New Mexico vacation, 2016

My trip to New Mexico was to see both the Santa Fe Indian Market and to explore some of the lands to the west. Part of my vacation would also be a trip to the Ruedi Reservoir in Colorado to visit a dear friend. 



Early morning at the Santa Fe Indian Market. The streets are mostly empty. By mid day they will be packed.

The city of Santa Fe hosts the market and closes off the center of the city for the event. For three days in the third week of August the center of the city becomes a walking display of native american arts.

See https://www.swaia.org

Looking at shops. 

Each vendor must be a member of a federally recognized tribe and must display their tribe identification at their booth. There are about 900 booths. 

The artists are all very friendly and will discuss their crafts,
how they are made, history of the culture and more.

This artist had made ceramic figurines, all hand painted using paints made from local plants and minerals.

Exquisite pottery with very fine detail. The potters use clays and other earths collected locally. Many of the potters brought along samples of the (dry) clays showing the form they were collected in and how they would process them for use. They would also show samples of the glazes collected. 

These are pit fired pots and show colors from the firing. 

Hand painted masks.

Stopping at an artisan selling stamps. 
The House of Stamps has been making stamps for silversmith artists for generations. Their raw materials are old files, engine valve stems and even rebar. I bought several stamps. 

See them at     http://www.thehouseofstamps.com

This is a Zuni traditional carver, Jimmy Yawakia. 

See    facebook.com/Jimmy-Yawakia-122313837916284/  

The Zuni are known for their carved fetishes. 

The fetish I purchased is titled "Hunting Bear with Offerings" The stone is Wild Horse with Jet, Coral and Turquoise.
















One of the highpoints of the market is the fashion show held Saturday afternoon. 2016 was the third time the fashion show was held. It is a major event of the show and each year a larger venue must be found to accommodate the ever growing crowds who stop by to view it. There were five designers this year, each showed several designs, their own theme.

I left Santa Fe on Sunday morning and headed to Colorado, my destination was the Ruedi Reservoir. The Ruedi Reservoir is on the West Slope of the Continental Divide on the Fryingpan River. It sits about 15 miles upstream of the town of Basalt, Colorado, near Aspen. 



On the way I stopped to see the Cumbres & Toltec railroad starting on a run. 


















Taking a break I stopped to photograph the Arkansas river. Colorado has many fine trout streams.












My route to Ruedi took me over Independence Pass, going east to west. It's 12,095 feet in elevation. I stopped to hike some and take photographs.

While in Colorado we stopped for dinner one night in the town of Marble, known for a marble mine. We had dinner at Slow Groovin BBQ. Dinner was great with great people.

See   http://www.slowgroovinbbq.com/#eat-together

From Colorado my next stop was the Bisti / De-Na-Zin wilderness in New Mexico. The area is desolate, 45,000 acres in size and managed by the Bureau of Land Management. It contains steeply eroded badlands which form hoodoos. Translated from the Navajo word Bistahí, Bisti means "among the adobe formations." De-Na-Zin takes its name from the Navajo words for "cranes." I camped here and hiked the area.

See     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisti/De-Na-Zin_Wilderness

The area is known for the multitude of Hoodoos, all carved by the weather over millennia. 

The hoodoos are all different. Some are single, others are in groups. 

Walking through the area shows a varying geological landscape. This photo shows the remains of coal along with the (orange) clinkers left behind from a prehistoric fire.  

Petrified wood can be found throughout the area. Some places contain entire petrified trees.

This collection of petrified logs was about 40 feet long. 

At first it appears that the tree is rotting but closer inspection shows that it is petrified. 

You could even count the rings. 

New Mexico is open rangeland. Most of the land is fenced to keep cattle from wandering into the roads. When you leave the main roads to enter any of the side lands you drive across 'cattle stops' which serve to keep cattle from wandering out of the grazing area. 

All of the roads are numbered in this fashion. When traveling here I always make note of the numbers. Many of the smart phone apps have the roads numbered incorrectly. I learned this the hard way on my first trip to this part of New Mexico. 

East Grants Ridge. The area contains an old pumice mine, seen along the ridge. Cattle can be seen in the valley. I hiked here.