BLM – Towing Silver: Kim Davison's Travels

San Francisco de Asis in Ranchos de Taos

The last stop on the Sister Jeanne Art History Tour of Taos is the church of San Francisco de Asis in Ranchos de Taos, which is just outside Taos on the south side of town.

As the tourism information specialist told me when I first got to Taos, “This is one of the most photographed and painted churches in the world.” It is the subject of paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe and photos by Ansel Adams among others.

While I was visiting to take photos, there were seven other photographers there, engaged in serious art-making. I had to jockey around to get pictures without them in the frame. Of course, that would have been part of the story, too.

I have no photos of the interior, as they request that we not take them. I did buy a couple of postcards, but I try to avoid copyright infringement. However, you can find more information on Wikipedia, among other sites you can Google.

It was built between 1772 and 1816 and requires constant upkeep. I attended mass there on Sunday, and the priest was talking about the work that would be required to replaster the building. They call it “enjarrar”.

Here you can see a damaged portion of the exterior. You can also see the straw that is used in the mixture. What happens when you take care of an adobe building faithfully? You get the Taos Pueblo.

What happens when you don’t maintain the building? They don’t last as long.

Valley of Fire, Carrizozo, New Mexico

My next stop was another Bureau of Land Management site, Valley of Fires, near Carrizozo, New Mexico, just a little ways down the road from Three Rivers Petroglyph Site.

I pulled in and selected a great campsite with a view. Even better than the view was the sense of accomplishment I had when I backed it in on the first pass and didn’t hit anything.

Actually, it wasn’t hard to select a campsite with a view. The campground was situated on a sandstone hill that the lava flowed around.

The lava flow has the distinction of being one of the youngest flows in the continental United States, which took place between 1,500 and 2,000 years ago.

The lava is between four and six miles wide and up to 160 feet deep. Due to the fissures in the surface and the dark color that holds the heat, there is a wide variety of plants in the valley. I read on one of the signs that there is double the number of kinds of grass plants here than in the surrounding desert.

There is a paved path that goes through the lava field. That made the hike more like a stroll.

It has two types of lava: pahoehoe (pronounced pa-HOY-HOY) and a’a (pronounced ah-ah) The pahoehoe is a “ropey” lava and a’a is blocky.

The pahoehoe really does look like ropes and bundles of cables that are cut into chunks.

This formation wasn’t labeled, but it fits the a’a description as blocky.

There were signs that encouraged us to hike on the lava field. I took a few steps, but it was not a comfortable walking experience, in spite of the fact that I had my best walking shoes on.

The signs say that they have a nice assortment of animals. I only saw a lizard, squirrels and rabbits. The squirrels and rabbits refused to pose for me, but the lizard didn’t mind posing.

Along the path, there was a 400-year-old juniper tree.

Also, there were some lovely flowers in bloom.

I finished my walk through the lava field and started on my way back to Flo the Airstream. You can see her parked up on top of the ridge.

I stayed the night and left in the morning for a couple of days in Albuquerque to take care of some business. The next post will be about Taos. Stay tuned!

More Petroglyphs? Yes, Please!

The next morning, I decided to take the hike to the other petroglyph site that Lyn, the camp host told me about. “Just take the path too the right, and follow along the base of the hill and the fence. Go through the gate and keep going.”

That little line of rocks is the beginning of the trail. I walked toward where the gate was supposed to be.

I walked along the barbed wire fence until I came face-to-face with more barbed wire. For the uninitiated, this is a gate.

You lift the latch.

Drop the gate and walk through.

Then, be sure to latch it up again.

Sometimes the trail was a little hard to see. In some places, there were rocks showing the way. In other places, there were just footprints in the dirt.

But, human trails were easy to distinguish from the animal trails.

I wasn’t too certain that I was heading in the right direction, but I finally found a glyph.

First glyph sighting

It wasn’t an outstanding glyph, but at least I knew I was on the right path. The next glyph I found was amazing!

Second glyph – WOW!

After that, I spotted them one after another.

I loved this one. It reminded me of a Picasso work of art. I wonder what the creator intended?

There were more circles.

A handprint. A universal way of leaving one’s mark from the caves at Lascaux and Chauvet in France around 30,000 years ago to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

Could this have been a mountain lion’s paw?

Another circle motif.

I like to think of this as a symbol for wind. There certainly is enough of it here in the desert

What a nice collection of glyphs!

A fish?

This looks like a video game controller to me.

This boulder had them on just about every surface. I was having so much fun exploring and seeing what I could find. Of course, I know I wasn’t really discovering them. Countless people before me had been there, as well as many cows.

I love this little laughing animal.

This one looks like a bear claw.

A lizard.

Another lizard, claw and more circles.

This one looks like a face or mask.

Interesting geometric designs.

Double circles.

Quadruple circles.

And more quadruples.

And finally, my exploration was over. I reached the end of my trail. There may have been more, but I would save them for another visit.

Next up: Valley of Fires near Carrizozo, New Mexico.

Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, Tularosa, NM

If there is anything I like more than rocks, it’s rocks with ancient art on them. I also just love surprises.

Tree Rivers Petroglyph Site was full of surprises. And rocks.

I’ve been to places that say they have petroglyphs. Maybe they do, but they are kind of remote, or not too visually exciting or covered over with more recent “petroglyphs.” (Also known as graffiti.)

This site is run by the Bureau of Land Management. In addition to managing the trails, they have camping and picnic facilities. The campsite I had was first rate. It had electric and water hook ups and it was as level as could be. I just pulled in and set up – no jockeying about was required. And it was a pull-through site! No backing up required. The site even had a table with a shelter, a trash can and a grill. All this for $9 a night, with my America the Beautiful Interagency Pass.

I set up camp. The winds were vigorous, but Lyn, the site host told me that the forecast was better for the next day, so I decided to wait to hike the trail.

This was the home of the Jornada Mogollon, a prehistoric indigenous culture, of which there are no known descendants. They made the petroglyphs over 600 years ago, and, according to the brochure I was given, over 21,000 petroglyphs were found here and were documented by the Archeological Society of New Mexico’s Rock Art Recording School.

The Jornada Mogollon created these pictographs by pecking away the patina on the surface of the rock with another rock.

This rock has a surface broken off; you can see the difference between the patina and the rest of the rock.

There are all sorts of petroglyphs and you can walk right up to them. The website for this place says that the trail is rough and boulder-strewn. You can see that it is.

There are geometric shapes.

There are animals, lizards and birds.

And faces and masks.

Speaking of faces, I met some lovely smiling people at. the top of the trail. We sat in the shade of the shelter and chatted for a bit. Mari and Chris were just up for the day from Las Cruces. They were going to continue a little further, and I was heading back down. When we parted ways, Mari gave me her walking stick!

Now I match the hiker guy on the sign!

It’s easy to believe that there are more than 21,000 petroglyphs here! I wonder if there are more on those other rocks over there?

Incidentally, of all the things I saw on the trail, nothing could compare with what I saw in the parking lot.

Yes, I dropped my keys. I did the trail again, and even called a locksmith. He was on his way when I found them. I texted him and let him know that I was all set. He congratulated me on the find and wished me a good stay.

As exciting as this day was, the next day allowed me to cross something off my bucket list.