Day 55 April 28

Went to see the larger cliff dwelling site at Gila National Park today. Most astounding to us was that it is thought that the people who built these structures, the Tularosa Mogollon, only lived here for about 30 years in the late 1200's. It is estimated that this set of cave structures was home to about 10-12 families (40-60 people.)  They had a complex system of farming that allowed them to use the river valley floor to grow corn, beans, and squash.  The walls are in amazingly good shape.  Early after it was discovered  it was looted for pots and other artifacts by local settlers.   The Indians made mortar for the bricks, and copied building styles from groups further north.  They also traded with groups much further south and even kept Macaw Parrots as pets.

After the tour we went back to our camp.  We met a 20 something year old camper named Ben and his dog Luke.  We invited him to have lunch with us.  He had been living off the land in the wilderness for the last three weeks.  We thought we were traveling light, he had sold his truck and is attempting to live of the land so that he can right about the experience.  Ben shared stories with us.  One of the things he noted was that even though the wilderness area he was hiking is larger than the entire state of Rhode Island he rarely went a day without seeing at least one other person.  He has been learning to eat the plants in the area, but more fun was the animals he was eating, rattlesnake, lizards, gopher snakes, bullfrogs, and more.  He finds springs for fresh water, some of the springs in the area are hot springs, this area is still has magma sitting below the surface heating the water.  We enjoyed sharing stories with Ben and Luke for most of the afternoon.

180 feet above the valley floor

Multiple buildings inside the cliff

Nice mortared square walls

Water too hot to put your hand in.

Toward the end of the day we hiked out to a hot spring.  It was so hot you could not stick your hand in the out flow with out getting burned.  It was very weird to find a little stream in the wilderness that spewed out hot water.  Right above the spring was a Indian camping spot.

Day 54 April 27

From Rock Hound we traveled to what we thought would be a quick stop at "City of Rocks" State Park. Even when we pulled into the parking lot, it looked like something we could see in about a half hour. Once we started exploring, though, we found it was bigger than it seemed and was very fun to walk around it. it really did give the feel of walking through a town or city at times; there was a smooth rock "road" between the stone "buildings" and there were trees "planted" on almost every " block." (The stone monoliths were made of Kneeling Nun Tuff, from a volcano that erupted 67 million years ago.) We spent close to two hours there, an could have easily spent longer. We continued on to Gila National Monument.  The road to the monument was very intense, we could only go around 20 miles an hour.  We had to drive over a mountain to get to the remote area. Guard rails apparently are a New England sort of thing.  There were places with 4 and 5 hundred foot drops inches from the road and the road was not straight anywhere.  Going down hill we had to put the truck in first gear to prevent ourselves from going too fast (25 mph).  We did arrive,  arriving with enough time to find a campsite and go on a short hike to see some pictographs and a small cliff dwelling.

 

Watch out for free roaming cattle

City street at City of Rocks

I got this.

I will survive

This sign means " turn or die"

Caution: No Shoulder

Day 53 April 26

flowering cactus with big bee

There was a wind and dust advisory in place for the afternoon, so we had to stay another night here, instead of trying to tow the camper through 35-50 mph winds. The dust was really flying...we saw one "dirt devil" that reached all the way up into the sky. Visibility was very low, under one mile and significantly less in local areas. It is hard to imagine that we have gotten used to being able to see for many miles, and it it strange to looks out and not see the mountains, or even the nearby hills. We went for a hike on the "Jasper Trail" here at Rockhound this morning. We found lots of nice pink and red jasper pieces, and Anna even found a few pieces of opal. In the afternoon, some of us went to get supplies and some tried the "Thunder Egg Trail" again...we won't be able to tell who was more successful in their gathering until we get home and cut open the rocks, but found a couple of pieces that look promising!


Dust storm sun set

Day 52 April 25

Pistachio Tree

Soon to be pistachios

Off to find rocks

Found this nice lizard on the path

Some rock samples

End of the day

On our way out of Alamogordo, NM, we stopped at on of the local pistachio groves. It has been strange to see these lush, green areas in such a dry, dusty place, but apparently the trees need the dry air, and cannot tolerate humidity. We learned about how they harvest the nuts (with a huge machine that shakes them off the branches) and about how they are processed and stored. They sell them with different favors too, not just the salted variety we get in New England. We drove through the White Sands Missile Range on our way to our next destination. The road was unusual in a couple of ways; it was absolutely straight for abut 20 miles, and it was subject to closure during missile testing. The sign was not flashing though, so we drove on through. A little further up the road, near Las Cruces, we experienced something else new...all traffic was diverted through a border patrol checkpoint. (We are about 30 miles from the border of Mexico here.) We reached Rock Hound State Park at about 2:30, and by 4 we were climbing the mountain to see what treasures we might find. At his park, visitors can collect 15 pounds of rocks from the park grounds, which are rich with Jasper and Agate, and there are even geodes and "thunder eggs" to be found if you are lucky! We hiked for about 3 hours, and found some nice samples, but no big prizes. Try again tomorrow!

