Bisti Abbreviated
Jul 3, 2018 11:21:47 #
Cany143
Loc: SE Utah
Afternoon and evening in the western edge of New Mexico's Bisti Badlands. Rain in the night demanded a hasty retreat to pavement well before sun-up. Even with the now graveled road to the access area, when Mancos Shale gets wet, it stays wet and becomes impassable. The otherworldly hoodoos to the east will have to wait for another day.
Jul 3, 2018 11:34:05 #
Stunning work, Jim! Sorry you got rained out, but what you captured is outstanding.
Jul 3, 2018 11:49:42 #
Awesome photos. It is rare to have all wonderful photos in a set. Your best set yet. Keep the photos coming.
Jul 3, 2018 12:06:04 #
Jul 3, 2018 12:21:45 #
Wonderful shots. As long as I have lived in the 4-corners area, I have yet to visit Bisti. Your images are helping me get there. Perhaps October when it cools down and the monsoons are gone.
Jul 3, 2018 12:29:21 #
Jul 3, 2018 12:35:00 #
Cany143
Loc: SE Utah
nhastings wrote:
Wonderful shots. As long as I have lived in the 4-corners area, I have yet to visit Bisti. Your images are helping me get there. Perhaps October when it cools down and the monsoons are gone.
Thanks, Neil. These shots don't begin to describe Bisti. October/November are the USDA Prime times to be there; weather tends to be less unsettled in those months, but pretty much any time is fine, too. Any time it hasn't rained, that is, or when rain might be imminent. I still (tell myself I) need to get into the Da Na Zin Wilderness. Only seen bits of it with binocs, from a distance. A lot like Bisti, only more 'monumental.'
Jul 3, 2018 12:54:23 #
wdross
Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado
Cany143 wrote:
Afternoon and evening in the western edge of New Mexico's Bisti Badlands. Rain in the night demanded a hasty retreat to pavement well before sun-up. Even with the now graveled road to the access area, when Mancos Shale gets wet, it stays wet and becomes impassable. The otherworldly hoodoos to the east will have to wait for another day.
Not familiar with this place. Looks like I have someplace to go that is new to me. Really great shots, especially the sunset series. Is the orange in the one shot a lichen of sorts?
Jul 3, 2018 13:18:12 #
Cany143
Loc: SE Utah
wdross wrote:
Not familiar with this place. Looks like I have someplace to go that is new to me. Really great shots, especially the sunset series. Is the orange in the one shot a lichen of sorts?
Used to be that practically nobody knew about the place, but its genuinely special, so its received more and more notice in the last 20 years. I blame the droves of evil, image-mongering pterfgriffer types for getting the word out hither, thither and yon. Stupid, greedy camera people; they all ought to be..... oh.......... wait................
The orange isn't lichen at all, its just another ion (probably FeO4, but I'm not a chemist) of an already iron-rich hematitic rock mixed with some other mineral. I don't know the micro-geology of that area sufficiently, but elsewhere, the color sometimes indicates a higher concentration of mineralized/fossilized Jurassic Age vegetal material. Not petrified wood, per se; more like compressed and mooshed and petrified weeds. Being harder and more resistant to dissolution than the surrounding shales, it lasts longer, and because of the color, stands out in the places where its fractured and been funneled in the bottoms of washes.
Jul 3, 2018 13:33:15 #
Jul 3, 2018 17:47:06 #
Jul 3, 2018 18:09:28 #
Cany143
Loc: SE Utah
We keep performing this ritual: a person says 'neat' or 'nice' or 'whoopie' or something positive about an image, and the poster says, 'thank you.' The thank you is meant, of course, just as the compliment is meant, but there we are with the ritual of Niceties. Niceties are nice, and proper, and civil, and likely a lot more that is the stuff of civilization, but, gawd! they sometimes seem so inadequate, or patiently ritualized. Thanx, folks. I really mean it. Welcome to your world.
Jul 3, 2018 21:32:41 #
Jul 4, 2018 06:21:20 #
Cany143 wrote:
Afternoon and evening in the western edge of New Mexico's Bisti Badlands. Rain in the night demanded a hasty retreat to pavement well before sun-up. Even with the now graveled road to the access area, when Mancos Shale gets wet, it stays wet and becomes impassable. The otherworldly hoodoos to the east will have to wait for another day.
Beautiful images Cany.
Jul 4, 2018 07:13:55 #
Cany143 wrote:
Afternoon and evening in the western edge of New Mexico's Bisti Badlands. Rain in the night demanded a hasty retreat to pavement well before sun-up. Even with the now graveled road to the access area, when Mancos Shale gets wet, it stays wet and becomes impassable. The otherworldly hoodoos to the east will have to wait for another day.
Some really nice shots there. I especially like the FIRST sunset photo.
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