Chama fauna and flora

 

Our trip on the Rio Chama this year was early enough in the summer that we were treated with the sight of several families like the ones above: geese parents and their adolescent offspring. 

Some of the other animals we saw weren't as pleasing, like this scary-looking something-or-other...

But the worse specimens were a lot smaller. We unfortunately hit the river right at gnat hatching season. Amy had the right idea for keeping the critters at bay...

You really had to cover up this completely to get any peace in camp! It would have been nice if they'd met the same end as this guy...

...but unfortunately they were with us all the way down the river.

The early summer flora, however, did a little to make up for this annoyance. Here are some samples:

some prickly pear were in fine bloom

as well as some cholla

we caught a few late-blooming paintbrushes

as well as lots of daisies

anyone know what this is? impressive, no?

Even the guys that were already past their prime offered some good photo opps...

And, of course, there are the fabulous trees...

When I next find time to blog, I'll be taking you across the country. From the near desert to a much more verdant clime. Stay tuned!

Rockhound heaven

 

I know I've told you about the Rio Chama's gorgeous rocks before, and on this trip I told myself I wasn't going to take that many pictures of them. I mean, I have a million (est.) already! But I couldn't resist snapping a few. Here are some of my favorites...

Typical spectacular canyon view

rocks as bird apartment blocks

"desert varnish" on display

another typical day in the canyon

up close and personal

dodging rocks at Aragon Rapid

rock shelves at Big Eddy

not a bad view

Wordless Wednesday: kitchen with a view

 

Wordless Wednesday: Waiting for Henry (not Godot)

 

Sky scenery

 

Every day during our latest Rio Chama excursion, the clouds were almost as spectacular as the rocks in the canyon.

I'll show you plenty of the rocks next time, but for now, just enjoy these lovely desert clouds...

How is it that when you're away from the city, the sky always looks so much bigger?

As the days grew to a close, the clouds still impressed. Yes, it looks like it might rain in this shot, but we only got precipitated on once...

Of course, being the desert, there were times when there weren't any clouds at all. Or perhaps just these cute wispy bits...

Even though I said before we left home that I wouldn't take too many rock and tree photos, since I've shared so many of them from previous trips...well, I really couldn't resist. Here's a tree shot to segue into more earthbound scenery that I'll show you next time.

'Nuff said!

 

Roller-rafter

I'm taking a tip from what a lot of TV shows do these days and showing you the last shot first. Of course, this technique is inherently super-spoilery: you know that we survived! But it's artful  .

So imagine a title now that says: "Several Seconds Earlier..." and then you'll see...

... our progress through Aragon Rapid on the Rio Chama, faithfully recorded by action photographer extraordinaire Larry:

both driver and passenger grit teeth as we approach the rock and its hole

tension mounts...I'm the one who can see clearly how deep the hole is!

down we go...note white knuckles

flattening out

"piece of pie" (a favorite 2010 quote of mine)

almost time to relax

NOW it's fun!

masterfully rowed!

This rapid is actually not that scary, especially in the cataraft (some of our friends in canoes had more exciting rides). Unfortunately, for the dramatic content of the blog, at least, I can't show you the rapids that are kind of scary further downstream. We made it through them alright, but had a couple of anxious moments hung up on rocks that required some rather strenuous weight-shifting and rocking.

Maybe on a future trip I can watch our boats go through these bigger rapids from the safety of the riverbank and be able to take photos for you.

NOTE: Henry has a blog post featuring a gear-less run through the rapid in a friend's canoe.

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Thus ends my series of posts on our multi-faceted August-September vacation. I have a little while to catch my blogging breath before more excitement happens next month in Austin. Stay tuned!

A Wall that's hard to argue with

We were lucky on our most recent Rio Chama trip to grab the fabulous Chama Wall campsite, from the dining room of which you get to see the view shown above whenever you look up.

We've camped here on some past trips, and I've posted lots of pictures of this amazing ridge before, but it's hard not to take more. 

Although it's very difficult—impossible, actually—to convey the simple size and the incredible majesty of this setting. That's what really struck me, as if anew, on this trip. I can tell you that the Wall is over 1000 feet above the river level, but that doesn't really mean anything, compared to how it feels to sit at its feet. 

I'm hoping some of these photos can show you, or at least start to show you, how wonderful a view this is. (I've borrowed some pictures from Henry's and Larry's collections, taken with their much fancier cameras, to help with this task. Thanks, guys!)

First of all, as you approach the campsite, you've already seen some pretty spectacular rock formations and canyon walls. But this one still takes your breath away when you first glimpse it...

You can just see the base of the Wall in this shot of our living/dining room (yes, we really rough it on these trips!). 

But I think, for some reason, that just seeing the base really gives you a better idea of the massiveness of the Wall than when you try to convey that in a panoramic shot. Here's another of just the base itself, in late afternoon sun, with no distracting humans in the way...

I mean, this is really, really a lot of rock...just sitting there and looking gorgeous for our entertainment!

The entertainment isn't always just static, either. Thanks to Mike's binoculars, we were treated to a great wildlife experience. 

In the little alcove that is framed in red in the photo on the left (it's almost at the top, on the far left of the shot—click on the photo to enlarge it) we got to watch a falcon having an early dinner!

Relying upon the lofty perch to save her kill from predators, she flew to and from it several times. Sharing the binoculars, several of us enjoyed watching "our" falcon for quite a while.

Here is a extra-closeup of the alcove, taken with Larry's super-lens:

Isn't that cool!?

Henry got another unusual perspective of the Wall when he and some of the more energetic members of our party took a hike up a ridge on our side of the river. This is what the Wall looks like when you're at a more comparable elevation...

I have still failed, I'm sure, to give you a good sense of what it's like to live for a couple of days in the shadow of this amazing formation, but I hope you at least got a taste.

just before sunrise over the Wall

Fabulous fungi!

You don't normally expect to find forests of fungi in the dry desert southwest. But there are little spaces where water collects. And since the Rio Chama region has had a rather moist summer—by New Mexico standards—we were pleased to see some really gorgeous specimens during our recent trip.

Some were very simple, like this tiny beauty, sprouting from a hole in an extremely large dead tree...

Another, much smaller, log sported this specimen...

...not as pretty, but still rather impressive.

But the most amazing fungal sights were in a little grotto under a large boulder that we passed by on one of our hikes. The picture at the top of this post is from this magical space. Thanks to one of our eagle-eyed companions who spotted this hidden treasure!

the discovery!

I couldn't stop taking pictures of the several different fungal colonies that were thriving here.

I don't remember ever seeing so many different, and large (you can't tell from the pictures, but they were enormous!) types of mushrooms in one place...or maybe at all!

My favorite specimens, though, were the lovely brownish-rose growths that I showed you at the top of the post. Here's another shot of the whole group...

...and a couple of closeups of the largest individual members...

The honey-colored drops are water that was dripping slowly from the rock above, nourishing this amazing garden.

In addition to the big guys, there were these lovely growths that looked like draperies, or waves, undulating on this unexpected shore...

The rocks and the rivers in this part of the world are certainly impressive, but I'm so glad we were alerted to these smaller treasures, too.