Day 51 April 24

We went to White Sands National Monument today.  White Sands has the largest deposit of gypsum sand in the world.  Here is a short explanation of how they form from the National Park Website

"The largest gypsum dune field in the world is located at White Sands National Monument in south-central New Mexico. This region of glistening white dunes is in the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert within an "internally drained valley" called the Tularosa Basin. The monument ranges in elevation from 3890' to 4116' above sea level. There are approximately 275 total square miles of dune fields here, with 115 square miles (about 40%) located within White Sands National Monument. The remainder is on military land that is not open to the public. This dune field is very dynamic, with the most active dunes moving to the northeast at a rate of up to 30 feet per year, while the more stable areas of sand move very little. The pure gypsum (hydrous calcium sulfate) that forms these unusual dunes originates in the western portion of the monument from an ephemeral lake or playa with a very high mineral content. As the water evaporates (theoretically as much as 80" per year!), the minerals are left behind to form gypsum deposits that eventually are wind-transported to form these white sand dunes. Many species of plants and animals have developed very specialized means of surviving in this area of cold winters, hot summers, with very little surface water and highly mineralized ground water."

Basically this means that it is like a gypsum sand making machine.  Water washing down the local mountain dissolves the gypsum.  The water collects in a shallow lake called a playa.  The sun evaporates the water and leaves the gypsum behind.  The wind than blows the gypsum crystal into the dune area. In the process breaking down the crystals into very fine sand. The process is very efficient having created 275square miles of dunes in a few thousand  years.

 Climate change led to this interesting system to develop.  Also in the park are found fossilized foot prints of Mammoths.  Mammoths and camels were hunted to extinction by the local Indians which forced them to take up farming.  This led to the cliff dwellings and petroglyphs we see in the area.

Jane on her way with a little help.

There is a lot of sand.

The other fun thing you can do is slide down the dunes on sleds like they are snow.  The sand is so fine it acts similar to fine snow.

Day 50 April 23

NIIKI Missile

What is left of one of the 150 V-2 Rockets taken from Germany after the war and tested at White Sands



Creative ways to have a soda in space

Today we went to the Museum of Space History.  It has a lot of nice exhibits on the history of space flight but was not as impressive as the other museums we have visited.  It did have some interesting relics from the early days of rocket testing done at White Sands as well as some good examples of early rockets developed by other countries.  The museum did a good job of portraying the scientists that left German and cam to the United States after WW II to work on our rocket program which lead to The United States traveling to the Moon.  They also had a NIIKI Missile like the ones that used to be based in Glouster RI.  The old missile sight used to be located near Fogarty Memorial School. 

In the afternoon We went to WalMart to catch up on our grocery and supplies shopping.  It is convenient to be able to do all our shopping in one store.  We can even get an oil change if we need it. 

Day 49 April 22

This morning, we added an interesting rock sample to our collection, a man-made rock called "Trinitite." This is a green glassy rock that was formed when the world's first atomic bomb was detonated at White Sands Missile Range, at 5:30am on July 16, 1945. The Trinity site is a white, gypsum sand desert, and the bomb blew molten sand into the air that dropped back to earth as glass. (It is no longer legal to collect Trinitite, but one local rock shop had a stash that was collected in the early 1970's.) We did not get to visit the Trinity site, as it is only open to the public two days a year, but Anna says to read "The Green Glass Sea" for a good mental image of the area (and the story behind it.) Once again, our plans for the rest of the day changed. We were going to drive straight to White Sands, but after setting out, we saw "Three Rivers Petroglyph Site" on the map, and thought, "we could stop for an hour on the way...." We discovered that Three Rivers has over 20,000 petroglyphs, and pit house ruins from the Jordana Mogollon Native Americans. We also discovered that they have two RV sites with water and electric hook-ups and we can camp for $5...hmm...guess where we spent the night! The sunset seemed to be retelling the story of the area's volcanoes.

Symbol scientist think was used to hope for a good harvest or a way to keep record of a harvest

More alien visitors?

A bird perhaps

Posing for a rock picture.

Sunset at Three Rivers

We also met a gentlemen who was from Roswell and knew some of the people involved in the Roswell incident and vouched for them saying what upstanding people they were.  His friend was the mortician that was asked to bring several small air tight caskets to the crash sight.  The gentlemen retold the story of the mortician giving us a little more detail about the mortician and the nurse that made drawings for the mortician.  The drawings were of alien hands and faces in great detail.  The nurse was their during the initial examination of the bodies.  Meeting and talking to the gentlemen makes us believe a little more that something extraordinary happened at Roswell.

Day 48 April 21

The black lava flow

Bonus points if you can name the type of lava I am standing on.

Standing in a collapsed gas pocket

standing at the edge of the flow

Life has found a way to live on the rock in just 1000 years.

