Piedras Marcadas

 I went to the Piedras Marcadas rock art site primarily to make some pictures with one of my old Kodak folding cameras.  However, knowing I would not be able to get close to many of the panels because of the rope barriers, I also took along my little Canon digital for a bit more reach with the 4x zoom.

There is an unexcavated Pueblo not far from this site.  It is quite a way from the present course of the Rio Grande, but long ago the river wandered through the year all over the valley.

There are thousands of chiseled images on the rocks along the seventeen miles of the volcanic escarpment of the National Monument.  However many times I visit a particular site, there always seem new things to find.

Hunting for Wildflowers

 We took a morning walk through the Piedras Marcadas section of the Petroglyph National Monument.  The sky was spectacular.

The only things we found in bloom were a lot of Phacelia and one lonely Sotol plant.

Cable barriers currently prevent close access to most of the rock art panels, though a few are still visible from the trails.

On the way back to the car Margaret found a small jaw, as yet to be identified.

I did a 3-shot panorama which I stitched together in Photoshop CS2.  That worked pretty well, so I'll try more of that in the future.

Shirt Pocket Digital

Lumix Dimensions: 3.74 x 2.1 x 0.89″

I paid ten bucks for this nice little Pansonic Lumix a couple weeks ago at a yard sale.  The camera came in a box with all the documentation and a couple of cables.  It was missing a memory card and the battery charger.  The card was no problem as I had several around the house.  I found a Hong Kong seller on ebay offering the charger for $4.59, shipping included.
    The camera yields 10 megapixel images and has a pretty nice lens which is nearly as sharp as the one on my Canon Powershot and without the pincushion aberration of that one.  A full set of control features is crammed into the tiny frame.  The view screen is good sized, but something of a challenge to use in full sun.  I also found that it is very difficult to keep the camera from jiggling off the target while the zoom is extended and the camera is being held at arm's length.

Since we are planning a brief road trip to Chaco Canyon soon I decided to take the camera for a walk along the West Mesa escarpment to see how it would handle petroglyphs and their environment.

The star figures are a common motif in the rock art of the Rio Grande north of Albuquerque.  They are said to represent Venus.  Some have bodies and are carrying bows and clubs.

This is a nice time of year to visit the Petroglyph National Monument.  The temps are comfortable and there are still quite a few wildflowers like this Datura.

The petroglyphs are located at the leading edge of an ancient volcanic flow from some small volcanoes to the west of Albuquerque.  This time of year, the sharp, ragged borders of the basalt boulders are softened by cushions of blooming rabbitbrush.