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Bears Ears Nat'l Monument Exhibit - 2023

29 images Created 20 Nov 2022

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  • Butler Wash runs on the backside of Comb Ridge. On this route there are many Ancient Puebloan Ruins.
    Butler Wash View.JPG
  • The Castle is so named because of its powerful presence. (But then aren't they all)  This view includes an aged,  gnarled tree. Old, but not by geologic standards!  Also, a long exposure, which calls attention to the stationary subjects.
    Castle Butte 2.JPG
  • The Castle is so named because of its powerful presence. (But then aren't they all ) A three minute exposure blurs the moving clouds into streaks, and brings all the more attention to this imposing rock tower, as it is illuminated by the setting sun.
    Castle Butte.JPG
  • Near Kayenta Arizona on Navajo land is a series of volcanic diatremes. About 30 million years ago, magma pushed its way upward through cracks in the earth's crust. When the inland sea that covered the land drained - an extended, cataclysmic flow scoured  away hundreds of feet of sandstone surface. These hard rock spires remain.. The distant structure in the background, right is called Agathla Peak.
    Church Rock.JPG
  • A few miles west of Bluff, Utah is Comb Ridge, a steep ridge running 80 miles in a north/south direction from Kayenta, Arizona to the foothills of the Abajo Mountains near Blanding.  Tilted at almost 20 degrees and over one mile wide, its name comes from the jagged appearance of the ridge which resembles a rooster’s comb.<br />
<br />
This natural marvel is a classic example of what geologists call a monocline, or a step-like bend of the earth’s rock layers in one direction.  This blunt rock extension occurred nearly 65 million years ago, when tectonic plates buried deep under the earth’s surface slipped, leaving a rugged scar across once smooth stone. (credit: bluffutah.org)
    Comb Ridge.JPG
  • Along the Comb Ridge wash road, this old shack served as an overnight shelter for cattle hands.
    Cowboy Shelter_IMG4402.JPG
  • On Cedar Mesa, Utah within the Bears Ears National Monument, is Mule Canyon. Along four miles of its South Fork, are the remains of seven structures built by the Ancestral Puebloan civilization. They abandoned their cliff-dwelling life about 800 years ago, for reasons unknown. House on Fire was a granary, not a house. It is so named because the morning sun reflecting onto the flaked sandstone of the roof overhang creates a startling flame-like appearance. In this monochrome version, the textures and shape of the sandstone overhang are even more apparent.
    House on FIre.JPG
  • Earth's shadow takes a bite out of the Moon on it's way to consuming it entirely. Valley of the Gods, Bluff Utah
    Lunar Eclipse Begins.JPG
  • Grooves made from centuries of grinding seeds, nuts or grains, a few at a time with a small Metate (milling stone)
    Metate.JPG
  • Near the town of Mexican Hat Utah, this formation is its namesake.
    Mexican Hat Rock 2_IMG2123.JPG
  • A morning moon hangs above the Three Sisters formation in Monument Valley.
    Moon Over Three Sisters.JPG
  • After driving the notorious "Moki Dugway" road up the face of the cliff to Cedar Mesa, this spectacular view overlooks the valley of the San Juan River.  Monument Valley is visible 40 miles to the south.
    Muley Point Overlook 2.JPG
  • This view is seen from Hwy 163 near Mexican Hat, Utah. The geologic feature is known as Raplee Ridge. "Zigzags in the uplifted layers were “woven” by erosion of red sand, mudstone and gray limestone of the lower Cutler beds." (Hollis Marriott, naturalist)  Those who are familiar with SW Indian will notice how their designs are inspired by the land on which they live.
    Navajo Blanket.JPG
  • Indian tribes still control significant amounts of land in their ancestral homelands.  Navajos live on  their lands around Bluff. They farm and ranch. This lone windmill fills the adjacent reservoir, which in turn sends its water to the stock watering tank behind the windmill.  The distant mountain range on the left is known as "The Sleeping Ute". It is located in Colorado, about .40 miles distant.
    Navajo Windmill.JPG
  • In Monument Valley, this area overlooks the northern view of the lower valley. It shows Elephant Butte on the left, Cly Butte on the right, and East Mitten is framed by a gnarled, dead tree.
