Otowi Mesa Trail, Los Alamos, New Mexico. Monday 6/29/20 05:50, 20:30. Partly cloudy and warm with a slight breeze.
Today, I decided to go to my site at two different times of day to be able to see how the lighting changes the site as well as the difference in fauna at the two opposing times. First, I woke up at 5:30 so I could venture out to see the sunrise. I got there a few minutes before the sunrise so I sat and listened, I heard a few different types of birds that I usually hear outside my bedroom in the morning. One of the birds has a call that sounds like “hoo hoooo hoo”, I like to imagine that this one is an owl but I think it’s actually a dove. After sitting for a few minutes and experiencing the early morning environment, the sun began to rise over the Sangre de Cristos. I took some pictures and breathed in some of the fresh morning air then went home so I could go back to sleep for a couple hours. I then ventured out again around sunset, which is about 8:30, so I could see what differences I could find. The first thing I noticed was that there were far fewer birds which I found interesting, I did see a few ravens roosting high up in a pine tree but that was about it. The main difference between the two times was the smell, in the morning it smelled fresh and slightly humid with just a hint of dust almost like the calmness of the night settled and cooled everything down. At sunset, the dusty warm smell that is profuse during the daytime is still there but without all of the warmth that exists when the sun is beating down.
There is something I have always wondered about the New Mexico landscape ever since I was a kid. How are the caves formed in the cliff walls? So I decided that there is no time like the present to fulfill one of my childhood curiosities. When I was younger I always thought that all the caves were formed by Native Americans because I had learned that native peoples lived in the caves in the Bandelier National Park. Seeing as Bandelier is one of the most famous places for these cliff caves, I decided that I would look there to do my research. The rock, called tuff, that makes up the cliffs in this area is very soft and thus weathers easily. This is because it was formed from the ash of a large volcanic eruption that happened more than a million years ago. The soft rock that makes up these cliffs was weathered over time by wind and water and when the native people found them they were able to enlarge the caves, called cavates, using tools. So in a way childhood me was correct that Native Americans did play a role in making these caves but definitely not all of them. I had also always been interested in finding out why the rock around this area is so soft so I feel I know much more now. I got all the information for this mystery from https://www.nps.gov/band/learn/nature/geology.htm.
I really enjoyed this blog entry because I really enjoy taking pictures and I’m happy that I can show off the beauty of New Mexico. One of the big things I noticed when trying to take pictures was how I looked at the subject. The main focus I had was on how the subject fits into the environment, this was very different from sketching because I focused on the surroundings instead of just the subject. I had to look at the subject from every direction to see what angle best showed its place in the ecosystem. I think these pictures are probably some of the best I’ve ever taken and I will definitely be using photography as a means to explore my environment more in the future.