Cabezon Peak
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| While she may look bored, Cyndi is actually hunting rocks. She found a couple of keepers. |
In what many call one of the world's best collections of volcanic necks, Cabezon Peak is the largest of about 50 examples found in the Rio Puerco drainage.
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| A close-up of Cabezon Peak. From the reasonably level base, it rises about 1200' high, with the volcanic plug itself is about 600' high. You can climb this (they say it is a Level 4 climb, minimally technical), but we just admired it from the bottom. |
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| Cero Cuate is a nearby volcano |
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| I couldn't decide which view of Cero Cuate I liked better. I included both so you could pick your favorite |
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| Several miles away is Luis Mesa |
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| A closer view of Luis Mesa |
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| This is the "ghost town" of Cabezon, which looks more like a living hamlet to me. |
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| Just in case you thought I was joking about Cyndi rock hunting, here are the specimens she collected. On your left is a volcanic bomb, about 2 million years old. On your right is metamorphosed granite with quartz inclusions, which began forming almost 2 billion years ago and probably exposed 150 million years ago. |
Pueblo Pintado
We left the Rio Puerco drainage and 50 miles west found ourselves near the Pueblo Pintado ruins but unable to locate them. We saw them on the map but saw no signs on the road ... or even any hint they were actually there. After driving thru various alleys and dirt roads in the small village of Pueblo Pintado, Cyndi spotted the ruins on a rise about 3 miles away. I pointed the truck that way and after wandering down a wash, someone's driveway, across a pasture, we found a lightly used cart path heading about the right direction.
Being both remote and hard to find does keep the number of visitors to a minimum.
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| This was Cyndi's first view of the ruins |
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| We had a quick lunch, then I signed in at the register. We had originally planned to visit on April 27th, but Cyndi wasn't feeling well, so we postponed the trip to May 2. After I looked at the register, I was very happy for the postponement. |
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| Our first close view of the 3 story walls. |
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| A kiva in front of the east side walls. |
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| AFAIK, the ruins and walls were found in the current condition, but the walls have been stabilized with some injected concrete. |
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| For some reason, Cyndi thinks I can't see her in the middle of the ruins So she waves to catch my attention. |
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| Examples of shards found in the middens just outside the ruin's outer walls. You should be able to date the ruins based on these shards. |
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| These juniper beams are about 1,000 years old. None of the beams were much larger than 3" in diameter, because the few trees here are itsy bitsy things. |
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| Lichens on some of the wall rubble. Lichens are so cute, I can't resist taking their pictures. |
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| A closer view of the lichen above. See what I mean? Adorable |
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| One final look at the view the Pueblo residents had with their morning cup of coffee. Kind of a wonder they got any work done at all. |
We then headed home, across Jemez Mountain on scenic byway Hwy 126. That was a lot of fun, but no pictures. Just memories.
Путин завидует, поэтому Путин уничтожает