Places
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Bosque del Apache
Bosque del Apache, south of Socorro, NM is a large wildlife
refuge noted primarily as a wintering place for sandhill cranes
and geese. Large flocks of cranes can be seen in fields near the
12-mile dirt road that crosses the refuge, as well as from walking
trails. Tours and educational talks are offered by refuge staff. A
Festival of the Cranes is held yearly in February. On a visit with
friends years ago, we also saw a group of seven does taking
cover in the tall vegetation, and I got this photograph of one with
a 55-250 mm zoom lens. I couldn't get close enough to the cranes
to get a good photo, even with my lens at 250 mm.
Muley Twist Canyon
Graceful Saddle Arch in Upper Muley Twist Canyon in
Capitol Reef National Park, UT. It's my favorite arch
in the Southwest, Arches NP notwithstanding. Muley
Twist Canyon runs along the west side of Waterpocket Fold and above what you see in the photo below, It's
claimed to have been named by some cowboy who
said it was "so serpentine it could twist a mule." You
can enter it from the Burr Trail Road described below.
There are other arches in the canyon and swirls in the
sloping sandstone canyon wall at one point that make
it look like red whipped cream. The Waterpocket Fold
is the only place I've ever seen that.
Grand Canyon National Park
From my spreadsheet records it appears that in two years I
haven't posted anything from the Grand Canyon on this page,
so it's about time I gave some space to one of the most amazing places nature given humankind to behold. This is a shot from a viewpoint on the western leg of the South Rim drive, which you
have to take a shuttle bus or hike to reach. I believe it’s from
Mojave Point, or possibly Hopi Point. You can see a short ribbon
of the Colorado River in the center of the photograph looking
puny against the 3500 to 4000 rise to the North Rim.
The scope of the Grand Canyon is too much to fully comprehend,
and you come away from it not quite able to recall what you’ve
just seen. It’s too far outside of your normal frame of reference, unless maybe you work there and see it every day. If you haven't seen it, I'd make a point of going at least once, but avoid the
summer and any holiday, and preferably go during the week to
miss the traffic jams.
Hall's Creek Overlook and Brimhall Double Bridge
A view of Brimhall Double Bridge from Hall's Creek Overlook off the Burr Trail
Road in the southern end of Capitol Reef National Park. The two-mile road to
the overlook is unmarked, but you can find it with the topo map from the Capitol
Reef Historical Association. You need a high clearance vehicle but I managed
it in a 2WD Ford Ranger. This photograph was taken with a 55-250 mm zoom
lens, showing the slot canyon that leads back to the bridge, but it's deceptive.
There's a twist in the slot canyon and a steep rock face to climb to get to a
spot below the bridge. I couldn't manage the climb with my camera gear and
tripod and be sure I wouldn't take a spill coming down. It's also a steep climb
down from the overlook to Hall's Creek, which was dry. I love the strange look
of the bridge from the overlook, with the appearance of creepy, somewhat menacing eyes.
Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness
The Bisti/De-Na-Zin is a small wilderness area with two separate
sections in northwest New Mexico south of Farmington. The
smaller Bisti section is more well-known due to the hoodoos, mushroom cap rocks and other unusual rock formations. I've only
done one short hike there after spending a couple hours in the De-
Na-Zin section after backpacking a short distance into there. You
can camp on BLM land near the parking lot on the west side of the
wilderness next to highway 371. It's a fascinating place and a good
place to photograph in. I got this photograph near the west side of
the area where the unusual rock formations start. The long pointed
finger of rock near the upper center of the photo may be the most
unusual rock formation I've seen. It makes me imagine a witch's
finger in a production of Macbeth or the Wizard of Oz.
