Tag: New Mexico

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Ghost Ranch — in pictures

The landscape at Ghost Ranch is the thing (aka ‘Thing’) — a great presence on the Piedra Lumbre, in the wilds of northwest New Mexico.
The human cultural history of the area is inseparable from the place known as Ghost Ranch.
The ranch — and more recently conference center — has been a refuge for bandits (in the days of the infamous Archuleta brothers), East Coast Anglos, and scientists working in nearby Los Alamos on the Manhattan Project. It continues to inspire.
Fascinating stories abound of the people and events of Ghost Ranch — it features in the earliest days of Spanish settlement in the area when the ranch was called Rancho de los Brujos. However, Ghost Ranch is situated in an area crisscrossed and inhabited by indigenous peoples for thousands of years. The history of the landscape and its plants and animals stretches into the ages before that.
Famous residents of Ghost Ranch — one of the earliest (Coelophysis) and one of the most recent (Georgia O’Keeffe) — on the same interpretive panel. (que?)
Before the great ‘Age of Dinosaurs’ (with a capital D) there was Coelophysis (SEE-low-FY-sis). Remains of the ancient creature, unearthed at Ghost Ranch, are on display at The Museum of Paleontology.
When dinosaurs roamed… Two hundred million years ago the Piedra Lumbre was a very different place.
Pots made by ancient Puebloan people are on display at the Museum of Anthropology at Ghost Ranch.
Cerro Pedernal stands sentinel over it all on the southern horizon. Go around to the backside sometime — you’ll be so surprised !
LINKS:
Ghost Ranch | Education and Retreat Center
Ghost Ranch on wikipedia
Valley of the Shining Stone, by Lesley Poling-Kempes
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Echo Amphitheater – listening in on the Piedra Lumbre

History is alive and present — and reverberating — through the Piedra Lumbre region of Northern New Mexico.

Pass that invisible demarcation line that is somewhere between Bode’s General Store in Abiquiu and the western limit of the Rio Chama’s red rock canyon and you come out into the open wild state of mind and landscape of the Piedra Lumbre.

A trio of interpretive panels present the geology and plants and animals of the canyon.

One place where the beauty, wildness and human history of the region comes together is Echo Amphitheate. Located 17 miles west of Abiquiu (4 miles past Ghost Ranch) in Carson National Forest, it is a natural amphitheater carved out of the southeastern edge of the Colorado Plateau over thousands of years by wind, water, and fluctuating temperatures.

The cliffs high above Echo Amphitheater where two hawks keep silent vigil.

Long a meeting spot for the various tribes that passed through the area and where Puebloan orators once practiced their skills, it also features in more recent history. In 1966 it’s the spot where a group of valientes briefly reclaimed lands of the San Joaquin de Rio Chama Grant from the federal government.

It’s a relatively easy walk from the parking area into the bowl of the amphitheater. The path is paved and steps take you the last bit where you are nearly under the edge of the cliff.

Deep inside the bowl swallows surf the air and even a whisper whispers back. It’s well worth the stop — if you’re ever in the back of the beyond that is the Piedra Lumbre.

LINKS:

Echo Amphitheater, Carson National Forest, between Abiquiu and Tierra Amarillo, NM

Valley of Shining Stone: the story of Abiquiu, by Lesley Poling-Kempes (public library)

Macabre legends about the staining on the rocks at Echo Amphitheater persist — you can read about that here: Canon Retumbido – Echo Amphitheater
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Drawing Alternative Energy

Frank Binney is an interpretive writer and long time caver. I worked with him in the past to dream up and draw exhibits to be installed in the new National Cave & Karst Research Institute under construction in New Mexico.

The building will feature a Ground Source Heat Pump which exploits the fact that the constant temperature under ground — in a cave say – is an average of the summer/winter extremes above ground. So using some sort of exchange medium you can cool a building in summer and heat it in winter with a lot less energy.

Frank needed a drawing of a simple interpretive panel to explain to visitors how it works, bearing in mind that most people spend 45 seconds tops at each display in a visitors center or museum. (Advertisers have known this for years.)

Below is a series of sketches Tom prepared that led to the drawing at the bottom, which Frank sent to the client as part of his proposal for the exhibit.

Sketches and concept development, Tom Whitworth

LINKS:
Frank Binney & Associates
National Cave and Karst Institute, Carlsbad, NM

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