Then, out of town
In the trusty Great White Whale
Overflowing with purchases, museum guides, food, plants, books etc.
This sign means 83 miles to the next chance to get gasoline. Imagine only one gas station in the whole state of Connecticut, and you get an idea...
To complete our collection of deserts, we passed through Great Basin National Park.There are four major desert areas: the Chihuahua (mostly in Mexico), the Sonora (likewise), the Mohave, and the Great Basin. The Great Basin is Cold Desert - no rain, but not all that hot either. It's a Basin because it's basin-shaped; there's no outlet for what water there is. It ends up sinking in, evaporating, or in Great Salt Lake and some other smaller lakes.
The nearby Lehman Caves were sriking - I've never seen such fancy, flowing 'draperies' and fantastic shapes. Unfortunately, they didn't allow pictures. There were once bats, but construction messed up their entrance/exit scheme. They've tried to fix it, but the bats are still mad, or something, and haven't come back.
One last stand of Bristlecone Pines here - they sure get credit for living where nothing else does.
A rock glacier - there is actually snow and ice underneath there, on the flat place.
The nearby Lehman Caves were sriking - I've never seen such fancy, flowing 'draperies' and fantastic shapes. Unfortunately, they didn't allow pictures. There were once bats, but construction messed up their entrance/exit scheme. They've tried to fix it, but the bats are still mad, or something, and haven't come back. One last stand of Bristlecone Pines here - they sure get credit for living where nothing else does.A rock glacier - there is actually snow and ice underneath there, on the flat place.A Century Plant - we'd seen them before, but this was the last one...
Mormon Tea - Mormons and Indians both made tea of it. The Indians, of course, made tea out of almost everything.
The Alibates flint beds. These were mined for flint by Indians since before they were called The Ancient Ones...
Mormon Tea - Mormons and Indians both made tea of it. The Indians, of course, made tea out of almost everything.
The Alibates flint beds. These were mined for flint by Indians since before they were called The Ancient Ones... They're not particularly picturesque; the Obsidian hills were a lot more fun. On the other hand, the Indians preferred flint, which is a bit harder than obsidian and much less brittle. An obsidian arrowhead, if you missed the deer and hit a rock, was quite likely to shatter...
For digging really narrow ditches:
For digging really narrow ditches:
Then on, across more really flat land
'Glories'
The Black Canyon of the Gunnison River, Colorado. It's only half as deep as the Grand Canyon but in places is much narrower, and also more precipitous (gradients of 90 ft/mile). Someone did once travel down it, on an air mattress; but nobody even tries now. It's really difficult and dangerous even to climb down into the canyon. Lots of rock-climbing here.
Sunset over the Black Canyon.
The Great Sand Dunes, also in Colorado. They're nestled right up against the Sangre de Christo Mountains
The sand is remarkably coarse.
Trying to glissade down. They're not really steep enough to do that very well.
A cattle feed lot. It's hard to tell, but they're big. Considering what they smell like, way out here is probably a good place for them.
A cotton field. Desert or not, if you add water...
'Glories'
The Black Canyon of the Gunnison River, Colorado. It's only half as deep as the Grand Canyon but in places is much narrower, and also more precipitous (gradients of 90 ft/mile). Someone did once travel down it, on an air mattress; but nobody even tries now. It's really difficult and dangerous even to climb down into the canyon. Lots of rock-climbing here.
Sunset over the Black Canyon.
The Great Sand Dunes, also in Colorado. They're nestled right up against the Sangre de Christo Mountains
The sand is remarkably coarse.
Trying to glissade down. They're not really steep enough to do that very well.
A cattle feed lot. It's hard to tell, but they're big. Considering what they smell like, way out here is probably a good place for them.
A cotton field. Desert or not, if you add water...These cotton plants are quite short, only about 8-10 inches tall.
Capulin Volcano, in the northeast corner of new Mexico. Rather small and standing alone, a very nearly perfect cone
A 'pushup', where a thin spot in the drying lava allows just a bit of lava to push up.
This tree was damaged - not quite killed - by porcupines, who like to eat the bark.
Nearby is Folsom, NMex, where the first evidence of Folsom Man was discovered: Bones of a long-extinct bison together with fluted stone spearpoints. These pushed back the earliest evidence of man to about 8ooo BC, right after the last Ice Age.
...and the man who discovered them - George McJunkin was an ex-slave. Apparently a lot of the early cowboys were. There are claims that some slaves were from Angola, where they raised cattle, and that some of the words and culture of the old West were in fact from Africa.
Capulin Volcano, in the northeast corner of new Mexico. Rather small and standing alone, a very nearly perfect cone
A 'pushup', where a thin spot in the drying lava allows just a bit of lava to push up.
This tree was damaged - not quite killed - by porcupines, who like to eat the bark.
Nearby is Folsom, NMex, where the first evidence of Folsom Man was discovered: Bones of a long-extinct bison together with fluted stone spearpoints. These pushed back the earliest evidence of man to about 8ooo BC, right after the last Ice Age. ...and the man who discovered them - George McJunkin was an ex-slave. Apparently a lot of the early cowboys were. There are claims that some slaves were from Angola, where they raised cattle, and that some of the words and culture of the old West were in fact from Africa.McJunkin not only recognized the bones as from an extinct mammal, but that they were partially petrified.
Game meat:
Chucalissa, Tenessee: There was a Mississippian culture here, which built rather elaborate buildings - reminiscent of the Aztecs etc. They died out shortly before the White Man came.
Postulated model of a temple.
At this point, we'd just crossed the Mississippi River, so we were back East, sort of.
Game meat:
Chucalissa, Tenessee: There was a Mississippian culture here, which built rather elaborate buildings - reminiscent of the Aztecs etc. They died out shortly before the White Man came.
Postulated model of a temple.
At this point, we'd just crossed the Mississippi River, so we were back East, sort of.
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