nature Trail at White Sands National Park

 

Dunes Nature Trail at White Sands National Park

Relatively speaking, White Sands National Park is rather small (about 228 square miles).  However, it certainly packs a punch in terms of beauty and fun for everyone who visits.  On January 18, 1933, President Hoover designated White Sands as a National Monument.  It was made a National Park in 2019 by President Trump.  It is surrounded by the White Sands Missile Range and Holloman Air Force Base.  In fact, when they are doing testing at the Missile Range, the National Park can be closed for a period of time, generally an hour or two.  Luckily, this didn’t happen when we visited!

The first visit was to a place called Dunes Nature Trail.  Usually, there aren’t that many folks who stop there.  I think it’s because the larger dunes are further along the park road.  The interesting thing about this stop is that there is a lot of vegetation among the dunes.  I really like the dune plant in this image – standing tall!

One of the lovely things we could see along this trail is how the various components of nature really shine.  The sky, with its wonderful clouds, complements the mountains which seem to echo the grassy bunches of beach grass.  Grounding it all is the sand.  In reality, the “sand” is gypsum, but everyone just calls it sand!

Because the area is so open at White Sands, the sky often takes front and center, as it’s doing here, at the beginning of the sunset for the day.  I especially like the streaking that the light creates with the clouds in the bottom image!

As the sun gets close to the horizon, the warmth of its rays is evident in this dunescape.  Warm rays created shadows that really lend texture to this peaceful image.

And, finally, as we were leaving the area once the sun set, the moon rose!!  Here are two images of it. The one on the left is the moon low enough to seem to be blending into the branches of plants in the area.  The second image is as we drew closer to where our car was parked, at the outer edge of the dunes area.

Enjoy!

Elk in the Campground

 

Elk in the Campground

It’s fairly rare that Jeff and I get to see elk – deer are far more common.  However, just outside of the campground we stayed at in Ruidoso, New Mexico, while walking Max, Jeff saw this very large bull elk, and rushed back to the RV to tell me to grab my camera and follow him!

Jeff took me to the “pet walk” area, which was just on the outside of the campground.  Waking just a few yards, brought us to this big guy, kind of hanging out near the trees, and munching on some grass.  He seemed to peek at me through the branches.

Then, he started down the ravine that separated us.  He seemed pretty calm, so I wasn’t really worried about this 1200 lb. wild animal getting within a few yards of me and Jeff.

He walked along the bottom of the ravine, sort of thrashing around breaking off small branches of the trees and shrubs growing in the ravine.  Both Jeff and I were thinking that he was working at getting some of the velvety fuzz off his antlers.

After a few minutes of thrashing the branches, Jeff thought he might also be getting a bit irritated with us being so close to him.  He didn’t display any aggressive behavior but waiting until an elk so large he made me feel small, did so, was probably not a good idea, so we quickly retreated and left him to his personal hygiene!

Enjoy!

Exploring the Towns

 

Exploring the Towns

We spent the weekend visiting with friends and checking out the small towns of Ruidoso and Cloudcroft, both in New Mexico.  The towns seemed so picturesque, I found I wanted to process the photos I took into sketches.  It just seemed to match the quaint feel of these towns.

Ruidoso is a charming little tourist type of town.  They do have a racetrack where they run horse races in the summer, and have a great Octoberfest come fall.  We were not there on the Octoberfest weekend, however.  That suited us fine, though, as the streets were full enough without the extra festival folks!

The road from Ruidoso to Cloudcroft led us along a country road, just two lanes for cars.  On this day, we got a show as we drove – lovely fall colors!

The small town of Cloudcroft has a downtown area that seems to be lifted straight from an old Western, complete with rustic hotel, and wood plank sidewalks!!  It was a charming visit to a town, fairly high in the mountains.  It felt as if we were pretty close to the clouds, thus living up to its name!

Enjoy!

Driving Monument Valley

 

Driving Monument Valley

We happened to spend an extra day camping at Monument Valley, so we had the opportunity to drive along a scenic loop drive through Monument Valley.  It’s in the Navajo Nation (reservation), so we needed to comply with their rules, which included a long wait to enter the drive.  They closely monitor how many folks are allowed on the drive at one time.  Tours are excluded from this count, but they don’t seem to have all that many of them.  Their goal is to protect this environment, so I can’t argue with that!

