Thursday morning started off with a short drive to White Sands National Monument where the blinding pure white sand dunes could almost be confused for snow if it wasn’t for the blazing hot sun. After a short walk on the boardwalk loop and learning about some of the local critters we headed back to Alomogordo to regroup before an afternoon drive to Cloudcroft. I had the GoPro running for most of the drive so will post links once I have that uploaded.
Friday was the final day of TT West and we did two stops at the Salinas National Monument on the way to Albuquerque. It was interesting seeing the differences in settlements as we traveled north. The harsh and very primitive settlement at Walpi, the cliff dwellings at Montezuma Castle with at least some water present and then the larger settlements at the pueblos in Salinas with much more local water. The more northern settlements were also the most recent with more Spanish influence including ruins from the churches setup by the Spanish missions.
Today my return trip begins and the focus will be more on geology than archaeology as I make stops at Monument Valley, Capitol Reef, Bryce and Zion.
No comments:
Post a Comment