Los Alamos is the place
where The Bomb was invented. Street banners announce that this city “..Is Where
Discoveries are Made”. True enough. The Bruiser and I went looking for the Los
Alamos National Laboratory where nuclear energy
research continues and it wasn’t hard to find. The labs cover an area
the size of a small university. One of the streets that transects it is called
“Bikini Atoll Boulevard”.
Seriously.
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| The Los Alamos National Lab. Actually, this is their parkade. But that is where the really smart guys park their cars. |
Hwy 4 from Los Alamos to
Jemez Springs is delightful. Twisty curves, lovely scenery and little traffic makes
for a winning combination. A massive
fire burned through these forests a couple of years ago, coming down to the
road and properties. I imagine more than a few farm houses were lost. Bandelier Cliff
Dwellings that we visited a dozen years ago are closed to the public likely due
to the burn that must have hit it square on.
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| The burn. I'll bet those home owners were nervous. |
The Bandelier cliff dwellings are dug out of beds of
volcanic ash that constitute some of the layers within the stratigraphy of
these rocks. Ash lithifies to form a rock called tuff that, although millions
of years old, is only partially consolidated and would be easy to dig into. The
tuff originated from monumental volcanic eruptions nearby and there is ample
evidence of the violence that this area was witness to. Following an eruption
the explosion crater often collapses to form a huge depression called a caldera
(latin for ‘soup pot’ I think) Crater Lake in Oregon is one familiar example. Valle
Caldera resulted from the collapse of the monster volcano that ejected all of
the ash found in this area. The caldera is several miles in diameter, now
grassy and peaceful and green and the elk graze blissfully within it.
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| Valle Caldera. This is the collapsed centre of a mother of a volcano. It blew 500 times the material that Mt St Helens did. |
Another consequence of volcanism is geothermal activity.
Yellowstone is a famous example of hot
springs and geysers where groundwater heated from the
hot rock deep underground from the dormant volcano finds its way to the surface.
Jemez Springs is a town built around a hot spring heated by the cantankerous
old smoker that blew this area to bits so long ago. And if one looks carefully,
one is likely to find a non-commercial hot
springs in a nice, secluded little areas in the nearby
forest. One might even be disposed to soak and linger in such a thing and
luxuriate in the serenity of that magical find.
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| Bliss! |
I am frankly at a loss for words to adequately describe the
stupendous beauty of the colourful rocks and sculpted landscape that erosion
has chisled out of it. Rocks are so red they are maroon, but cameras can’t
capture the scene and nothing digital can properly display the fantastic colours
or the sensation of moving through it. If I stopped to take a picture of every vision
that caused my jaw to drop and heart to pound, I would not have covered much
distance at all today. As it was, state troopers stopped twice to ask if I was
alright as I was propped up at the roadside trying to take a shot that said it
all. (No sir. Just fine, sir. I’ll be moving along).
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| An inadequate image to illustrate the magnificence of this place. |
All I can say is, just get in whatever vehicle you have and
get yourself down here and you will see what I mean. I can’t just tell you.
Hwy 550 from Jemez to Aztec is a four laner, and once
through the distracting scenery at the south end of it we were able to put some
tarmac under the wheels. By late afternoon we crossed into Colorado, another first for me. (Airport
lounges don’t count). It’s funny how the setting changes so abruptly when
crossing a border. There is no reason for it really, apart from different
strategies and policies for development and maintenance. But the hills and
valleys and rocks and ground cover all become… different. Perhaps it is owing
to the abundance of water here and the high elevation—between 7000-8000’—that there
is rich pastureland and farms. But it is more than that. A place has an
identity and a personality that is more than just its geography.
A coyote ran out in front of me and stopped as we were going
full tilt.
Our eyes met.
He ran back.
Breathe!
The Bruiser and I are camped out at Mancos State Park
just outside of Mesa Verde. It is not yet open for the season, but it suits my
needs just fine. The seasons are going backwards as we go north and ascend the
Colorado Plateau. In fact, on some high passes the deciduous have only just
started to bud. And of course it will be bloody cold up here tonight! We have
moved from mid summer to early spring.