An iconic view of Monument Valley often times includes a view of at least one of the two mitten rock formations.  They are not that terribly close to each other, but from this angle they look rather close!

When you first look at these two rock formations, you may not see it, but they do have the names of elephant (upper left) and camel (lower right).  The elephant is facing to the right.  If you look at the lower part of the formation, you can make out its trunk.  The camel, on the other hand, is facing to the left.  To me, it looks like it’s holding its head up high, and you can kind of make out a double hump.  Apparently, their shapes become more obvious if you look at their shadows, if you happen to be there at the right time of the day (which we weren’t!!).

This formation is called Three Sisters, and is viewed by the Navajo as a nun teaching other young students nuns.  I like the simplicity of the formation.

The roads throughout Monument Valley are all the same color as that of the rock formations they wind through.  I included this because I like the feel of this image, and to give you an idea of how rather primitive the road was!

One of the dusty roads led to this view of Spearhead Mesa.  The formation seem to reach up to the sky!

This formation is called totem pole.  The smaller spires on the left are called Yei Bi Chei (Navajo spiritual Gods) and the higher totem pole on the right.  It’s 450 feet tall.

The view from Code Talker Point is a scene from a spot honoring the Navajo Code Talkers, who spoke in code (the Navajo language that was also in a bit of code) to help the US troops during World War II.  They communicated the activity in the field to headquarters, so that headquarters could respond with further instructions.

Here are some other views from a place called North Window.  If some of the scenes I’ve been sharing look somewhat familiar, this was a favorite filming site of John Ford, who directed a number of John Wayne movies in the 1940s and 1950s.  You also might recognize some scenes from Marlboro cigarette commercials and billboard ads, when that was allowed.

This final image is of a rock formation called The Thumb.  The Thumb is the formation off to the right in the image.  I like to think of the formation to the left as the rest of the hand!!

Enjoy!!

 

 

Heart of Zion

 

Heart of Zion

The second day of exploring Zion began very, very early.  We got up and were on our way to the Park when it was still dark, just so that we could get there in time to find a parking spot at the Visitors Center.  Now, the Visitors Center has a large parking lot, but there are so many folks who want to see what I call The Heart of Zion, we needed to get there by shortly after 7am in order to get a parking spot so that we could ride the shuttle bus into the Heart.  No passenger cars are allowed.  It was well worth the hassle, as you’ll see!

There are several stops that the shuttle bus makes, but we chose to ride it until the last stop at what’s called the Temple of Sinawava.  This is actually a natural amphitheater and is named for the coyote spirit of the Paiute Nation.  From the number of people who did what we did, it’s easy to see that this is one of the Park’s most popular destinations.  At this point, we accessed and entered the Riverside Walk.  This is a 2-mile round-trip walk along the Virgin River, and takes us into the heart of Zion Canyon. What an entryway!

After walking just a short distance, looking back, I could see how we were being engulfed by the canyon.  Even though it was fairly early in the morning, the walk was a bit dim, as the light from the sun hadn’t quite reached into the canyon walls.

The walk runs along the side of one of the canyon walls, and sometimes, the canyon wall reminds us of this by overhanging into the trail!!  Yes, I did have to bend my head a bit if I walked away from the outer edge of the trail, and was rewarded afterwards by yet another scenic view of the Virgin River.  Even though the walls of the canyon began to close in a bit, claustrophobia is simply not possible, with the feeling of space those 3,000 foot high walls created!

There were so many different peaceful views of the canyon and river, it was impossible to become bored!  The water was incredibly clear and reflected the colors of both the trees and canyon walls.  You can see the scenery beginning to brighten, as the sun of the day seeps into the canyon very slowly.

This area is home to a variety of wildlife, not the least of which are mule deer.  Here’s a little one and Mom (in the background) having breakfast along the river.  Although truly wild, they weren’t terribly afraid of all the people walking by.  Of course, the further we walked, the more spaced out we got, as some were intent on their destination, while others, like Jeff and me, sort of strolled so that we could take it the beauty of it all.  So, the deer got a slow but steady stream of admirers, instead of one big crowd!

