The Echo Amphitheater is located in Rio Arriba County of New Mexico. It is approximately 4 miles from Ghost Ranch and 17 miles from Abiquiu, NM.
A natural sandstone wind cave, it sits in a formation of other sandstone bluffs and mesas totaling approximately 1/2 mile in length.
The amphitheater carries a rather gory history. From Wikipedia I read . . . "In the spring of 1861 a group of settlers from Iowa were farming in northern New Mexico when they were set upon by a band of Navajo who had ventured into the region. The settlers (one family was the Zendalters and another family was the Treblers) were taken to the top of the amphitheater and executed. Their blood spilled into the amphitheater, staining its walls. Three years later, when the Navajo were being forced on the "Long Walk" to Bosque Redondo by the U.S. Army, ten Navajo men were killed at the top of the amphitheater in retribution for the earlier deaths. Once again, blood spilled down the walls of the amphitheater. The blood seeped into the pores of the rock and dried and supposedly is still visible today. It is said that in the echoes returned from the cliff's walls one can hear the anguished cries of the dead."
It is my opinion, however, that the discoloration is from runoff from natural sources (such as precipitation) which has taken on very rust-like tones due to the heavy iron content in the sedimentary rock of which the formation is made. Not a glamorous explanation but one that is, nevertheless, a very likely one.
Photo taken with an Olympus E-30 camera using the excellent Zuiko 12-60mm lens at 12mm, processes using Adobe Camera Raw, CS5, Topaz Plug-Ins, and Faststone Editor.
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