Holes In The Ground And Petrified Wood.

[PaleoRon]

After flying into El Paso, Texas and getting some dental work done in Juarez, Mexico I rented a car and went for a drive. I drove through New Mexico and stopped in Tucson, Arizona to have dinner with a friend. It's the first time I have been there in the summer. All of my previous visits have been in February for the big fossil and mineral shows. It was sort of surprising to me that there was rain in southern Arizona this time of year, a lot of rain. I got hit with a crazy sideways thunderstorm that cut visability down to 20 feet and I almost hit a car that was parked in the right lane of the highway. I was seconds from doing a U turn and heading back up the road when I noticed the sky was slightly lighter ahead of me. A half mile later and I was in bright sunlight on a bone dry road. It turns out that summertime is monsoon season and crazy on-and-off torrential downpours are the norm for this time of year. I think I'll stick to my usual February trips.

The next morning I decided to head up toward Holbrook to see if I could find some petrified wood. My last time in that area I discovered that west of Holbrook, for at least 15 miles, any area that has gravel exposures can produce small pieces of petrified wood. Some still look like wood pieces and others are river tumbled into rounded pebbles. I found about 15 pounds of wood specimens, but none are larger than my fist. Luckily there are a few well stocked fossil wood shops in the area so I took pics of their stuff for everyone to check out.

After collecting wood I headed out to Meteor Crater for a quick walk around the edge and then back on the road. An employee at the Crater gave me some ideas of what else was in the area so I chose the one that was farthest away and off I went to the Grand Canyon. It was raining when I got there but it was still impressive. There were a couple of breaks in the clouds and when that happened you could see for miles. I could have spent a week there but I had one more place to see and time was running out.

The drive across Arizona into New Mexico crosses a lot of different terrain and I went from desert to mountains to desert again. Sometimes it looked like I was on Mars with all of the huge red rock formations and not a hint of green anywhere. 8000 feet high in the mountains and there were trees everywhere and other areas were almost flat with nothing but grass and a few short branching cacti. The speed limit is up to 75 mph in the flat areas and you feel like you're sitting still. After many hours of driving my neck was killing me from trying to see everything in all directions. Porcupine, deer, pronghorn, roadrunner, and other critters I had never seen before competed with the terrain for my attention. Finally I saw the sign I was looking for, Carlsbad Caverns. I have been in dozens of caves, but this thing is a CAVE. From the entrance it goes downhill at a steep angle until you're almost 800 feet below the surface. It takes about an hour to get to the bottom and then almost an hour to walk the Big Room path. I spent about three hours underground and took a lot of photos but most didn't come out. The cavern is very dimly lit and it is so huge and the formations are so far away that a normal camera flash is basically useless.

It was a lot of driving but it was worth the effort. 1800 miles in 5 days and lots of beautiful scenery. I didn't want to get back on the plane for the trip home. If you've ever thought of visiting these places stop thinking and just go. You won't regret going but you will regret it if you don't. Enjoy the pics.

[Auspex]

Thanks for the travelogue! Traveling in the south-west is my favorite way to "get small"; it shifts one's whole perspective. So many views are so big that my easterner's mind has to retreat and focus on little things, which in turn heightens the sense of solitude. Now I've got that longing, that ache, to smell fierce sunlight on chips of colorful rock...

[fossilselachian]

Hi Ron:

It's too bad you had rain at the Grand Canyon. You mentioned you could spend a week on-site. Fortunately we were able to spend 6 days at G/C in mid September last year. The Grand Canyon was the second to last stop on a 6,000 mile driving tour in the western states. It's amazing that one can stand at the south rim of the canyon and look across 12 miles to the north rim. However, the drive to cover that 12 miles was almost 200 miles.

In a previous trip we also drove the N/S distance of New Mexico en route to the Carlsbad Caverns - a site about impossible to describe to others. During the drive to Carlsbad did you miss a visit to the Alien Museum in Roswell?? Actually this was an interesting stop regardless of ones opinion re visitors from space.

We also tried unsuccessfully to use a camera at Carlsbad - finally gave up and bought the postcards.

FS

[Uncle Siphuncle]

Ron

I stopped in Holbrook a couple years ago as well but stumbled into some pretty serious pet wood just north of the high school football field, which sits in a bowl. This wood is Triassic, possibly Chinle fm if memory serves. There were whole trees to 50-60 feet long exposed in the ground, some 4-5 feet in diameter. The biggest piece I lugged out was about 100 LBS but I took a couple smaller ones too. Next time you are in the area check it out. I found the site at a random stop.

