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Saturday, September 4, 2021

New Mexico, Part 2

Dates: 4-12-21 to 4-13-21

 

Continuing through Santa Fe, we stopped at a curious roadside point of interest.  The aptly named Soda Dam crosses nearly the entire width of the valley.  Only the efforts of the road building crew, and the erosion of the stream have broken it.  Produced by a calcium bearing hot spring, it has migrated across the valley floor, creating an over-50ft-tall dam of deposited limestone.   At over 300ft wide, it is a fairly imposing wall.

P766_USA NM Santa Fe NF Jemez Soda Dam_2021-04-12_Jen_IMG_20210412_085958036_HDR

 

Below is the active side, where hot water flowing over the top of the dome continues to deposit limestone, even while the stream has cut a channel below.

 

C144_USA NM Santa Fe NF Jemez Soda Dam_2021-04-12_DSC02338

 

P770_USA NM Santa Fe NF Jemez Soda Dam_2021-04-12_Jen_IMG_20210412_090246237_HDR

 

Someone created a few artistic reptiles from nails.

 

P772_USA NM Santa Fe NF Jemez Soda Dam_2021-04-12_Jen_IMG_20210412_090622125_HDR

 

 

C155_USA NM Santa Fe NF Jemez Soda Dam_2021-04-12_DSC02349

 

C154_USA NM Santa Fe NF Jemez Soda Dam_2021-04-12_DSC02348

 

 

C152_USA NM Santa Fe NF Jemez Soda Dam_2021-04-12_DSC02346

 

C151_USA NM Santa Fe NF Jemez Soda Dam_2021-04-12_DSC02345

 

We took the afternoon to hike up Paliza Canyon.  Containing much of the same tufa rock which the cave homes were carved from, it is known for its fun rock formations.

 

C188_USA NM Santa Fe NF Paliza Canyon_2021-04-12_DSC02382

 

C186_USA NM Santa Fe NF Paliza Canyon Goblins_2021-04-12_DSC02380

 

P778_USA NM Santa Fe NF Paliza Canyon_2021-04-12_Jen_IMG_20210412_122601915_HDR

 

C175_USA NM Santa Fe NF Paliza Canyon Goblins_2021-04-12_DSC02369

 

C171_USA NM Santa Fe NF Paliza Canyon Goblins_2021-04-12_DSC02365

 

C169_USA NM Santa Fe NF Paliza Canyon Goblins_2021-04-12_DSC02363

 

C165_USA NM Santa Fe NF Paliza Canyon Goblins_2021-04-12_DSC02359

 

C164_USA NM Santa Fe NF Paliza Canyon Goblins_2021-04-12_DSC02358

 

C163_USA NM Santa Fe NF Paliza Canyon Goblins_2021-04-12_DSC02357

 

C162_USA NM Santa Fe NF Paliza Canyon Goblins_2021-04-12_DSC02356

 

C160_USA NM Santa Fe NF Paliza Canyon Goblins_2021-04-12_DSC02354

 

C157_USA NM Santa Fe NF Paliza Canyon Goblins_2021-04-12_DSC02351

  

The following day we visited a few of a few of the interesting areas in the Lybrook Badlands.  You can see why it was named a badlands area by early settlers.  The highly eroded region is all but impassible to foot and horse traffic.

 

C196_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Overlook_2021-04-13_DSC02390

 

C194_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Overlook_2021-04-13_DSC02388

 

C191_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Overlook_2021-04-13_DSC02385

 

C190_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Overlook_2021-04-13_DSC02384

 

These arid areas with alkaline soil often have very interesting plants.

 

P788_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Georgia O'Keefe's The Black Place_2021-04-13_Jen_IMG_20210413_094239487_HDR

 

In the sand these footprints tell the story of a fox hunting a mouse. 

 

P787_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Overlook_2021-04-13_Jen_IMG_20210413_090946787

 

A nearby area was the inspiration for painter Georgia O’Keefe’s “The Black Place”.  At times, it almost feels like another planet.

 

P797_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Georgia O'Keefe's The Black Place_2021-04-13_Jen_IMG_20210413_094926511_HDR

 

C199_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Georgia O'Keefe's The Black Place_2021-04-13_DSC02393

 

C197_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Georgia O'Keefe's The Black Place_2021-04-13_DSC02391

 

P799_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Georgia O'Keefe's The Black Place_2021-04-13_Jen_IMG_20210413_095139434_HDR

 

P791_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Georgia O'Keefe's The Black Place_2021-04-13_Jen_IMG_20210413_094258643_HDR

 

P792_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Georgia O'Keefe's The Black Place_2021-04-13_Jen_IMG_20210413_094526188_HDR

 

P833_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Georgia O'Keefe's The Black Place_2021-04-13_Jen_IMG_20210413_101713978_HDR

 

Of course, even here, tenacious lichens are right at home on barren rock faces.

C209_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Georgia O'Keefe's The Black Place_2021-04-13_DSC02403

 

P811_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Georgia O'Keefe's The Black Place_2021-04-13_Jen_IMG_20210413_095929667_HDR

 

The sediments of this area are almost entirely made from various volcanic discharges.  These flaking boulders were chunks of lava, blasted nearly a hundred miles from a long extinct volcano.  The lighter clays are mostly weathered volcanic ash, deposited in vast layers in eruptions that lasted decades.

P808_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Georgia O'Keefe's The Black Place_2021-04-13_Jen_IMG_20210413_095831125_HDR

 

P814_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Georgia O'Keefe's The Black Place_2021-04-13_Jen_IMG_20210413_100044973_HDR

 

Various minerals can be found in small chunks, likely blasted out of surrounding rock layers by violent explosions.  Hurling them far and wide.

 

C213_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Georgia O'Keefe's The Black Place_2021-04-13_DSC02407

 

We finished up our badlands tour by visiting “Hoodooville”, the site of hundreds of cool sediment towers.  The landscape was brutally hard to navigate, with sudden gulley's and wash outs abounding, and impassible features everywhere. 

 

C343_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Hoodooville_2021-04-13_DSC02537

 

The highly-erodible volcanic sediments create some stark vertical changes.  Whenever a piece of hard rock or sediment is present, it acts as a cap or roof, slowing or stopping the erosion of the material below.  This creates towers that exceed 60ft, often called hoodoos. 

 

C339_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Hoodooville_2021-04-13_DSC02533

 

C324_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Hoodooville_2021-04-13_DSC02518

 

C308_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Hoodooville_2021-04-13_DSC02502

 

C285_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Hoodooville_2021-04-13_DSC02479

 

C283_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Hoodooville_2021-04-13_DSC02477

 

 

C269_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Hoodooville_2021-04-13_DSC02463

 

C268_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Hoodooville_2021-04-13_DSC02462

 

C262_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Hoodooville_2021-04-13_DSC02456

 

C259_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Hoodooville_2021-04-13_DSC02453

 

C256_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Hoodooville_2021-04-13_DSC02450

 

C251_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Hoodooville_2021-04-13_DSC02445

 

C245_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Hoodooville_2021-04-13_DSC02439

 

P848_USA NM Lybrook Badlands Hoodooville_2021-04-13_Jen_IMG_20210413_115949280_HDR

 

C367_USA NM Angels Landing BLM_2021-04-13_DSC02561

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