Most of the rocks and geological features in the Bisti Wilderness are dull under bright sunlight, but in the early morning and late day light these features seem to come alive with color. At these times one can get landscape photographs with soft pastels or bright, golden hues.
To be continued,
Ken
A popular area for visitors to Bisti is called “The Nursery”, where there are unique rock shapes that are referred to as “Cracked Eggs”.
It was very overcast this evening in The Nursery, so there was very little golden hour light; but the heavy clouds were great for creating dramatic photographs.
More later,
Ken
I’ve hiked past this small bridge hoodoo in Bisti, usually when photographic conditions were less than optimal, many times on my way to a predetermined destination. This feature is not easily photographed in an interesting composition that clearly shows that it is a bridge, not just a chunk of rock in a jumble of other rocks. So even when I’ve stopped by, I’ve decided not to shoot it or did not get anything worth sharing. Still it is an interesting little bridge, so today I decided to make an attempt to get a decent photo. I wanted to clearly indicate the opening in the bridge with some object behind it. I could not get the sky through the bridge opening, so I needed some distinct object to show through the opening and not fill the entire opening. Moving around to vary what was visible through the bridge, I decided that the small rock that is visible behind the bridge, would work to give some depth in an image. To get this image, I made multiple exposure with different focal points, then stacked them using Helicon software to get the best overall sharpness.
Moving on, we found numerous portions of petrified logs and then in an area that neither my son nor I had previously explored, we found a long petrified tree specimen. It was so long that it was difficult to photograph its entirety and still get it into a good composition.
I worked around this long petrified log, trying to get shots that showed how impressive this petrified log is.
A shot from the base of the log shows the base well, but this point of view does not indicate the significant length of the log.
I did not get any shots of this long petrified log that shows how impressive it is to see in person, but I think the shot above with the adjacent hoodoos and cloudy sky is the best image I got here.
In the same general area of the long petrified tree are several other petrified logs that are partially exposed from the encasing sediment.
Even though it was heavily overcast on this hike into the Bisti Wilderness, there was a little break through of sunlight, but no golden hour light.
The tall hoodoo in the image above seems to be tilting its head towards the sun to catch the late day rays.
More Bisti later,
Ken
It was frequently cloudy during the days spent at Bisti in early June of 2021, which is good for dramatic sky backgrounds, but it can be bad for golden hour photography.
I thought the rock (photo above) with the pointy feature looked like some sort of weird creature guarding an egg, others have suggested it looks like a baby elephant. I can see that, too.
There are many pieces of petrified wood, logs and trees scattered around in this area. The mineralization of these objects is not as colorful as that in the Petrified Forest National Park, but it is amazing how much of the original tree detail is retained in these rocks. Most of the petrified log sections are horizontal, but occasionally there are vertical ones, which I suppose tumbled into this position somewhere in the distant past.
The cap on the hoodoo in the photo above, looked like a turtle soaking up some sun, but there was no sun.
I made some photos just to capture geological features, even if the photos are not highly interesting in an artistic manner. Having worked with many geologists and as a petrophysicist, might make me more prone to see and marvel at the layering in rocks.
Weathering and erosion continue to create and modify the features found here. Some features might linger for many years and some might be changed quickly by a heavy rainfall.
The petrified log in the photo above, may be the longest exposed one that I’ve seen here. It was difficult to capture in a single photograph, so I shot it from multiple view points and on multiple occasions under different light conditions.
More later,
Ken
I know I’ve multiple posts from my visits to Bisti and I hope that readers do not get bored with these. The Bisti Wilderness, in a desert area of New Mexico, is a marvelous place and one of my favorite places for photography. Each visit reveals new areas and new features to photograph. Even revisiting the same areas within the wilderness can result in different photographs, since it is never possible to photograph everything within even a confined area during one visit and the scenes will continue to evolve with time, weather and lighting.
In early June, 2021, I met my oldest son here for several days of exploration and photography. We chose to visit the area known as The Nursery the evening of our arrival, since we knew we could get there easily before sunset.
This is a popular area with photographers, requiring working around each other and proper etiquette to avoid getting in each others way.
The photo above is an example with my son in a shot I wanted to set up. Of course, I made this shot just to capture him, but since we landscape purist try to avoid people in our shots, we sometimes have to modify our point of view. So I just turned a little to get this image:
This is a much better composition, anyway. Although, I regret clipping a little off the front and right edges of the foreground rock.
There are so many objects, arranged haphazardly by nature, that it is virtually impossible with a wide angle lens to avoid clipping some object at the edges of a shot.
As the light began to fade on the Cracked Eggs, I began to explore the nooks in the hillside area to the east, where I found this tall hoodoo with a pointy top and small cap that I could set against the sunset clouds.
Preparing to hike back to the parking lot, I got one last shot at the edge of the hillside with the sunset light fading from the clouds.
Stay tuned for more Bisti exploration,
Ken
Down the road a few miles from the old ranch and windmill, depicted in the previous post, is a small community, that was once more vibrant. Like many rural towns in the US, it has suffered from the evolving economy and technological advances that result in lost livelihoods. As people move away and are not replaced, homes and businesses are abandoned.
I have stopped in this community once previously to photograph an abandoned school under a clear sky. There were scattered clouds today, so I figured I might get more interesting images this time through.
