Mar 19, 2020

Beautiful is not Perfect – New Mexico

I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out
till sundown, for going out, I found,
was really going in.

John Muir

Soaptree Yucca after bloom
Survival of the fittest or smartest, White Sands National Monument
Some plants adapt by growing faster than the sand dunes can cover them
Others adapt by holding on tight…
With the corona virus spreading like wildfire, I am laying low, going through my pictures from New Mexico.  Not many words.  Be well and enjoy.

View from my windshield, driving into White Sands National Monument
Sand dunes taking over the road, it gets constantly graded
Storm brewing, as many in springtime
Surrounded by 4.5 billion tons of gypsum sand!
Equivalent to train full of gypsum going around equator 25 times
Hard to find areas without human footprints
Leaving the unassuming glistening beauty of simple ripples
Plants slowing the migration of the gypsum dunes by several feet per year
On average, a person eats 28 pounds of gypsum it their lifetime
Found in toothpaste, bread, ice cream, wine, beer, cheese, medicines, and more
Rio Grande Cottonwood
Roots exposed as the dune moves on
Super flexible Skunkbush Sumac
Used by natives for binding and basket making
Disappearing act
Very active dunes can move more than 24 feet/year
Welcome to Roswell, home of UFO’s and aliens…
Something fell out of the skies in 1947, spawning an entire
cottage industry of speculation and bumper stickers
This something was a weather balloon
In museum, very cheeeeeeeesy display
A favorite of bats and how it was discovered
From a distance, looking like volcano smoke but thousands of bats
Someone had to investigate that ‘smoke’ and found this cavern
Welcome to Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Bats live here seasonally, they were not here in February
The natural entrance
In the twilight zone
Equivalent to going up/down 75 stories!
At first, bat guano was mined here for California fruit growers
First known as The Bat Cave, it is home to millions of Mexican free-tailed bats.
It was mined for bat guano for over 20 years!
Actor/comedian Will Rogers called the cavern
‘The Grand Canyon with a roof over it.’
Amazing flowstone formation

I am wholly conscious of the feebleness of my efforts to convey the deep conflicting emotions, 
the feeling of fear and awe, 
and the desire for an inspired understanding of the divine creator’s work, 
which presents to the human eye such a complex aggregate of natural wonders.

Robert Holley, US Department of Interior
1923, when it became a National Monument
Water so pristine – only its blueish hue shows
On the edge are remains of Calcite Rafts (scalloped like features)
Chinese Theater room
Oliver Lee General Store
Old movie sets with South-West flair
Billy the Kid roamed this area…
Weathered adobe brick wall, home of François-Jean ‘Frenchy’ Rochas
French settler (1886-1894) in Dog Canyon, NM
Found dead with bullet in chest, reason still a mystery
Mortars aka Indian Wells
Created as a result of food processing
Hand-held pestles were used to grind wild seeds and beans into flour
Creating mortars in the bedrock over many years
Three Rivers Petroglyph Site
With over 21,000 petroglyphs to be found
Background are the sacred Sierra Blanca mountains
Located on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation
Fresh snow at 9,000 feet near Cloudcroft, NM
Mexican Canyon Trestle.  It was part of the Cloud-Climbing Railroad.
One of 58 trestles made of local Douglas fir from the 1940’s.
Went up more than 4,747 feet in 32.5 miles at a 5.2% grade
No longer pimped is this ride
Cloudcroft, NM
What is left, Alamogordo
Windmill, Deming
Dead (or dormant) can be beautiful
Contrasts
Patina
Light
Lenticular cloud over Rio Grande near the Sandia Mountains
Lenticular cloud near Cabezon Peak
Usually forms downwind from a mountain
Sacred Shiprock, Navajo Reservation
In Navajo: Tse Bi Dahi = Rock with Wings
By Chris Dahl-Bredine aerial photographer, Taos, NM
Night sky over Battleship Rock near Jemez
By Adam Nish (I can’t take night pictures like this one)
Battleship Rock, daytime version
With a nighttime moon reminder
I love old signs
Echo Amphitheater, Abiquiu, NM
Typical red pepper ‘ristras’
They are synonymous with New Mexico
Cacti can be colorful.  Springtime in New Mexico
Sandias and Rio Grande, showy reflection
Male finch, another indication of spring
Pink blooms, spring, spring, spring
Virga of spring storm
Precipitation that evaporates before hitting the ground

Happy Spring, in these uncertain times, nature is still a great healer.  Go outside…

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