The well-known Green Mask pictograph located in Sheiks Canyon, just off of Grand Gulch, is a haunting face painted high up on the alcove wall. I have read that this may possibly represent a ritual object made from a whole face and hair scalp of a human head because such an object, painted in a similar manner, was excavated from a Basketmaker burial in northern Arizona. I wish I had brought my long lens along with me when I hiked there since it was located very high on the back alcove wall.
I’ll start the week off with one of my favorite photos of Newspaper Rock. Here’s a nice overview of most of the panel that is well-known and found along Indian Creek on the way to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. There’s just so much to see on this panel. I have stopped here many times over the years and I always notice something new each time.
How about another photo of a ruin? These particular ruins are actually found right around the corner from the famous Moon House ruins on Cedar Mesa. What stuck me about this ruin was actually the nice glow of reflected light off of the golden-colored ceiling. I just had to take a photo that emphasized the lines and color of the ceiling above this ruin, and I really like the outcome.
One of my favorite photos from our trip to Chaco Canyon back in June with a short story to go along with it. On the day we were leaving the park to head home, Amanda and I were at the gate to get into Chaco Canyon about ten minutes before 7:00am – which is when they were supposed to open the gate (don’t even get me started about them closing the park in the first place….I would have loved to take some night shots in the park!). Then 7:00am came and went, yet no one was there to unlock the gate. I was getting anxious to get inside the park because I knew I would only have a small window of time to photograph this setting before the sun would be too high in the sky! Finally, about ten minutes after 7:00am, a truck drove up to the gate and finally unlocked it. I quickly drove into the park and headed straight for Pueblo Bonito. Once I parked the Jeep in the lot, I grabbed my camera gear and walked swiftly right to this spot. I setup my tripod and framed the scene and quickly took a few shots. I tried a few different compositions and then ventured further into the pueblo to get a few of the different doorway combinations. About 15-20 minutes after arriving in the pueblo the sun was too high in the sky and light was shining directly onto parts of the interior walls. Luckily, I had made it inside and got the shots I wanted before it was too late! Surprisingly, I was also the only one there during that time – I was expecting there to be other photographers showing up for similar shots.
Since I posted a photo of the Wolfman Panel earlier today, I’ll post this photo of the small ruin located across Butler Wash from the panel. I’m not sure if this particular ruin has a name, but I’m going to go ahead and call it the Wolfman Ruin because of it’s proximity to the rock art. You can spot this ruin across the canyon from the old parking area for the Wolfman Panel (I say ‘old’ because the BLM closed off access to the slickrock parking area sometime over the last year or so). Getting across the canyon to visit this ruin is a little bit trickier, but well worth the effort. There are also some faint petroglyphs found near this ruin if you spend the time to explore the area.
