A Little Adventure

Milo really likes to have cinnamon rolls for breakfast. He requests them at least once a week if not more. Here are some pictures of him being silly while eating his breakfast.

Milo has this thing about new clothes. He hates to wear them. After you can talk him into wearing them once or twice, then he decides they are okay to wear more often. He always complains about wearing them though. The other day, we managed to talk Milo into trying a new pair of shorts. He complained about it, but we got them on him. He wanted to wear slippers like his Aunt Jill. He has a few pair of slippers and again, he decided on a pair he hadn’t worn much, the Nija turtle ones. We wanted to take a picture of him, so we cleverly got him to be “Captain Hook” and we were able to get a picture of him wearing new clothes.

I was lucky enough to stay the night with some friends in Albuquerque. Great company and real bed were a nice combination. I woke up early in the morning and hit the road. It was going to be a long day of driving, but I wanted to see some of the Salinas Pueblo Missions. The Abó Mission seemed to be the most accessible, so I dropped by there. It is a small, but nice little area. It is apparently the ruins of a church built by early Spanish priests who were on missions to convert the Native American people.

The backside of the ruins.

A very wide angle view from the front of the ruins.

I didn’t spend much time as I had a long, straight, suicide inducing drive through the middle of New Mexico toward Carlsbad Caverns. Visiting Carlsbad Caverns seemed like a good idea when I was planning my trip. When I arrived at the parking lot I realized that it was a pretty awful idea. Apparently everyone decided to come to Carlsbad Caverns on the Saturday before Memorial Day. It was a zoo. I was there, so I decided to see what I could see even with all the crowds. It turned out to not be too bad. The real problem with any serious photography in Carlsbad Caverns is that the cave is very dark (obviously) more or less requiring a tripod, but the paths (which you must not leave) are narrow. This means that to setup a tripod you block a large portion of the path. There are a few wider places where you can setup and shoot, but these spots aren’t always where you want to stop and take a photo. Given the situation I didn’t take a ton of photos, but I did get a few photos to give everyone an idea of what the cave is like. It was worth the stop and I will probably go back when there are less people around.

A nice little reflecting pool.

This formation is called “The Whale.” I guess I can kind of see it.

This type of formation is called cave pearls.

Mini stalactites…yummy.

These huge formations are called, “The Giants.” They are huge…

A ceiling full of stalactites.

Ouch! Poky, poky, poky

This is an image of “The Big Room” that I more or less took on the run. I ran ahead of a big group of people, setup a quick shot, waited for the 30 second exposure, picked up the camera, and kept walking. I do like the reflection in the foreground. This is one place I would like to spend some more time taking photos…especially with the large stalactite in the center. It is well lit and very beautiful. I needed to switch to my longer lens but decided against it. The next time…

I woke up the next morning and decided to try my luck again with getting some more shots of the nursery in low angle light. Once again, I was stoned by the clouds. They just seemed to be stuck low on the horizon both days I was at the Bisti Wilderness. Overall the light was pretty good. I do think that I prefer to shoot the nursery in the evening although it does get good light at sunrise and sunset.

There is a lot of chaos in the photo, but it gives you a nice idea of the layout.

Another photo of me in the nursery for perspective. I am still amazed at the size of these formations.

A little more organized shot of three closely positioned hatching eggs.

The sun did finally come out and cast those long shadows around the nursery.

How about a little of sky with the nursery. Yes, there are a lot of photos of this area. I liked it. Can you tell?

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I finally decided to make an attempt at a panoramic photo of the nursery. It won’t be hanging on the wall, but it is a nice image of a beautiful location.

I finally decided it was time to leave the nursery and explore some other areas of the Bisti Wilderness. This was probably the most difficult part of the day for me. There were so many areas that looked interesting and I could only go one direction at a time. I kept thinking that I would go back to some of the other interesting locations, but I never made it back. It was an exhilarating form of frustration. I wanted to see everything, but I just couldn’t. I walked up a few dead end washes, but generally found amazing stuff.

I really liked this cute little reddish hoodoo and her rock friend hanging out in the middle of a flat area in the Bisti. Much of the Bisti is light colored. There are however pockets of red and black.

