Sidetracked Charley

Along the Rio Grande The aspens because of the drought have not been colorful this year like last. So in a last ditch effort to capture some gold in them thar hills my photography buddy and I set off for the river edges in the area. First was Embudo canyon along the Rio Grande and then on to the Rio Chama near Abiquiu.  We got lucky but not without getting out of the car and hiking remote paths to get unique perspectives. Unfortunately after about two hours of doing that and taking some 80 pictures my card in the camera failed. So I cannot show you those pictures. They are forever the "fish that got away" sort of thing. And they included to fly fishermen on the Rio Grande. A fly fisherman told me once that it was not the gentle and passive sport it appears to be. Wading through rushing water and standing on slippery river rocks and casting in an exact rhythm does involve lots of fine tuned muscle movements and balance. So does photography. Reflections in the Rio Gr...

Map of Rio Grande Del Norte National Monument Took another photographic outing to the lower end of our newest national monument. There are other accesses to the beauty this monument holds but from where I live the lower end is the easiest to access. Many of the highway travelers to Taos are familiar with the scene below taken after the horseshoe turn. Turning north off of Hwy 68 on to 570 at Pillar gets you into the beautiful camping and day access areas of the monument. Rio Grande Gorge in the Taos Volcanic Plateau The Rio Grande River is very low because of the drought but my photographic partner and I were thrill to find the river a bit higher than our last trip due to recent rains.  The gorge and canyon walls that enclose the Rio Grande in the monument area are primarily basalt. The Taos Volcanic plateau was formed by seven different lava flows. The remnant cones of the volcanos are throughout the park area. But between flows the run off created layers of...