Abandoned school on the high plains of New Mexico.
Just down the gravel street from this school was another one that I had neglected to photograph during my first stop here.
Abandoned school on the high plains of New Mexico.
Those big fluffy clouds added much interest and black and white seemed a good treatment of the images.
Abandoned school on the high plains of New Mexico
I could see a number of other abandoned homes and structures scattered around this little community, so I took time to photograph a few of those.
Abandoned house on the high plains of New Mexico
Abandoned commercial building on the high plains of New Mexico
Abandoned commercial building on the high plains of New Mexico.
Dilapidated Windmill and Water Storage Tanks on the high plains of New Mexico.
Abandoned house on the high plains of New Mexico.
Abandoned house on the high plains of New Mexico.
The trees die as they are abandoned along with the houses and other buildings.
Abandoned stone fence and home on the high plains of New Mexico.
Abandoned house on the high plains of New Mexico.
The final image in this post was chosen for Flickr’s Explore page and so far has received 5737 views and 192 favorites.
Until next time,
Ken
I spotted old, abandoned ranch structures and a windmill set back some distance from a highway, as I was traveling through the high plains of New Mexico a year or two ago. I resolved to stop and photograph the ranch scene on my way back through, since I was on a travel schedule, when I first noted these old structures.
I watched for that old ranch and windmill on my way past the area a couple of times, but I did not spot it again during those trips. The mental picture I had made for the ranch location was not accurate or maybe as time went by my memory became fuzzy. However, on my way home from the Great Sand Dunes of Colorado, I passed this way again and I spotted the windmill.
Abandoned ranch structures and old windmill on the high plains of New Mexico.
The ranch was, indeed, miles from where I had thought it was. I had made a mental note of the next town I went through for location reference, after first discovering that ranch. That town was miles away, but over time I became convinced that the ranch was just on the outskirts of that town. Consequently, I only began to look for it as I approached that town.
Lesson learned: even though my mental recollection is usually good, I should make written or recorded notes and/or GPS locations for places that I want to get back to.
Abandoned ranch structures on the high plains of New Mexico.
This area was volcanically active in ancient times and I’m fairly sure that is an old volcano cone in the background.
I had to shoot from a fence line with the house far on the other side. I considered shooting with an 80-400mm for which I have a 1.4x extender to get close up shots, but I think the shots with a 24-70mm at 70mm give a much better indication of the setting in this wide open landscape.
More abandoned structures down the road from here will be in the next post,
Ken
From the visitor center area there is a trail to a waterfall. The trail is supposed to go to two waterfalls an upper and a lower on the Frijoles River; but the trail to the lower falls was not open, presumably due to damage to the trail and safety concerns.
The trail is not a long one, but it has some steep portions. Still it was not overly difficult. Initially the trail follows beside and crosses the river at one or two places, then climbs out of the river valley, going up the valley wall.
As one nears the waterfall, a deep canyon comes into view. Geologists will find the canyon wall interesting as many layers of rock and geologic features are exposed.
The Frijoles River dumps into the Rio Grande at the end of this canyon.
There is a view point for the falls, after one hikes past the falls and looks back upstream. The trail here is far above the river and there is not a way to get close to the upper falls.
A big lens is required for getting a close up of the falls. We planned to come back here again, but we never got back. So these images are all I have.
This wraps up this visit to Bandelier National Monument.
Next up: Zapata Falls and The Great Sand Dunes in Colorado.
Until then,
Ken
This is a continuation of a previous post with photographs from the ancient Native American site, Tsankawi, a part of the Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico.
Up above the main continuous trail through Tsankawi, I spotted a portion of a trail that was obviously out of place. This part apparently broke away from its original location and lodged here many years ago.
The depth of this portion of the trail is impressive. The pathways are narrow, which suggests that the people that made these were not large people.
It took a little effort to navigate some portions of these ancient paths, especially when carrying a daypack and DSLR.
Interestingly, this portion of the trail had dual pathways, but one was a dead end. Was this two lane path created by having one foot on one side and the other foot on the other side of the trail? Each side is too narrow for having both feet within the narrow channel.
There were numerous indications of dwellings, shelters or storage areas along the pathways of Tsankawi. Some areas were off limits for visitors, so we did not get to see everything here.
The entrance to this cave (above) seems to have a torso with head shape.
There were numerous caves in some areas. Notice the foot and/or hand holds in the rocks around these caves.
A desert view from the main trail around the Tsankawi area.
This wraps up the best photos that I managed to get in this amazing place. Perhaps someday I will get back again, when conditions are more favorable for photography.
Until next time,
Ken
We visited Tsankawi again one afternoon, but we never really got to be here at the very best time of the day for photography. Although, we did have some cloudy sky, which helped add a little interest at times.
Tsankawi is really an amazing place. I was most impressed by the paths created by Native Americans many years ago. Those ancient people walked the same paths so often as to wear deep trenches in the rock. Sometimes the trenches were only a few inches deep and sometimes several feet deep. Even though the rock may not be super hard here, it is not soft either, so it must have taken many walkers over many years to create such deep pathways in the stone.
One has to look closely to see the old, worn petroglyphs, of which there were many, in some of the rock faces.
Viewing a larger image on Flickr will allow for better resolution of the many petroglyphs on this rock face.
To be continued,
Ken