This very small hoodoo caught my eye. I was fascinated to see how it appears to have fallen over. It seems that the dirt forming the “stem” got a bit too wet and the weight of the rock caused the stem to bend, but not break. Great stuff!

How about one artsy shot? Here it is. Maybe it should be in black and white to add to the artistic nature of it all, but I liked the color.

This was a little area filled with some crazy, crazy looking rocks. I would like to come back to the area in the evening as I liked some of the other angles much better.

Okay, this image is not the best, but it illustrates a point. There were shards of this brilliant red rock in a few places. I would really like to know which elements/minerals created the color in these rocks. You can see some “normal” colored red rock in the image and then this brilliant red rock. Interesting stuff.

Update: Dick provided me with a bit of information from Hiking the Southwest’s Geology-Four Corners Region (Ralph Lee Hopkins): In the Bisti Badlands hike section, “The pinkish red rocks capping some of the hills formed when fires once burned at the surface or underground. Called chunker, these rocks formed as sandstone and shale surrounding coal was oxidized or “cooked” by the burning coal. The burning is a natural process sparked by lightning when coal beds are at or near the surface. Erosion has now exposed the clinker beds.”

After a bit of aimless wandering, I decided to go find some of the more popular locations in the Bisti Wilderness. I took a bearing from the GPS and headed off toward the area often called many hoodoos.

These hoodoos were lined up in nice, straight lines.

This is the center of the many hoodoos area. It is really interesting to walk around in these mini-canyons with hoodoos towering all around. A great and unique area of the Bisti.

Along the way to the stonewings I saw these large plate topped hoodoos. They were fascinating, so I wandered over to see them. Not a bad choice. The light was awful, but the scene was nice.

One of the stonewings looks like a seal from the proper angle. I took one image from that angle. It is a pretty compelling subject.

The light was pretty harsh when I made it to the stonewings. The clouds were fantastic, so I tried to do a little black and white treatment. I think it turned out alright.

Here is an image that is zoomed out a bit showing both of the stonewings. Great clouds…

About this time I ran into Dick who had been out exploring and looking for some specific formations. We decided to explore together and see what we could find. We had a nice little time walking around and found some nice areas which I will visit when I return to the Bisti Wilderness. I even took a photo or two.

I termed these three guys the three stooges. A nice little triangular group.

Eventually Dick and I decided it was time to turn around and head back. We had put in a good number of miles already that day. We made it back to the cars and just hung out and talked for a bit. Eventually I decided it was time to get on the road again. My next destination was waiting…

I woke up early in the morning with the hope of getting some nice sunrise shots at Hovenweep NM. The clouds didn’t cooperate, and the photos weren’t spectacular. Instead of spending an hour or so shooting at sunrise, I hit the road and headed toward New Mexico. My first stop of the day was Chaco Culture National Historic Park. I was a little concerned about getting to the park as it is accessed via a dirt road. I didn’t know how the rain from the previous day would have affected the road. When I did get to the road it was dry and in good condition. Chaco Culture NHP is a site that contains a large number of ancient Pueblo ruins. It is really amazing, and one could spend a number of days exploring, seeing, and photographing it all. There is a campground inside the park facilitating a multi-day stay. The ranger mentioned that you can usually get a campsite for the night if you arrive before noon during the week. The road allowing access to the ruins is open sunrise to sunset. I knew that I would have limited time at the site, so I decided to see the two largest great houses, Chetro Ketl and Pueblo Bonito, as well as do the short hike to Pueblo Alto.

I started with the short walk to Chetro Ketl. One of the most impressive parts of Chetro Ketl is the great kiva there. The photo doesn’t do justice to the kiva.

The great kiva at Chetro Ketl.

A portion of the main ruins at Chetro Ketl.

I presume that this ruin is considered to be part of the Chetro Ketl ruins. It is a bit detached from the main ruins, but in the same area.

Pueblo Bonito is the largest complex. It is truly massive. The size makes it difficult to photograph, but I took a few photos anyway. The great house was built close to the canyon wall. Apparently the canyon wall isn’t stable and large portions of it have fallen down resulting in a pile of rubble near the back portions of the ruins.

