More Beautiful Trees...

A good friend of mine, Sciguy315 responded to my mini-meme about trees that have stood out in our memories of field work and trips in geological settings. Since it was mentioned in the comments, I hope it is ok to give the picture a slightly wider audience. I especially loved his choice, as I was with him when this picture was taken. We were exploring a trail in Canyon DeChelly at the moment of moonrise, and we all were experimenting with open shutters. I was so wrapped up with photographing the ruins that I missed the tree. He produced a great many wonderful scenes of our summer adventure, which can be seen here.

Some other nice photos have popped up here, here and here. Thanks for the great pictures, everyone!

Long Time Gone....

Hello all! It was hard, but I just spent two weeks in the wilds with a grand total of one hour of internet time, mostly to deal with student concerns back home. Needless to say, no blogging took place. Great trip though, with 22 students seeing the Colorado Plateau, most of them for the first time. Sights included the obvious, Grand Canyon, Zion, Arches, and some of the less obvious, like Cedar Mesa, Hovenweep, Canyons of the Ancients, Topaz Mountain, and Great Basin National Park.

I will be slowly catching up with news this week, and I will try to post a few of my favorite photos. I am starting with one of my fondest moments: we took a night hike under a full moon to White House Ruins at Canyon De Chelly National Monument. The class was a joint effort with our archaeology department, so the picture encompasses the big picture: massive cliffs of late Paleozoic De Chelly Sandstone, ancestral Pueblo ruins, and a mystical night sky. It was a great moment.