I've posted about this area in New Mexico where there are petrified logs and large and small fragments of such. But two friends of ours Alan and Sam had never been there and Alan is a geologist by profession and was interested in exploring a bit. This area of the dessert was once a lush forest. Climate change is not a new thing.
The area is not easy to get to. It is a good half hour on secondary dirt roads from the main dirt road where the gate is maintained by the Bureau of Land Management.
This is one of the many areas that Park Ranger hubby has to patrol; mainly doing such chores as checking counters, repairing barbed wire fences and placing new signage as needed. He gets to see interesting areas that most people don't even know about. There is a place where thousands of shark teeth are part of the geologic deposit. And supposedly there's a mastodon skeleton somewhere "out there".
It was a gorgeous late winter day and very comfortable to be out hiking. And best of all: No crowds. Actually we were the only ones there.
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.
Took a little excursion to a section of BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land here in New Mexico that hubby Ranger Leon has to patrol periodically. CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTOS:
While much of his job is not "glamorous" (picking up trash like the shrapnel from TVs, microwaves, bottles, that shooters used for target practice, human waste, tires, etc. or hauling gravel for a nature trail), he does enjoy his outdoor "office" which is a far cry from his cubicle at headquarters in town.
You can see the Tacoma (white truck) off in the distance. Click to enlarge.
A friend of ours drove us all out in his Tacoma for a day of seeing the countryside.
One interesting feature which I did not get a picture of was the
watering holes dug by feral horses in the sand. Here in a dry,
rain-starved desert, the "wild" horses can find water and dig several
feet down until they can drink. Leon has seen horses on their knees,
reaching into the watering holes for a drink.
EDIT: from Leon's files - horses drinking at their watering hole. (Video may be "unavailable" on your device. You can see it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk7B9QEZ91M
The highlight of the trip was hiking around in a petrified forest: a geologic feature that, I would say, most New Mexicans don't even know about.
Lots of petrified tree fragments but also some very large specimens. Pretty fascinating.
This photo does not do justice to the subject which is a large, probably 10-foot long, petrified tree, just below the juniper, about centered in the photo.
We would have hiked further but I've had a bad left knee for several weeks and physical therapy is ongoing, so I didn't want to push it to the limit.
Below: Suque, our friend's dog, checking out the log from a prehistoric forest.
Several large "logs" are scattered over a fairly wide area of this wilderness site.
P.S. One of the reasons I don't blog much anymore is due to how cumbersome blogger has become. I have such difficulty moving photos and had to upload all the photos a second time because several disappeared when I attempted to rearrange them. Trying to get commentary to line up neatly between photos is aggravating.
Also, our internet can be slow at times.
The other, more significant reason I don't blog much is that I have nothing of interest to share...or at least nothing I'd want to bother you all with. Our life is pretty hum-drum and you've seen my vegetable garden, my flower garden, my pizza, bread and pasta creations, a few of our travels...but the quotidian is no longer good fodder for this blog.
Besides, my "audience" has dwindled to a handful of loyal viewers. I appreciate your visits and apologize for not being more prolific.