Here is a photo of the rockfall and a small portion of the Pueblo Bonito ruins.

The trail winds around and eventually enters the Pueblo Bonito complex. This photo gives a sense to the size of the main section of walls.

The color of the canyon wall was really nice. I thought it worked well as a background for the images.

One classic image from Pueblo Bonito is a photo of the aligned doorways. The light was pretty harsh by the time I made it to this point, but here is an black and white HDR image that does the scene some justice.

After seeing many images of these doors, I had assumed that they were full height doors. Much to my surprise they aren’t full height. They are only about half height. I don’t usually take pictures of myself, but I felt I needed one to give a sense of scale to the previous photo. The main trail leads through 5+ doors of this height…which are really, really fun to navigate

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I did make an attempt to take a panoramic image of the ruins. It isn’t a great image, but it does give some idea of what they look like from inside.

I left Pueblo Bonito and headed for the Pueblo Alto trailhead. Before hiking the trail, you need to fill out a backcountry permit. It isn’t hard, but I guess it helps the NPS determine usage and give an additional reminder that you shouldn’t damage/remove the artifacts or ruins. The trail to Pueblo Alto starts in an imposing manner. You walk down the road and suddenly the trail takes you to the top of the plateau via a rockfall. The trail is well marked and not hard to navigate, but I would guess it scares off a few folks. It is much easier than it looks. Once you get to the top of the plateau, the rest of the trail is relatively flat and easy. On the way to Pueblo Alto you can take a small detour to get a view of Pueblo Bonito from above. It is a nice view.

View of Pueblo Bonito from above.

The rest of the hike to Pueblo Alto was very uneventful. Actually…Pueblo Alto wasn’t exactly eventful. Pueblo Alto was a small group of ruins. I was much more impressed by what is called New Alto. It looks cool and imposing as it sits alone on the top of the plateau.

An image of New Alto that just doesn’t do it justice.

I hurriedly hiked back to my car and headed off to the Bisti Wilderness. As I planned this trip the one place that I really wanted to photograph was the Bisti Wilderness. From my research it seemed like the quickest route from Chaco Canyon NHP to Bisti was a dirt road, CR 7500. When I talked to a ranger from the Farmington BLM he seemed to think it was reasonable to travel the road in a passenger car. Based on the dryness of the road out to Chaco Canyon NHP I decided to try the road. CR 7500 was passable in a 2WD car without too much trouble. Some sections of the road were a bit rough but overall it was well maintained and well signed. The road isn’t difficult to navigate as long as you are paying attention and don’t end up on one of the many side roads. It is around 24 miles long and access to the De-Na-Zin wilderness can be found about half way down the road. I didn’t stop by the De-Na-Zin on this trip, but I did grab some GPS coordinates as the access is easily missed. After leaving CR7500, I drove a few miles north on NM 371 before traveling the final stretch of dirt road to the southern parking lot for the Bisti Wilderness. I pulled into the parking lot to find another photographer, Dick, visiting the Bisti. We had a nice discussion about some of the features of the Bisti. Dick had already put in his miles in the wilderness that day, so he opted to photograph the hoodoos across the road that evening while I embarked on my first visit.

I had done a fair bit of research on the area which included several GPS waypoints and some basic maps and suggested routes. If you are going to visit the Bisti Wilderness and want to be able to find some of the more popular formations without getting lost yourself I highly recommend taking a good topographic map and/or a GPS (and of course have some experience using them!). There are plenty of hills and washes around which could make it difficult to find your car again if you aren’t paying attention to your route. Even with all of the research and reading I wasn’t prepared for what I found. The Bisti Wilderness is a fantastic place. The amount of oddly beautiful landscape available is amazing. I wanted to go find a formation called the egg factory, egg hatchery, nursery, etc. I am going to refer to the area as the nursery in the rest of this post. I figured that I would see what I could see along the way. Fortunately the sky had some nice clouds…unfortunately they blocked the sun when it reached its lowest point.

This cute, little hoodoo has sort of fallen over. I just couldn’t pass by without a photo.

I titled this image, “Hoodoo Junk Yard.” It looked like to me someone had discarded these hoodoo top rocks in a haphazard way like they were junk.

