I made it to Mesa Verde National Park today. What an amazing place. I've never been there. It's one of the largest cave dwelling pueblos in the country. I thought there was just one big pueblo, but there were dozens. At least 6 or 8 really big ones. It was fascinating. These big, multi story pueblos built into caves on the side of big cliffs. They had to go down ladders, hundreds of feet down the side of cliffs to get to their homes. These were built between year 1100 and 1300 AD. Another thing i found fascinating. One of the pueblo ruins I was walking around, I noticed that there were cracks in the walls that appeared to be repaired with Silicone caulking. I had no idea that the Indians had Silicone. I have to wonder... Did they actually make their own Silicone caulking? Or, was the Home Depot, in Durango actually open a thousand years ago?
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Here's one from last summer in the northern part of Canyonlands National Park. If you look closely, you can see a dirt road down there, that cruises along the edge of the lower canyon. That was one of the most amazing drives I have ever taken.
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My second side trip of the year was definitely the best. I left the motorhome in Estes Park, Colorado, and went up to Yellowstone National Park. The company I work for doesn't cover Wyoming, but my boss was nice enough to let me take a few days off and do a short trip up to Yellowstone. It is an absolutely amazing place, and I hadn't been there in seven years. So... Anyway... This top photo is of Grand Prismatic Spring. The colors in the rock are incredible!
View Large, On Black
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I haven't done a B&W in ages.
So... I was looking back through my shots of the Mesquite Dunes in Death Valley and thought that with the strong light and powerful lines, one of these might make for a great B&W conversion. This is what I came up with.
This one should definitely be viewed larger, on black. Just press 'L'
On an unrelated note... My heart goes out to all the victims of the horrible disaster in Japan and wish them the best in making a speedy recovery from this tragedy.
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I have been wanting to find this place for years. Yesterday, I finally made it. This obscure place is called, False Kiva. It's in Canyonlands National Park, but don't expect to find it on any map.
There are no tour buses there. There are no Japanese Tourists shooting photos of each other, standing in front of the kiva. There is not even a trailhead, or a sign identifying the trail in any way. Just some footprints in the desert to follow. They don't want you to go there. They don't want anyone to find this place.
With proper instructions, and enough time to get lost a few times and wander around in circles, and slip and fall on some of the loosest rocks I have ever stepped on, it is possible to find this. I'm so glad I finally did.
It ended up being a really overcast evening, which was sort of a mixed blessing. The light in the foreground was really nice. The light in the canyon in the background was kind of blah. When I got back and looked at the images, I couldn't believe how much detail I was able to pull out of that fairly gray sky.
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