Suerte, 1994 - 2014

He was well named. Found abandoned in a dumpster when very young, Suerte was with me for the best 20 years of my life. We miss our little buddy and we hope that if we are lucky and our karma is good, we'll run into him again in a future life.

Thanks for your time with us, Suerte.

The Edge: White Rock Canyon of the Rio Grande

Rio Grande at the bottom of the White Rock Canyon.

This time I decided to follow the power lines to the canyon. I figured the power company would have chosen the narrowest part of the canyon to cross and therefore, the most dramatic part. And the maintenance road under the lines would provide relatively easy access.

I was half right. The view at the end was quite nice. But the road sucked just as bad as the other roads out there. Yet the truck got me close and the gps kept me from getting lost and I entirely enjoyed the walk, the good weather (at least good for December) and the great views.

View across the canyon looking up Ancho Canyon. Jemez mountains in the distance.

The white cliffs atop Ancho Canyon are examples of Bandelier Tuff and gives White Rock Canyon its name. 

View south down the canyon. Frijoles Canyon enters from the west and the plateau in the center is Bandelier National Monument.

A view northward. The outcropping is a typical basalt flow. The entire area is basalt or volcanic debris.

The river existed before the volcanos deposted all the stuff that forms the cliffs and plateaus. So here the canyon was more built up around the river than the river cut down to create the canyon.

Power lines crossing the canyon. Sangre de Cristos in the distance.

The buff cliff in the middle is another example of Bandelier Tuff.

Power lines.

To me, this looks like a kitty sitting and watching the canyon. The suspended balls are bubbles blown by this kitty.

Cyndi just sees a power pole. I think Cyndi needs to eat more mushrooms.

Christmas decorations across the canyon.

The primary colors and floating balls are rather Googley, aren't they?

Typical view into a side canyon. Note the Bandelier Tuff topped by local basalt flows.

Sangre de Cristos

Bears do shit in the woods. Mostly on jeep trails. Lots of bear poop out here.

This is the only other car I saw on this trek. And this guy has the right idea: airlift your four wheel drive vehicle out here.