Just a few hoodoos on top of a small hill.

This formation is often referred to as the Bisti arch. It is really a photogenic little guy. It seems to me that it is best photographed in the late afternoon/evening.

The Bisti arch is near the nursery. After taking a few quick photos, I headed off toward the nursery. It was the one formation I really wanted to see in the Bisti Wilderness. It didn’t disappoint. I have added way too many photographs on this area, but I couldn’t resist. I spent quite a bit of time photographing the area and hoping the sun would peek out through the clouds. It did for a few moments which was nice. After the sun peeked out for the last time, I headed off to explore a few more areas of the Bisti Wilderness. Eventually I decided it was time to head back to the car before it became too dark and more difficult to find my way back. Overall it was a fantastic evening.

The nursery with an eggshell in the foreground and a bit of background for perspective and orientation.

A few half open eggs.

Another section of the nursery.

The sun had come out a bit when I took this photo of the rock I named “The Big Bug.” It just looked like a large insect of some sort to me. I guess it is guarding the nursery as it finds itself positioned at one end.

A different perspective on “The Big Bug” and the rock behind it where they both look a little like a petrified rose or flower of some sort.

The nursery in some nice light.

The edge of the nursery after the sun had “set” behind the clouds.

I was actually surprised at the size of these rocks. I expected them to be a bit smaller. Here is another image where I put myself in the photo to give a bit of perspective on the size of the landscape.

I headed out early Wednesday (May 23rd) morning on a little road trip. Just a few days in Utah and New Mexico exploring some out of the way sites. I decided to start with Hovenweep National Monument. As I was making my way through the construction south of Moab the rain started coming down. It continued for the majority of my remaining drive to Hovenweep National Monument. The roads on the way to the monument were paved (except for 300 feet or so) although they aren’t particularly wide. I arrived at the visitor’s center, hopped out, purchased my yearly pass, and elected to continue on and select a campsite hoping the rain would stop before I went hiking. I found a campsite without any problem (the ranger mentioned that they rarely fill up) and the rain had mostly stopped. I excitedly started the trail around the Square Tower group near the visitor’s center.

The ranger suggested I do the loop clockwise. The trail immediately drops down into a wash where you can see some of the ruins. The ruin above is called the Twin Towers.

As I topped the canyon I looked across the canyon to see this nice view of Stronghold House. Stronghold House is a really amazing structure built on the top of a rock that isn’t connected to the rest of the canyon wall.

The next view on the tour is a close-up of the Twin Towers. They are really quite photogenic. There are nice backgrounds and nice foregrounds. I would have liked a nice, blue sky, but the weather wasn’t cooperating.

As you continue around the rim there are a few more ruins which are nice. I was very, very impressed with the Square Tower. It sits in the bottom of the wash all alone. To get a close-up shot of Square Tower you will need a fair bit of zoom as it is in the bottom of the wash. In fact, I found that a longer lens is really useful at Hovenweep. As you finish the loop around the rim you will pass the Hovenweep Castle which is very photogenic. My photos of Hovenweep Castle are found at the end of this post.

As I finished the Square Tower group loop the rain was starting again. I had already determined that I wouldn’t be taking the dirt roads out to any of the other groups. Luckily, there is a trail from the campground to the Holly group. It is 4 miles one way. I put on some shoes and a long sleeve top before starting on a run/hike out to the Holly group. It rained lightly for most of the hike. The trail was surprisingly passable. It is mostly sand and wide open which would make it less desirable on a hot day. The moisture and clouds were great as the moisture made walking through sand bearable and the clouds kept the temperature down. The trail has some very interesting features. At both ends of the trail you are lead through a pretty small crack in the rock. It isn’t squishy enough that you need to walk sideways but it is almost that narrow. There are also a number of steps to help you navigate through the many washes in the area. There is even a ladder! It is a fun trail. I was really impressed with the Holly group. I stayed there for a few minutes and took a number of photos.

The smallest dwelling in the Holly group.

A different angle on the medium sized dwelling in the Holly group.

The upper two dwellings in the Holly group.

The lower two dwellings in the Holly group.

