Moominmama's Adventures

Wherein Moominmama enjoys more of the Colorado spring at high elevation... The rocky peaks of Telluride and the steep walls of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison are separated by a couple hours' drive, but they are formed by a similar process: a combination of tectonic uplift, volcanic activity and erosion.  While one can see the mountains of the Uncompahgre for miles, the Black Canyon is a geological feature that springs itself on you: a gorge with sheer cliffs over 2,700 feet deep. It narrows to as much as 40 feet at the bottom and 1,000 feet at the rim. You don't see it until you're at the edge.  One of the interesting features of the gorge is its striped cliff faces. Most of the rock here is metamorphic rock: a dark grey gneiss and schist, (why this is called the Black Canyon). But tectonic uplift pushed these 1.8 billion-year-old rocks over a volcanic hotspot and magma flowed up filling any cracks.  The magma then cooled over millions of years, allowing large crystals ...

In which Moominmama rides the Durango-Silverton narrow-gauge railroad and hikes in the San Juan Mountains... Moominmama had signed up for a steam train excursion in Ely, Nevada last year only for the engine to break down the night before, replaced by a diesel.  Here in Durango, I had another shot at riding behind a steam engine, and I took it. This is a narrow-gauge railroad, where the tracks are closer together than a conventional track, allowing narrower trains to better navigate along ridges and steep turns. Of which there were a few! The trip from Durango to Silverton climbs almost 3,000 feet. Driving between the two towns takes just over an hour by car but 3.5 hours by rail because the train cuts tight between rock walls and the rushing river.  It's still a beautiful ride through the San Juan Mountains. By standing toward the back of the train and between two cars, I could lean out a bit (when it was safe) and see the cars snaking forward. When they say narrow here, they ...

  Wherein Moominmama visits sites of the Ancient Puebloans and learns more about archeoastronomy and the Chaco Culture... Chimney and Companion rocks in Colorado, near New Mexico, represent the northernmost site for what's believed to have been an ancient Chaco culture observatory. Every 18 and a half years, the moon rises directly between these two pillars during the Major Lunar Standstill, the point at which the moon rises at its northernmost position on the horizon. We are currently at the end of a Major Lunar Standstill, which lasts between two and three years, and the Griffith Observatory created this video in October of 2024 if you want to learn more. But here's a still from that video just to get a sense of what the moonrise looks like at this location. The moonrise appears to be the reason that the Chacoans chose this high ridge to build the meticulous structure of kiva and rooms you see remnants of in the photo at the top.  Most of the construction of the Chacoan Gre...

  In which Moominmama is charmed by the village of Abiquiu... At the center of Abiquiu is this adobe church, with signage in Spanish: Santo Tomas El Apostol. It dominates the town square, still dirt, with dirt roads that meander from the center. A church has been at this spot since at least 1776 though this is a relatively modern one, built in the late 1930s, on the same spot as the earlier churches. It remains part of the Diocese of Santa Fe, which owns other buildings here in town. Opposite the church is the town library, a former home dating back to the early 1800s. I might never have gotten to see this part of Abiquiu if I hadn't been looking for the library because this entire town center is off the beaten track. The library was once the home of a librarian's grandparents. She explained that it was ultimately sold to the church 27 years ago to be turned into the town's library and cultural center. The librarian's desk now stands by what was once the kitchen window!...

  In which Moominmama visits Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, where Georgia O'Keeffe created some of her most famous landscapes and bone paintings... Fun fact: Ghost Ranch, where Georgia O'Keeffe stayed as a guest and eventually made a home, was where infamous cattle rustlers called the Archuleta brothers set up shop in the late 1800s. They would steal other people's cattle and herd them far into the box canyons to keep them out of sight of the law.  After the Archuleta brothers were gone, roaming cattle became a problem in the area, and government officials ordered local ranchers to collect their livestock or they'd be shot. They made good on the threat too. These are the bones that were so plentiful when O'Keeffe visited the ranch site, and she created striking paintings of the stark white shapes. It is actually hard to visit the landscape here and not be influenced by her way of seeing. That's partly the mark of art: that it influences how you see things. Moominmama f...

  In which Moominmama visits the Guadalupe Mountains, going underground at Carlsbad Caverns and hiking up McKittrick Canyon... Moominmama is mildly claustrophobic, which makes visiting caves slightly problematic. But Carlsbad Caverns are so large, it's more like walking into a cathedral than crawling through tunnels.  Taking the mile and a quarter path down into the caverns is to step down into a palace of wonders. Even the descent itself, along myriad switchbacks, is fascinating as the daylight grows more and more dim, and the strange calcite features become visible. The pathway down serves a double purpose as the entrance and exit door for thousands of Brazilian free-tail bats, who have a roost and a nursery in one of the many side caves. Moominmama arrived in this area just as the bats are migrating from Mexico and got to sit in an amphitheater just above the cave entrance at dusk to watch them fly out for a night's feeding. They eat moths and beetles, including bugs that d...