We have visitors from Connecticut (Joyce and Robin and their dog Manny) this week and Leon was excited to show them around his office at the Bureau of Land Management. So we went to the area where there are petrified trees.
It is not an easy ride or an easy place to find. We took our 25 year old four wheel drive Ford F250 diesel. The land is located between the Santo Domingo and San Felipe Pueblos. Down miles of rocky, rutty, hilly, and rough dirt road. Leon knows just about every square foot of the territory. He spends hours on patrol, cleaning up after inconsiderate visitors, mending barbed wire, and "ground truthing" (something like checking out the actual on the ground satellite images of unidentified structures, roads, features and documenting his findings). I must say that I am so happy for him that he has such a great job. Somehow our move to New Mexico almost seven years ago has been a fortunate decision.
We've been here in the petrified forest of New Mexico before and I've posted about the place before but it is always a fun and interesting place to explore. What makes it special is that it is on public land, free, no where near an Interstate or highway and remote enough and difficult enough to get to so that there are few if any human visitors.
So, in case you may have missed a previous post about our New Mexico petrified forest here is a recap from today. Glorious sunshine and blue skies made it a great outing. Enlarge the photos for a more intense experience. Even then, they do not do justice to the views or the fossils.
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Hubby, my Wilderness Ranger on his day off
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Petrified Wood
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The Long Log
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Me and Hubs sitting on the petrified log
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Sandia Peak in the background
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Large petrified specimen on the right
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Gnarly Juniper
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Another Tree Rock
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Prehistoric Desert Dweller
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Cholla Fruit
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Need to get a close-up of this tree on a rock
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4 comments:
Pretty damn awesome! When we used to go agate picking on freshly gravelled roads when I was a kid, we would occasionally find bits of petrified wood as well. They polished up real nice too!
And sheesh, that Prehistoric Desert Dweller -- is he anything like our Sasquatch?
Glorious. The prehistoric desert dweller doesn’t look at all petrified.
I just love the Southwest, and so your walk in the petrified woods was right up my alley, especially that last photo of the lone tree.
Gorgeous!
Beautiful! I love that there are these amazing off the beaten track places. Thanks for sharing!
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