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A panoramic image of the three main dwellings in the Holly group. Fantastic stuff!

I considered adding on a couple of extra miles to go and see the Horseshoe & Hackberry groups, but due to lack of time I decided against it. I will check them out the next time I visit Hovenweep in dry weather and can drive out to these groups. Just as I was about to leave the Holly group the sun started coming out. I took a few more photos with the sun and hurried back with the hope of finding some good light on the Square Tower group. The run/hike on the way back was warmer, but it took me about the same time as the trail is pretty flat. I decided to hike the Square Tower group trail in the same direction as I did previously. The place was of course free of other humans, but I did find a little friend hanging out at Twin Towers.

A little friend.

A little different view on the amazing Stronghold House.

Hovenweep Castle from across the wash. The light and sky was much, much nicer than earlier in the day.

As I made my way around to Hovenweep Castle the sun was starting to get low in the sky. I decided to setup and shoot Hovenweep Castle as the sun went down. It is certainly a good sunset location.

It is a little bit hard to see, but a nice raven came along and perched on the far wall to add a bit of character to the photo. It was a spectacular way to end a great day.

Milo and I finally were able to go see Shrek the Third on Wednesday. He was very excited to go. He was wondering if the theater was far away from our house. I told him it wasn’t. We were in the theater with around 5 other people. It was great. Milo was watching intently, until about half way through the movie and then he asked when it would be over. He did stay seated and watched the rest of the movie. When I asked Milo to tell me about the movie, all he told me was “Shrek babies.” I enjoyed the message that this movie had. Both Milo and I really enjoyed the movie. On the way home, he asked me when we could get it to have at our house. I told him we had to wait a while, but that we’d try to get it.

This is the picture that Milo chose to put on the blog. I hope you enjoy it. You can go to the official Shrek website at www.shrek.com

The past few days since Milo has gotten his bike helmet, we’ve gone on bike rides at least once each day. He insists on wearing the helmet, knee and elbow pads. We always go over to the church for our bike rides. He always asks me if we are going to take baby Holly. I assure him that we are going to take her in the stroller.

Milo on his bike

Milo enjoys riding down the ramp at the church. He sometimes will send the bike down the ramp by itself. It is very fun going on bike rides with Milo.

After a few attempts of trying to get a tour of the fire station for Mom’s Group, we finally were able to go. When we first got there, the fire fighters took us on a tour of the building and showed us the kitchen, their study room and then talked about their main hall with pictures of old fire engines. After seeing their building, they showed us all the different compartments and hoses on the fire engine. During the time we were there, they were doing some maintenance on the fire engine, so we weren’t able to get inside it.

This is the picture of the fire engine that Milo took. You can see his reflection and Dallin’s (his friend) in the window of the fire engine.

This is a picture of the group that came on the tour.

Just as we were getting ready to leave, another group of fire fighters came with another fire engine. We were all glad to be able to get in the fire engine. Milo had no problems getting into the fire engine.

Milo inside the fire engine.

Milo and his friend Dallin sitting on the front of the fire engine.

Milo and the fire engine.

Milo had two birthday parties in Morgan. The first one was with my family. We had a double party with Milo’s cousin, AJ. We had lunch and since my brother brought some cobbler, we had a small cake for each of them. Milo loves blowing out the candles on the birthday cake. He got some balloons and swords. He thought life was pretty good after that.

Milo and his birthday cake

Milo with his sheepish grin when we sang Happy Birthday

Blowing out the candles

Milo with his birthday balloons. He likes to play with balloons.

The next birthday party Milo had was with Scott’s family. After we ate dinner, Milo was very anxious to open his gifts. We quite enjoyed opening his gifts.

Milo opening a gift.

Milo opening another gift.

Milo opening another gift.

A picture of Milo sporting his new bike helmet and elbow and knee pads.

After Milo opened his gifts he was ready for birthday cake. Grandma Little made him a chocolate giraffe cake. It turned out really well.

The giraffe cake.

Milo smiling while we were singing Happy Birthday.

Milo blowing out his candles.

Milo had a great birthday. He liked that he had so many birthday parties. We’d like to thank those of you who gave Milo gifts.