We left Albuquerque behind and set out for Valley Of Fires Park, thinking we would just take a look around and camp at our next stop. We were completely surprised when we arrived. As we came over a hill a few miles away, we could that the floor of the valley was a much darker color than the rest of the land. As we got closer, we realized this was the lava flow. This lava flow is the youngest in the continental US, ceasing activity only about 1000 years ago. We were awed by the formations, it appeared as if the lava could still be in motion. The flow originated from a non-violent fissure eruption, and covers an area about 2-5 miles wide and 44 miles long! It is 165 feet thick in some places! Valley of Fires Park is located on a sandstone hill which became an island in the middle of the lava flow. There was a peak visible miles away that is thought to have been the last vent that was active in this area. We were able to easily see pressure ridges, lava tubes, and collapsed gas bubbles. It was interesting to learn that many animals have adapted to living on this dark, olivine basalt. In a relatively short time, they have developed darker skin and hair that helps them blend in here. We ended up camping here, and it was a perfect choice. The super dark skies in southern New Mexico allowed for a great opportunity to view the Lyrid meteor shower. Although we did not see too many meteors (Jane and Anna totaled about 10) we were treated to a very clear and dark night sky. It was a little disconcerting though...we struggled to find "The Big Dipper," since there are so many more stars visible in the sky here!

Day 47 April 20

Early video game?

This one was probably done by a Spanish shepherd that had sheep in the late 1600s

We visited Petroglyph National Monument today. A Petroglyph is a picture that is scratched or carved into a rock. (In contrast to a pictograph, which is painted) In this case, the majority of the petroglyphs we were looking at were made between the 1300's and the 1700's and were created by an Ancestral Pueblo culture.


 The rocks used for the petroglyphs originated from a layer of basalt caprock that formed 150,000 years ago, when a fissure in the earth's crust allowed lava to flow out. As the lava cooled, the fissure closed and five vents were created, which caused cinder cones to form. Over time, the underlying sediment eroded, and the cap rock crumbled, leaving the rocky landscape that we see today. The basalt rocks contain high amounts of iron, manganese, and calcium, which makes them naturally light gray. After exposure to the elements, however, these minerals oxidize causing a dark patina to form. This "rust" on the outside of the rocks is called "desert varnish." American Indians created the petroglyphs by using another rock to peck or chisel off the desert varnish, revealing the true color of the basalt. Some of the petroglyphs seem easy to interpret, but others are not as readily understood.

bird

Space craft visiting the Indians?



Four of the Cinder Cones off in the distance.

Day 46 April 19

After leaving Bandelier National Monument, we took a slightly perilous side trip to Kasha Katuwa Tent Rocks National Monument. The driving was interesting...Jane looked up and out toward where we were heading and said "One does not simply drive into Mordor!" the wind was incredible and the storm was looming, but we persevered, and it was worth it. As we entered the park, the man at the gate said the rain would not amount to much, and he was right. The weather was actually very warm as we hiked through Tent Rocks. This was another area that was formed by volcanic activity, but the landscape was very different. In the layers of tuff, it was very easy to see the type of particulates that were spewed from the volcano. The tent-like formations were formed because parts of the harder upper layer remained (visible as "cap stones" on top of the "tents") protecting the softer layers below from erosion. This park also contains a slot canyon, the first we have visited so far. Slot canyons are formed when water erodes a narrow path in the rock over time.

Driving into the storm, Very windy.

Mr. Barnes in the slot canyon

Hard rock on top of the softer tuff

Bands in the rock tell the story of the varioun eruptions that created the tuff

The occasional big rocks thrown from the volcano.

   In the evening, we continued on to Albuquerque. (Could you hear Jane and Anna singing along with "Weird" Al Yankovich as we crossed the city limits?)

Day 45 April 18

Wednesday, April 18

One of the four ladders that take you to "Alcove House"

Inside a reconstructed kiva at "Alcove House"

Standing on top of the Kiva with a 140 foot straight drop behind them.  

Anna looking out.

Inside a typical room, this one was used for weaving, the impressions on the floor were part of a loom.

Bandalier National Monument contains the ruins of a Pueblo community that lived in this area of New Mexico until the mid 1500's. There are remains of cave dwellings, ground dwellings, and kivas - round structures where ceremonies and community events took place. All of the rock they used is volcanic rock, produced when the nearby Jemez Volcano erupted more than a million years ago. Two eruptions of this supervolcano covered the surrounding 400 square miles with up to 1000 ft of volcanic ash. The ash compacted over time to form "tuff', a soft rock that is can be similar in appearance to sandstone. This rock was easier for the Pueblo to carve and shape to make their homes. They used tools made from harder rocks like basalt or obsidian that were created by other volcanic activity in the area.

Lava dome within the caldera, the soil is so thin over the caldara that only grass can grow.

panoramic view of the caldera about two miles in diameter

In the afternoon, we visited Valles Caldera National Preserve, the basin that is the remains of the Jemez Volcano. The shape of the caldera was very evident by the landscape, although the scope of it was hard to take in...this was one huge volcano. There was a lava dome visible in the middle. The vehicles and structures in the photos might help give some perspective. The area was ravaged by a forest fire last year that spread over 150,000 acres, sometimes spreading at a rate of over one acre per minute. Thankfully, the vegetation and wildlife seem to be slowly recovering.we saw a coyote not 30 feet from our campsite!