Shiprock Sunrise, New Mexico

Located along Highway 491, north of Gallup and west of Farmingham is Shiprock. Initially we wanted to try and do an afternoon shot at Shiprock, however, the travel time was longer than expected, so the time was altered to a sunrise photo shoot.

Awakening at Farmingham at 0400 we made the hour drive north to Shiprock, arriving just before sunrise. The weather was chilly with the thermometer hovering a tad over zero Celsius. Access to Shiprock is a bit messy with several sandy trails leading around the rock's base. The early morning golden light was a little subdued to patchy cloud cover, however, patience being a virtue we waited until the light shone through some layering in the cloud.

A small herd of cattle (or were they bison) meandered past Shiprock provided ideal perspective in highlighting just how large this monolith is - it is MASSIVE, HUGE - a MEGAROCK.....

The monolith, which rises from the flat desert and can be seen for miles, is the remains of a volcanoc plug from an ancient volcano. Flanking the volcanic plug is a long spine comprised volcanic rock which depicts several volcanic erosion styles. The area is Indian land, and unfortunately, litter is evident in a number of areas where careless land owners have dumped their unwanted trash. Although the litter is unsightly, it only occupies a relatively small area where wind has funneled the trash.

Bisti Badlands Wilderness Area, New Mexico

An area infrequently visited area, the Bisti Badlands is an undeveloped park with no facilities, information or track guidance. The access track to the Bisti isn't that erroneous, although there are a few ruts which may annoy 2 wheel vehicle owners.

The Bisti is very similar to the badlands of South Dakota with the exception it's in miniature. If your expecting huge monoliths and breakaways such as found in Arches and Canyonlands National Parks you will be disappointed.

Bisti is a flat area that has been eroded by water over eons of time to erode the badlands below the land's current surface. The region before becoming eroded was a temperate rain forest, and before that, dinosaurs roamed the area.

Of course the dinosaurs are now long gone (pity), however, remnants of the forest can still be found in the guise of mounds of petrified wood.

Many of the rocks in the area have been completely leached of all chemicals leaving only iron oxides.  The iron fives the area a very distinctibe red look when the light's right.

Interesting also is the number of small ricks (image) that dot the landscape.  The rocks are quite heavy (specific gravity) and appear to iron secretions.  It's possible it also had some magnetite, however, I could not check this as I didn't have a compass or magnet handy at the time.

The area is very interesting with sculptures, mini monoliths, and colourful sediment layers. I found the most impressive part of Bisti was the isolation and definite lack of people that you normally encounter in American national parks.

Three Rivers Petroglypth Site, New Mexico

Located just off the highway is the Three Rivers Petrogyph Site. I was keen to see the difference in motifs used at this site in comparison to the area visited a week earlier. This site belonged to a different culture, therefore, different motifs were used. As with the earlier site, the glphs were etched and scratched on volcanic rock; the black colour of the rock makes the white etching stand out especially well. When photographing the motifs a circular polarizer is great asset to ensure that the colors pop. This site is quite extensive and many differing motifs were found: faces, bighorn sheep, lizards, snakes, circular symbols, and a etching that looked like a rocket ship!

Whilst hunting through the low brush for glphs a sleepy wild rabbit was observed resting in the shade of a rock from the warm midday sun.

As with all ancient sites, collecting is not allowed and rangers patrol the area regularly to ensure compliance.

Saguaro National Park, Arizona

Saguaro National Park in Arizona is renown for it's iconic cactus called the Saguaro cactus. This cactus predominately only grows in Arizona and Mexico. The cactus can reach 20 feet in height and arms only develop on the cactus after 75 years. As such, many of the cactus plants observed in the park are very old and were about as teenagers when cowboys and Indians roamed the territory.

Finding ideal photographic locations is difficult if you are keen to photograph landscapes with a foreground, middle-ground, and background. This is due to the density of cactus. After searching for a few hours, we settled on producing a pano photograph (compilation of several images stitched together) utilizing the low light of the afternoon sun. The redrock country (scarps, mesas & jump ups) reflects a rich orange light as golden hour approaches (hour before sunset) providing excellent opportunities for photographs.

Of course the Saguaro cactus are not the only flora species in the region; Cholla cactus and other Mammarian Genus cactus can also be easily found in addition to several spring wildlflower species To see these you must be willing to step from the road and make a short hike into the desert. During your short hike your also bound to notice the unusual rock types that you are walking on; many are volcanic in origin. You will also notice something that appears to look like a rock, but is not a rock. This is cyptobiotic soil. The soil (actually a crust) is rich in bacteria and is actually a living organism providing nutrients to the desert soil. These crusts are very important in the development of arid ecosystems so be very careful not to step on the soil as it takes many years to develop, and can be destroyed by walking on it - be careful where you place your feet!

See http://www.nps.gov/archive/care/crypto.htm for further information.

Quartzite, Arizona

Quartzite is a non descript town located well within the arid vastness of Arizona; there is nothing particularly special about the town, however, the environs surrounding Quartzite are well worth a visit. Leaving the highway we traversed an old four wheel drive trail that lead to a washout (perennial stream bed). Rock shelters could be seen amongst the red rock sandstone and basaltic rock which flanked one side of the washout; although I did not climb to the shelters it is not hard to image prehistoric man, and then Americans Indians occupying the sites.

Several species of cacti can be observed in the area with the main species being the tall saguaro cactus made infamous in Hollywood western movies. I found particularly interesting the crptobiotic soil which was common in the area and the wide assortment of volcanic and sedimentary rocks which continually attracted my attention. Amongst several rocky areas were small alpine plants with purple and yellow flowers.

The architecture of 70% of buildings in the desert area is interesting. The buildings are covered in an earth coloured material a few inches in thickness - similar to covering bricks in mud. The reason for this covering is soon apparent when you enter a building for it's several degrees cooler inside than outside.