[PaleoRon]

Thanks for the tip. I will be heading back in February for the Tucson show and if I can I would like to spend some more time in the Holbrook area. If I manage to make the time I plan to drive there from Virginia and collect along the way. The last time I drove to Arizona I had to force myself not to stop at every road cut and stream in Texas. Too many collecting areas and not enough time.

[PaleoRon]

Hi Ron:

It's too bad you had rain at the Grand Canyon. You mentioned you could spend a week on-site. Fortunately we were able to spend 6 days at G/C in mid September last year. The Grand Canyon was the second to last stop on a 6,000 mile driving tour in the western states. It's amazing that one can stand at the south rim of the canyon and look across 12 miles to the north rim. However, the drive to cover that 12 miles was almost 200 miles.

In a previous trip we also drove the N/S distance of New Mexico en route to the Carlsbad Caverns - a site about impossible to describe to others. During the drive to Carlsbad did you miss a visit to the Alien Museum in Roswell?? Actually this was an interesting stop regardless of ones opinion re visitors from space.

We also tried unsuccessfully to use a camera at Carlsbad - finally gave up and bought the postcards.

FS

I didn't make it to the Roswell area but I did see a flying saucer on my way to Carlsbad. I think it was a restaurant.

[Auspex]

I didn't make it to the Roswell area but I did see a flying saucer on my way to Carlsbad. I think it was a restaurant.

Was the Maitre D' a real tall bald guy, carying a book titled "To Serve Man"?

[Ramo]

IT"S A COOK BOOK!!!!! ITS A COOK BOOK!!!!!

[PaleoRon]

Who says a movie can't be a fossil.

[safossils]

I'm one of the few people who can say that "I am from Hobrook Arizona". It's a nice place for rock hounding.

One of my favorite places to visit in Northern Arizona that is often overlooked is Tonto Natrual Bridge north of Payson. I attached a couple of pictures from our last trip in July. There is a person sitting on the lower right on the second image for scale.

Walt

[Roz]

What a beautiful place. Took me awhile to find the scale person

in the pic. Was like Finding Waldo.

[Bill]

Looks like Bigfoot to me

[PaleoRon]

I'll add that to my places to see list. Thanks for sharing.

[Bill]

Can someone point out the "person" please, I can see what looks like a person in a white shirt, about 1/3 from top on the right. I can also see "Bigfoot" to the right of centre. Squatting with his back to us.

[Auspex]

Can someone point out the "person" please, I can see what looks like a person in a white shirt, about 1/3 from top on the right. I can also see "Bigfoot" to the right of centre. Squatting with his back to us.

[Bill]

Cheers Auspex, that's what I thought, (white shirt), after examining the pic a few times. I saw "Bigfoot" at first though.

[Auspex]

Cheers Auspex, that's what I thought, (white shirt), after examining the pic a few times. I saw "Bigfoot" at first though.

I tried blowing it up real big, but still can't make out whether there's a zipper or not...

[Bill]

LOL, just goes to show what light/shade, rock formations and ones imagination can do.

[MikeD]

I saw Bigfoot, too. I as wondering if someone else would and there are ghost orbs in the picture! And the arch is nice, too. Cool.

[Auspex]

I tried blowing it up real big, but still can't make out whether there's a zipper or not...

I just brightened it and bumped the contrast; I think it's N.AL.Hunter!!!

(Put a shirt on, Del)

[safossils]

Okay, time to clear up the mystery. I think you are seeing shape that looks like a great ape in the center of the picture. It was raining at the time, and the flash actually lit up a few raindrops. That is what created the white spots. The "Big Foot" is actually a distortion caused by a raindrop hitting the camera lens. If you examine it closely, you can see the water running down the lens below the distortion.

Walt

[JohnJ]

Okay, time to clear up the mystery. I think you are seeing shape that looks like a great ape in the center of the picture. It was raining at the time, and the flash actually lit up a few raindrops. That is what created the white spots. The "Big Foot" is actually a distortion caused by a raindrop hitting the camera lens. If you examine it closely, you can see the water running down the lens below the distortion.

Walt

Walt, I refuse to believe your explanation (even though you took the photo)...it's BigFoot and ghost orbs! Deal with it!