It’s been quite some time since we blogged. The last few months have been busy, and we’ve gotten well behind. We will try to catch up soon, since we did have things we wish to document.
Rocks in the desertDesert arches
But for now, we want to report on our adventure to the De-Na-Zin Wilderness. The Bisti Badlands are among our favorite places, but we’d not yet visited the eastern portion of the region. This geology of this area is a bit younger than the main Bisti to the west and looks a bit different, but is still a feast for the eyes.
Right away we found an abundance of huge petrified logs. In some areas, there was so much pet wood that we were walking on it continuously. There are hoodoos in this area, though not as many as farther west. We did find a large number of desert rose gypsum nodules of different sizes and a lot of other fantastic stones.
Huge pet logsDesert roses (gypsum crystals)Gypsum crystals
Tracks in the sand indicated the presence of deer, coyotes and foxes, and a lot of rodents of various sizes. There’s more vegetation here than in the lower Bisti, but it’s still clearly harsh for plants, and many of them are twisted and small.
Coyote tracksTwisted plantAncient and recent tree
Mainly it was just wonderful to get out on a beautiful December day of adventuring after a challenging few weeks.
Riki’s thoughts…
I am so excited to be blogging again! We have so much to document! We have had time with family, and a whole month with a wonderful colleague, who we dragged all over the southwest, showing him as much of our beloved country as we could. After Johannes left, Kelly was supercharged to his work. . .collecting, writing papers, learning new research methods. He has been amazing and inspiring.
Gypsum crystals
Riki crawling through
For my part, I have been in the classroom nearly every day since the first of August. I started as a long-term substitute teacher in a second-grade classroom. I was blessed to have two amazing teachers on my team. One of them became my mentor when the position for which I was substituting was filled, and I was able to begin my student teaching. I spent thirty school days in her second-grade classroom, and learned immeasurable amounts about classroom management. After that, I began thirty days in a middle school, being mentored by a special education instructor. This has been a much more challenging role for me, as I have felt entirely out of my depth. I have a short six days left in my student teaching. I have been both physically and emotionally exhausted by this season, and times adventuring have been balm for my weary soul. Yesterday’s adventure was just that, in spades!
Our shadows
The weather was warm and breezy, about as nice of weather as December offers. The drive to the Bisti was pleasant, and walking out to a new part of a favorite place was exciting. We woke expectant, wanting to see something new, and we did!! It was a rock hounding day, as it turns out. Kelly kept finding these lovely copper-colored rocks that were shaped like oblong spheres. He nicknamed them dragon eggs. When we found some that had broken in two, and they had a lovely crystal pattern inside. We also found a ton of huge petrified logs that had clearly identifiable tree rings. Super cool1 The place reminded me of a teen-aged version of the part of the Bisti that we have visited so often. Maybe I just have teeenagers on the brain because of my time in the middle school. This day definitely helped fill my tank, so that I felt ready to tackle another week in the classroom. It was a fabulous day with an amazing adventure partner. I am so blessed!!
Image gallery.
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