14 posts tagged “geology”
A continuation of my pictures from Mesa Verde National Park, taken last fall.
Here are some photos I've been holding onto since last year. These were taken at the Carson National Forest in New New Mexico.
Here are some pictures I've taken in Colorado over the last week:
Views of Golden
Apparently, there are only three or four names for geologic features. There are about eighty different features called Castle Rock throughout the southwest.
My new (to me) jeep.
Red Rock Park
Three views of Creation Rock (on the left) and two of Ship Rock, at Red Rock Park.
Red Rock natural amphitheater
I was amazed by the number of people jogging and running around the amphitheater. This woman was using the giant steps on the side to work herself into exhaustion. I'd rather stay fat.
Coming soon: A brief view at the Denver Zoo. Hey, that rhymes.
On our way to Las Vegas, we took the route that takes you through the southern edge of Zion National Park. I was unprepared for exactly how beautiful this drive would be, and we will definitely be going back to Zion for a longer visit sometime in the future.
I actually found myself feeling fortunate that we hit the park on a rainy day. I don't think the clouds would have been as dramatically low as they were, otherwise, shrowding the mountain tops.
The park as seen from space in Google Earth. The red lines are hiking trails. Oh, the places I'll go!
Yesterday: Blue Mesa
This continues the documentation of our recent trip to the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.
This is a pull-off north of the Blue Mesa area in the park called Tepees. There are no actual tepees here, but I guess someone thought that the badland formations here looked like tepees. They are somewhat pyramid-like. This is also a virtual geocache, so I took a pic of Strix standing in the foreground holding our GPS to prove we were there.
Our next stop was Puerco Pueblo, which is a small ruins area in the park. No, I don't know why it's called Pig Village, though there is a Rio Puerco that runs through New Mexico and joins into the Colorado River, which of course runs through Arizona. But then the question is why is the river called Pig River? There are some questions we are not meant to answer.
The ruins site is not much to see after you've been to Chaco Canyon, but it's still interesting.
Petroglyphs found at the Puerco Pueblo site.
This is a detail of one of the pics above. This has to be the most humorous petroglyph I've ever seen. Strix calls this one, "I said put me down!" Did the "artist" mean for it to be funny? Was it a horror story about a thirty-foot tall bird that ate humans? Is, in fact, this an attempt at perspective, and the man is actually supposed to be in the background? We'll never know.
Tomorrow: Route 66 Monument
Yesterday: Crystal Forest
This continues the documentation of our recent trip to the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.
Probably the most beautiful area of the park that we saw was the Blue Mesa area, which is a looped drive that you have to leave the main road for, and has a couple of trails in it. Of course, all this beautiful scenary around us, and I decided to take a picture of my shadow first.
Much cooler than my shadow, admittedly.
In this area, erosion has created badland-like features, but at the same time it has uncovered large pieces of petrified wood. The petrified wood is harder than the sedimentary rock beneath it, so it remains even as the mountain is washed away beneath it. Eventually, this petrified logs will roll down the side of the formations and crash into pieces at the bottom.
Just in case you were thinking of taking a step off a five hundred foot drop.
There are signs in the area commanding visitors not to feed the wildlife, but it I think it's clear that someone has been feeding these birds. Two ravens adopted us and followed us from pull-off to pull-off, showing very little fear of humans. Of course, they looked about thirty pounds and had little cause to fear anything. Or maybe they just liked the PT Cruiser.
I ignored the warning sign and walked out onto a sheer ledge to take these shots, much to Strix's dismay, but I got some great pics. If I had fallen to my death, the camera may still have been salvagable, so it would have been worth it.
Strix getting up close and personal to get a picture of one of the ravens. She's about two feet from it here.
Tomorrow: Tepees and Puerco Pueblo
Yesterday: Agate House
This continues the documentation of our recent trip to the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.
Crystal Forest is another trail area in the PFNP, strewn with pieces of petrified trees.
This sign describes what scientists think this area looked like during the Triassic period. It was a hell of a lot wetter, and when the forests that were here were submerged in silty water, they were infused with the crystaline silicates that resulted in them becoming petrified.
Strix thought the shadow side of this formation looked like the outline of a camel, so it was thus named.
Tomorrow: Blue Mesa
Yesterday: Rainbow Forest and Museum
This continues the documentation of our recent trip to the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.
If you park at the Rainbow Forest Museum and walk across the small bridge to the north, you come to the trailhead for the Agate House. This trail connects with the Long Logs Trail, too, but we didn't have time to take that one, and opted to see the Agate House, which is a Native American archaeological site similar in construction to structures built by the Anasazi elsewhere in the Four Corners area, but made entirely out of petrified wood.
This trail is fully paved, making it an easy hike.
The Agate House. While similar, the construction is different than you see in Anasazi ruins, particularly in that you don't see the layers of varied stone size, and there's a lot more mortar involved here. Difference in materials is probably to blame. The stone used at other sites is softer and easier to chip into different sizes, whereas the petrified wood is pretty hard stuff.
Just some whitish deposites I saw on the way back to the main road. This whole area is all very interesting geologically.
Tomorrow: Crystal Forest
Yesterday: Holbrook's Petroglyph Park
This continues the documentation of our recent trip to the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.
This was our second day at the Petrified Forest National Park, and we came at it from the other direction, going in the South entrance. The first thing you come to is a very touristy place that is officially outside the park where you can buy petrified wood from private land, as well as other tourist kitsch. Sadly, they don't sell gasoline, and at this point I was starting to be a little concerned about our fuel levels, but Strix assured me that her Cruiser could handle it.
Inside the park from the South entrance, the first thing you come come to is the Rainbow Forest Museum.
The dinosaur exibits in the small museum are few, but impressive.
Rainbow Forest, behind the museum, is a windy trail strewn with petrified wood pieces.
Click on this one for a larger view. Some of the pieces of petrified wood, like this one, completely crystalized on the inside, and are exceptionally beautiful.
A memorial plaque, honoring Stephen Tyng Mather, the first director of the National Park Service,
Two of the more interesting pieces of petrified wood, and another scenary shot, showing how much is on the ground here.
Tomorrow: Agate House
