House(s) on Fire

I generally focus on nature images in this photo blog, but while today’s subject is human made, it fits so well into its setting it seems a part of the natural environment.

House on Fire, Bears Ears National Monument, Utah

These granaries were built under the cliff to store food in this harsh environment to store for hard years. Harvests are completely unpredictable, but the Ancestral Puebloans maintained a population in the Four Corners area larger than there is today by living sustainably in this desert. This site is up Mule Canyon on Cedar Mesa. The spectacular streaks of desert patina and the flaked sandstone give the wonderful appearance of flames. I can image the builders being quite proud of the beauty of this creation for storage.

Stepping back provides a very different view. I visited in the late afternoon and as you can see, I was waiting for the sun to get lower in the west to light up roof. Unfortunately, the clouds got heavier, and the sun less intense and the light show didn’t occur. Still, a remarkable site.

Unfortunately, these were not the only flames on this trip. One reason to plan this trip in late spring was to avoid fires. It didn’t work.

Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site, Colorado

This site was closed the week before I arrived because of this fire. There were still fire crews working blazes nearby. Fortunately, the 1840s reconstructed Santa Fe trail trading post was unharmed, but all trails were still closed as they assessed damage. The ranger said the old oak tree in front would need to come down since it is next to the trail approaching the fort. The hawk who sits sentinel there will need a new home.

Cerro Pelado fire, Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico

Even in late April, the New Mexico news was dominated by fires throughout the state. When I returned in early May, I checked websites and discovered by plan to visit Valles Caldera National Preserve would not occur because it was closed due to this fire. Instead, I visited nearby Manhattan Project National Historic Site in smoky Los Alamos, and Bandelier National Monument on the east side of this fire. Fortunately, the air was clear there when I visited, but it would soon be closed for three weeks as the wind shifted and the fire got closer. The fire is nearly contained, but it is still burning in June.

Pronghorn

Of course, wildlife and ecosystems are used to fire on the prairie, but they face enormous challenges in the catastrophic changes occurring. The front page of today’s New York Times has graphics and images of the conditions in New Mexico of extreme drought and rising temperatures. As I crossed the northeast corner of the state, I had to go around the Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon fires. They have now joined and are the largest fire in the state’s history. I visited Pecos National Historic Park on the west side of the fire, but it soon closed for two weeks due to fire risk and has reopened but closed its trails.

Fort Union National Monument, New Mexico

Massive Fort Union was the largest outpost on the Santa Fe Trail. A civil war battle was fought here, but its growth occurred following the war to support the travelers on the Trail and to be the logistics center for Indian removal throughout the southwest. The image above is of the ruins of the massive supply buildings and are reminders that the genocide of Native Americans was a huge, coordinated effort.

Officer quarters, Fort Union NM

The Calf Canyon fire, as the others, started from prescribed burns meant to reduce fire risk. The others quickly got out of control, but this one silently burned since January and once merged with the Hermits Peak fire has consumed over 350,000 acres. And is still burning. Fort Union closed for a couple weeks, but has reopened with fire restrictions. Reaping what was sown.

Sleeping by Sleeping Ute

This may be the first Friday Foto I’m posting from the place I’m writing about. I’m sitting on a rocky ledge overlooking the broad valley of Hovenweep Canyon and other waters that flow into the San Juan River. On the opposite side of the valley reclines the aptly named figure of Sleeping Ute mountain. Far, far away in the haze to the southwest in Arizona the jagged peak of Shiprock Mountain, a volcanic plug, breaks the horizon. Below me to the east, if I shade my eyes from the morning sun is the round tower that’s been here for the last 800-900 years. Below cliff the tower rests on is another adobe structure and one the wall in the back are two painted hands which give this place its current name—Painted Hand. I’m sure family members of the person whose hands are there sat on this ledge looking at Ute Mountain and Shiprock which are holy sites to today’s Natives and were likely also in the days of the Ancestral Puebloans. Two days ago, on a hike to another site that I’ll write about later, I passed and chatted with a group of Paiute elders, descendants of those who built these sites. I also got better images of lots of painted hands from other places that I’ll share.

Chance, who’s been wandering somewhere for the last fifteen minutes, leans against me with pollen and sticks in his fur to go with the red dust that’s become embedded over the last week. Our camp is about fifty feet away, the solar panels gathering morning light to charge my power supply. As I cooked my porridge, I heard what sounded like an engine and looked up to see a hummingbird starring at me from ten feet away before zooming off. Unbelievably, as I typed that sentence—buzz, it was over my head again! Some bird song comes up from the canyon. Yesterday, a falcon soared past, and many ravens sweep the valley.

We are just across the Utah border in Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in Colorado. I wondered why I had such good cell reception when we got here. The mystery was solved when I got up to pee and stargaze at four in the morning. I walked over to this ledge with my tripod, and there near Sleeping Ute’s head was the glow of Cortez, Colorado and a couple tall towers with blinking lights, likely sending me signals from maybe 20 miles away as the raven flies. Perhaps they are like this tower below me which may have seen and sent signals to others in the valley. Or maybe it was used to observe the skies as I was.

Painted Hands Tower and Sleeping Ute Mountain

As I looked over to Sleeping Ute in the dark, arched over him was the softly glowing Milky Way. To the south beamed Scorpio, the constellation that has greeted me the last four mornings as I got up to look at this marvelous dark sky. Scorpio’s tail was curled, ready to strike.

When we got here last evening, I took the third of a mile hike over to the Tower exploring whether that would be a good place for a night sky image but decided the scramble down the rocks would not be advisable with a tripod in the dark. So, I was satisfied with my rocky ledge view this early morning. Later, I’ll share some of these night images.

Hummingbird just buzzed by again, telling me this is getting too long. On with the day.