    North Window View.JPG
  • A remnant of past use. A remote corral where cattle were gathered, loaded and then moved to another location.
    Old Corral on the San Juan River.JPG
  • From 500  feet above the river, it still required four shots to take in this impressive panoramic view.
    Prospectors Loop, San Juan River.JPG
  • Near Bluff, UT is a small area of hoodoos known as Recapture Pocket.These Hodoos are so named because they reminded early visitors of spirit beings.
    Recapture Pocket1 11x14.JPG
  • Recapture Pocket is an area of "Hoodoos" near Bluff, UT. Hoodoos are so-named because they reminded early visitors of ghostly apparitions.
    Recapture Pocket 2.JPG
  • Food storage spaces were built high up in hidden or hard to reach places. Corn and other grains would be placed inside, then the walls were sealed until the food was needed.
    River House Granary.JPG
  • "River House" ancient puebloan dwelling sits by the bank of the the San Juan River. It is an exceptionally large house and well decorated with pictographs. In these houses, there is typically a circular room, known as the kiva, which was set aside for prayer, community discussion and sacred rituals.
    River House Kiva.JPG
  • Simmer Exhibit Flyer Bears Ears.jpg
  • Bears Ears National Monument is a United States national monument located in San Juan County in southeastern Utah. It was established by President Barack Obama by presidential proclamation on December 28, 2016. The monument is named Bears Ears for a pair of buttes that rise to elevations over 8,900 feet (2,700 m) and 9,000 feet. The monument's original size was 1,351,849 acres, which was reduced  85% by President Donald Trump on December 4, 2017 - an act subsequently challenged as illegal. The monument protects the public lands surrounding the Bears Ears, plus the Indian Creek corridor rock climbing area. The Native names for the buttes have the same meaning in each of the languages represented in the region. The area is closely tied to the creation story and mythology of all the existing native tribes here. In early April 2021, Deb Haaland, the first Native American Secretary of the Interior Department, began the onsite review process on the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments, which President Joe Biden had called for in an executive order signed on his first day in office. <br />
Bears Ears has been regularly looted of ancient Indian artifacts and vandalized for many years. One of the early catalysts for securing monument status for Bears Ears was the June 10, 2009 joint raid called Operation Cerberus Action conducted by FBI and U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) agents—"the nation’s largest investigation of archaeological and cultural artifact thefts"— in Blanding, a small town on Bears Ears eastern boundary. Following a two-year federal investigation and the indictment of 24 people for stealing, receiving or trying to sell Native American artifacts from the hundreds of archaeological sites in the area, this incident became an "early flashpoint in the struggle over control of public lands in the western United States  <br />
(Credit to Wikipedia for this background)
    The Bears Ears.JPG
  • This is at a Utah State Park not far from Monument Valley. The San Juan River twists and turns through a meander, flowing a distance of over six miles while advancing one and a half miles west on its way to Lake Powell. You can see the results of 300 million years of geological activity, where the River winds and carves its way through the desert 1,000 feet below. For five bucks a carload you can park and walk over to the a rail that keeps you from falling the 1000 feet into the river, while you take your pictures. This is a panorama stitched from several shots.
    The Goosenecks 2.JPG
  • This panel tells a story of an ancient flood. The panel is found along the San Juan River. Ancient Puebloan paople farmed the fertile river bottoms here. The story is read from right to left. Beginning with representations of gods of thunder, creation and destruction, and many people with flailing arms and legs representing those who were swept away. On the left is a god of recreation and fertility, holding a promise of renewal and recovery.
    There Was Once a Terrible Flood.JPG
  • A curious arrangement in the Valley. Who can explain the seeming randomness of massive water flows that carved this place into its existing shapes.
    Three Mounds, Valley of the Gods.JPG
  • Many Valley of the Gods features have names. If this one has a name, I could not find it. An imposing subject nonetheless.
    Unnamed Butte, Valley of the Gods.JPG
  • Near Bluff, UT is an area of geological formations that have been regarded as sacred. It is easy to imagine the gods of the ancestors standing watch over all who enter this valley - especially at night!
    Valley of the Gods 6.JPG
  • From a  knoll in the Valley, looking south toward Monument Valley.
    Valley of the Gods View.JPG
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