But even Henry's pictures from last year, and his enthusiastic descriptions of the scenery, didn't
prepare me for the spectacular-ness of the cliffs, rockfaces, and just generalized mineral kingdom splendor, that was on constant display during our four-day trip.It was really hard not to snap pictures non-stop.
Not as other-worldly looking as the formations in Arches National Park, but undoubtedly part of the same general geological system, the colors of the rocks were amazing. My doughty little camera, serviceable as it is, can't really do them justice. But you can hopefully get some idea from the photos here, like the one above at the entrance to Huckaby Canyon, a side canyon where we took a short hike. Or below, a close-up of the spectacular formation called Chama Wall:
(There was a campsite looking right out onto this amazing rockface that—surprise!—was already taken when we passed it. Can you imagine waking up and looking out your tent flap at this in the morning?!)
I'll get to some more Huckaby Canyon photos in a moment, but the rocks right along the riverside were almost as photogenic. Take these two examples:
And the rocks here weren't just scenic, either, or interesting simply for the geological stories they
told. They were home turf, too, for some cliff swallows that made the picturesque, almost Mesa Verde-like structures you can see on the left, tucked under the cliffs just like the dwellings of the ancestral Puebloans that I saw earlier this summer.
Oddly enough, though, we didn't hear any canyon wrens along the river. I was expecting to be serenaded by their lovely calls all along the trip.
The scenery, however, more than made up for the lack of bird song. In fact, the quiet, which was complete if you moved just a short distance from the restful sound of the river's flow, was definitely a major attraction. How often do you get to hear just quiet for such a prolonged period? Where even the planes that occasionally pass overhead are so far overhead that they make no sound?
The shot above was taken on the Huckaby Canyon hike. What an amazing collection of wind-and water-sculpted rocks! Here are some more examples of nature's art work on display there:
The last day of our journey, ironically, contained the trickiest rapids—after we left the canyon proper. Henry had prepared me for this, as well as the fact that the countryside that day would—in his words—"open up."
I rather naively interpreted that to mean that there would be less good scenery out there. But I went ahead and switched out my camera's card, just in case.
Was I ever glad I did! If anything, the wide-open vistas were even more spectacular than the up-close-and-personal rocks in the canyon.
And there were incipient arches! Everywhere! I simply could not stop taking pictures of these fascinating geological features. One shot—of a double!—is on the right. And here are some more:
As you can see from these photos, the incredibly clear skies of our first few days deserted us on the last leg. [I even got a little cold, in my wet suit...what a wonderful feeling to contemplate as I sit now in 100° San Antonio...] But the clouds hardly interfered with the scenery, although the colors were somewhat muted except when the sun occasionally peeked through. Which it did a bit more towards the end of the trip (although we got rained on a little while packing up the cars). Here's a shot close to the take-out point:
Scenically, and recreationally, it was a wonderful trip. I'll get to the recreation aspects in my next post, where I'll try to describe what it was like to float through this landscape.
But I'll close today with a look at a place where people enjoy it all the time: the monks at the Benedictine Abbey of Christ in the Desert, just another interesting side story in this beautiful little river's book of tales.
Look closely and you can see some of the monastery's buildings, designed to blend in quite harmoniously with the spectacular cliff behind them
And the rocks here weren't just scenic, either, or interesting simply for the geological stories they
told. They were home turf, too, for some cliff swallows that made the picturesque, almost Mesa Verde-like structures you can see on the left, tucked under the cliffs just like the dwellings of the ancestral Puebloans that I saw earlier this summer.Oddly enough, though, we didn't hear any canyon wrens along the river. I was expecting to be serenaded by their lovely calls all along the trip.
The scenery, however, more than made up for the lack of bird song. In fact, the quiet, which was complete if you moved just a short distance from the restful sound of the river's flow, was definitely a major attraction. How often do you get to hear just quiet for such a prolonged period? Where even the planes that occasionally pass overhead are so far overhead that they make no sound?
The shot above was taken on the Huckaby Canyon hike. What an amazing collection of wind-and water-sculpted rocks! Here are some more examples of nature's art work on display there:
The last day of our journey, ironically, contained the trickiest rapids—after we left the canyon proper. Henry had prepared me for this, as well as the fact that the countryside that day would—in his words—"open up."
I rather naively interpreted that to mean that there would be less good scenery out there. But I went ahead and switched out my camera's card, just in case.
Was I ever glad I did! If anything, the wide-open vistas were even more spectacular than the up-close-and-personal rocks in the canyon.
And there were incipient arches! Everywhere! I simply could not stop taking pictures of these fascinating geological features. One shot—of a double!—is on the right. And here are some more:
Rafters floating by in—um, let's see—a few hundred thousand? million? years might see a pretty impressive set of arches here!
As you can see from these photos, the incredibly clear skies of our first few days deserted us on the last leg. [I even got a little cold, in my wet suit...what a wonderful feeling to contemplate as I sit now in 100° San Antonio...] But the clouds hardly interfered with the scenery, although the colors were somewhat muted except when the sun occasionally peeked through. Which it did a bit more towards the end of the trip (although we got rained on a little while packing up the cars). Here's a shot close to the take-out point:
Scenically, and recreationally, it was a wonderful trip. I'll get to the recreation aspects in my next post, where I'll try to describe what it was like to float through this landscape.But I'll close today with a look at a place where people enjoy it all the time: the monks at the Benedictine Abbey of Christ in the Desert, just another interesting side story in this beautiful little river's book of tales.
Look closely and you can see some of the monastery's buildings, designed to blend in quite harmoniously with the spectacular cliff behind them
1 comment:
Sigh. Just so pretty. Thanks for taking these photos.
Post a Comment