Scarlet gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata), at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument.
Tag: Coconino County
Ponderosa pine cone (Pinus ponderosa), at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument near Flagstaff, Arizona.
Ghost Sign: Gardens.
This sign decorates a stone wall at the Indian Gardens Market in Oak Creek Canyon. It is our favorite coffee stop on the drive between Sedona and Flagstaff.
Ghost Sign: Gardens.
This sign decorates a stone wall at the Indian Gardens Market in Oak Creek Canyon. It is our favorite coffee stop on the drive between Sedona and Flagstaff.
Punctuated Butterfly: Satyr comma (Polygonia satyrus), on the Mogollon Rim, Coconino County, Arizona.
The upper surface of this butterfly’s wings are bright orange, but I like the camouflaged side best. The curved white patch on its hind wing gives it its common name. The genus also comes with question marks.
Punctuated Butterfly: Satyr comma (Polygonia satyrus), on the Mogollon Rim, Coconino County, Arizona.
The upper surface of this butterfly’s wings are bright orange, but I like the camouflaged side best. The curved white patch on its hind wing gives it its common name. The genus also comes with question marks.
This post is for distorte, who loves dinosaurs.
On my way to the Grand Canyon yesterday I had lunch (a bowl of green chili stew and Navajo frybread) at the Cameron Trading Post. I stopped in the gallery, built in 1920. A friend had told me to look for dinosaur tracks in the flagstones at the gallery entrance.
The stone used in the portico is Moenave Formation sandstone gathered from the banks of the Little Colorado River, just a few dozen yards from the gallery building. The rock was formed of silty deposits laid down in the Jurassic era, in a lowland riverine or swampy environment. The dinosaur species is unknow. The tracks shown in the top photo were about the size of my own hand.
Hundreds of people step across the gallery threshold each day. Few of them look down. Remarkably, several years ago an antique Navajo rug was taken from the gallery wall for cleaning, and dinosaur footprints were discovered in the rocks used to build the wall. They had been concealed there for years, unknown to anyone then working at the trading post.
Please click any photo in the set for enlarged views.
This post is for distorte, who loves dinosaurs.
On my way to the Grand Canyon yesterday I had lunch (a bowl of green chili stew and Navajo frybread) at the Cameron Trading Post. I stopped in the gallery, built in 1920. A friend had told me to look for dinosaur tracks in the flagstones at the gallery entrance.
The stone used in the portico is Moenave Formation sandstone gathered from the banks of the Little Colorado River, just a few dozen yards from the gallery building. The rock was formed of silty deposits laid down in the Jurassic era, in a lowland riverine or swampy environment. The dinosaur species is unknow. The tracks shown in the top photo were about the size of my own hand.
Hundreds of people step across the gallery threshold each day. Few of them look down. Remarkably, several years ago an antique Navajo rug was taken from the gallery wall for cleaning, and dinosaur footprints were discovered in the rocks used to build the wall. They had been concealed there for years, unknown to anyone then working at the trading post.
Please click any photo in the set for enlarged views.
Walnut Canyon was settled about 1400 years ago by ancestral puebloan people called the Sinagua. They built cliff dwellings and granaries in the overhanging sandstone walls of the canyon – hundreds of feet over the canyon floor. At its peak the community here was home to about 600 people. The site was abruptly abandoned, probably during a period of food scarcity that coincided with extended drought.
The cliff face rests on a distinctive layer of sandstone called the Toroweap formation (center photo). Its textures and sculpted surface reveal that it was formed from ancient sand dunes that covered the Colorado Plateau region between 300 and 250 million years ago.
The bottom photo shows crews working to restore the trail at Walnut Canyon National Monument. The trail was originally built by the Civilian Conservation Corp during the Great Depression.
Walnut Canyon was settled about 1400 years ago by ancestral puebloan people called the Sinagua. They built cliff dwellings and granaries in the overhanging sandstone walls of the canyon – hundreds of feet over the canyon floor. At its peak the community here was home to about 600 people. The site was abruptly abandoned, probably during a period of food scarcity that coincided with extended drought.
The cliff face rests on a distinctive layer of sandstone called the Toroweap formation (center photo). Its textures and sculpted surface reveal that it was formed from ancient sand dunes that covered the Colorado Plateau region between 300 and 250 million years ago.
The bottom photo shows crews working to restore the trail at Walnut Canyon National Monument. The trail was originally built by the Civilian Conservation Corp during the Great Depression.
Dithyramb 