Photos, videos and docs of Don Barrett (aka DBs travels), with the keywords: "NewMexico"

Jemez Trail Fire, NM (# 0953)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Wed, 07 Mar 2018 09:08:17 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Driving on NM-4, I came into a forest fire zone. Traffic was being directed through and there were sections where there was relatively low flames up to the side of the road. There could have been some very interesting pictures, but I was by myself and couldn't stop. so this is the best I could get!

Soda Dam, NM (# 0943)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Wed, 07 Mar 2018 09:08:09 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Soda Dam, on NM-4. The ‘dam’ is a naturally occurring deposit, mostly of calcium carbonate from a spring at the site. The dam, 300 feet long and 50 feet high, continues to build – one of the many spots of flow from the spring is in about the center of the picture. To get a sense of the size of the dam, note the people in the river in the lower right side of the picture.

See: www.lpi.usra.edu/science/treiman/greatdesert/workshop/sodadam1

Valles Caldera National Preserve (# 0940)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Wed, 07 Mar 2018 09:08:03 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Valle Grande of Valles Caldera National Preserve. Valle Grande is the only valley in the caldera accessible from NM-4. Unfortunately it was getting too late in the day to explore the preserve.

The ‘painterly’ effect here is not due to editing, but due the light and distances.

Valles Caldera National Preserve (# 0937)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Wed, 07 Mar 2018 09:07:58 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Bandelier National Monument (# 0935)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Wed, 07 Mar 2018 09:07:51 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

NM-4 along the way to Bandelier National Monument. Note that during the summer you can't drive to the monument, you must park in White Rock and take a shuttle. Though that seems inconvenient, it really very effectively controls the traffic flow in the park making it much more enjoyable than many other parks.

Bandelier National Monument (# 0933)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Wed, 07 Mar 2018 09:07:44 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

One of those pictures that "doesn't work". From a distance, the relatively square area looks like a gigantic slice of off-color Swiss cheese...

Bandelier National Monument (# 0930)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Wed, 07 Mar 2018 09:07:34 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Ranger station at Bandelier, built by the CCC (New Deal). The CCC built 30 buildings at Bandelier including a lodge, all similar in style. During WWII the lodge was used to house personnel working on the Manhattan Project nearby at Los Alamos. The lodge is now the park headquarters.

Sources for all commentary on Bandelier pictures:
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandelier_National_Monument
NPS: www.nps.gov/band/index.htm

Bandelier National Monument (# 0925)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 05:56:48 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Pictographs along the Long House.

Bandelier National Monument (# 0924)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 05:56:40 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Pictographs along the Long House.

Bandelier National Monument (# 0921)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 05:56:35 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Petroglyphs on the walls above the Long House.

Bandelier National Monument (# 0922)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 05:56:25 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Off the main trail, a trail along what is labeled as the ‘long house’. The houses ran for 800 feet along the cliff and were 2 to 3 stories high (note the holes for roof beams).

Bandelier National Monument (# 0916)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 07:29:17 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Inside Cave Kiva. The ceilings of rooms were historically smoked with the lower portions white; due to graffiti problems, the park service has to regularly resmoke and replaster the room.

Bandelier National Monument (# 0914)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 07:29:06 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Ladder to Cave Kiva, a reconstruction including a ceremonial weaving room (ceremonial weaving was by men).

Bandelier National Monument (# 0913)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 07:28:58 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Just below center, Talus House, an interpretation of what cliff-side houses might have looked like. Built in 1920 from rock debris, I seem to recall that there had been in the past some discussion among preservationists and archaeologists as to whether to build such models and the decision was to not do so. While such models help illustrate the relationships between structures and the dynamics of housing, given the lack of diagrams or artistic renditions it is questionable the extent such models accurately reflect a culture that has largely disappeared.

Much further off in the distance, the road from the park out to NM-4

Bandelier National Monument (# 0910)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 07:28:50 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

From inside the cave.

Bandelier National Monument (# 0906)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 07:28:37 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Per the park literature, the dwellings along the base of the cliff (see # 0913) were relatively solid structures with the caves in the cliff providing additional space, possibly used because of the cooling effects of being in the rock and for other reasons.

The two relatively uniform indentations on the lower right of the picture may have been for poles that were part of the roofing for the main structure.

…..

I know it’s a later civilization interpretation, but it’s easy to imagine these small caves used as escapes from the main household by kids or adults wanting a quiet space!

Bandelier National Monument (# 0901)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Tue, 27 Feb 2018 07:20:18 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

The CCC-built trails for exploring the living areas along the cliffs were very well laid out.

Bandelier National Monument (# 0897)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Tue, 27 Feb 2018 07:20:08 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Bandelier’s preservation importance was recognized through the creation of the national monument in 1916, but the area was largely inaccessible until the depression-era New Deal built trails such as this, the access road, and other buildings.

Bandelier National Monument (# 0889)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Tue, 27 Feb 2018 07:19:58 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

If you look closely here you can see that running along the bottom of the cliff are railings, ladders, and even a structure. The Pueblo people who lived here from about 1150 to 1550 lived both on the valley floor (about where I’m standing) and in housing along the edges of the cliff. The railings, steps, and the reconstructed housing were added by the New Deal during the Depression.

Bandelier National Monument (# 0900)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 09:55:46 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Tyuonyi, a Pueblo built about 700 years ago. The pueblo, built of carved volcanic tuff, was probably multi-story and thus the residence of a relatively large number of people (the tents and people in this picture are discussed in other pictures.)

Per the park literature, it is assumed that the Pueblo people were initially nomadic and began to settle in clusters in about 1150, that these clusters grew and developed more advanced agricultural techniques until about 1550. The demise of the pueblo is thought to be due to a combination of changing weather patterns (drought) and the beginning introduction of western diseases by early European explorers.

I realize that the National Park Service has to be very careful in how they hypothesize about the demise of populations, so it isn’t surprising that their literature doesn’t move further in a fairly logical direction. To me, the physical evidence seems to suggest a situation akin to what Jared Diamond argues in Collapse. From the ruins along the canyon walls and in the valley floor, it seems likely that this was a relatively densely populated area at its height (the park estimate is 700). It is thus reasonable to raise the question of whether the population had reached the point of being too numerous to respond to changes that might have been handled by a population with a smaller footprint. In other words, is there a question raised here about balancing development and environment that we, ourselves, should be attending to?

Reference on Diamond: grist.org/article/kavanagh-collapse