At this point, we were fairly close to the turnaround point of the walk, and you can see even more sun making its way into the canyon.  I felt like this was a bit of a magic spot, with the beauty of the canyon walls, the lighting, the trees, and the water of the river all blended in a wonderful portrait of the canyon.

Here we are at the end of our walk into the canyon.  I did capture a number of folks who treated this spot as only the beginning of their adventures, as they were beginning to hike The Narrows.  It is billed as one of the most spectacular hikes in the country, and just based on what we saw, I believe it!  However, one must have the balance and sure-footedness of a mountain goat to tackle this, and I have neither!!  It’s also rated as a strenuous hike, at about 7,2 miles, with elevation of up to 500 feet.  The “trail” at this point, is the Virgin River itself!  I wish them luck!

Enjoy!

 

 

Taste of Zion

 

Taste of Zion

As a personal note, I have wanted to visit Zion National Park for several years.  It never seemed to work out during our travels, because Zion is in the southwest corner of Utah, and we weren’t ever in that area.  This year, we made a point of visiting it, and we were both amazed at how different the rock formations, etc., were when compared to Bryce, Arches, etc. 

All of the natural beauty of Zion is due to Zion’s geology.  Over the past 300 million years, Zion has had an incredible variety of different environments, including tropical seas, sand dune deserts, lakes, rivers and swamps!  Of course, the road we traveled on didn’t indicate any of that to us, since neither of us are geologists!!

Zion is actually a small park. At 230 square miles, it’s 1/8 the size of the Grand Canyon.  However, I began to think of it as small, but mighty.  The rock formation textures are amazing, and what totally surprised both Jeff and I were all the trees growing out of the rocks!!

Some of the really grand formations are still in the making.  The upper image seems to be an amphitheater or cave starting to form.  You can see it if you look toward the left center of the back of the canyon it now sits in.  The bottom image reminded me of the shape of the arches we saw at Arches National Park.  I think the rock is too thick for this to eventually become an arch, so maybe another amphitheater or cave?

I don’t know what caused this, but a number of the tops of the immense rock walls were white, and not from snow!!  They offered a very nice contrast to the red rocks and green trees.

Isn’t this cool?  I happened to look up just as a jet was leaving a contrail, seemingly heading directly toward one of the rock walls!

I just wanted to share the road through what I call the Taste of Zion area.  We are winding our way through huge rock formations and walls.  In many areas there are pull-off areas where you could pull off to get out of your car (or Jeep!) and take in the view.  However, for whatever reason, when we were there, it was really crowded, so we couldn’t do that.  I know, it doesn’t look busy in this image, but I worked at getting the empty road feel!!

I love the look of layers in the rocks shown in the image on the right!  Again, the trees are growing out of the rocks!!  If you look at the image on the left in the lower portion of the image, you’ll see a sort of semi-circle cut-out.  It could be a cave, but it’s not!  It’s actually a window!!  On the other side of the window, is a mile long tunnel through the rocks that we needed to drive through get in and out of Zion.  That window is even cooler in my view, when you know there’s a tunnel in all that rock!!

This image gives you a really good feel for how it felt to drive on the road through Zion in a lot of places.  I have no idea how tall those rock walls are!!  Rock climbers really like Zion for obvious reasons!  We didn’t see any climbing, but we did see several walking along the side of the road to get to their “spot”.  I’m sure that’s why the pull-over spots are very full in some places!!

Here are some close-up views of some of the natural texture of the rocks.  The image on the left is actually called the “Checkerboard”.  You can see why!  And, it’s all due to how nature kept changing the landscape of Zion.

And here’s a tunnel that we needed to drive through.  I don’t think it’s the mile-long tunnel, but I am using it to illustrate the fact that we did need to drive through a tunnel to enter and leave Zion.

But, even when you technically “leave” Zion, the beautiful scenery doesn’t stop!  The road to Zion from the east, which is the way we entered it, is called East Zion, and the views are impressive in their own right!!

Enjoy!!