Ah-shi-sle-pah Rock Formation New Mexico

by Bob Christopher

Title

Ah-shi-sle-pah Rock Formation New Mexico

Artist

Bob Christopher

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

ALL ELEMENTS OF THIS IMAGE ARE FROM MY PERSONAL IMAGE FILE
Strange rock formations photographed in the Ah-she-sle-pah desert region of New Mexico. This area is astounding and can be explored for many years. Located close to Chaco Canyon it is well worth the effort to investigate and photograph. This is not the Bisti-de-na-zin but both areas are spectacular.
From the internet...
Like the Bisti and De-Na-Zin wildernesses a short distance northwest, Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Study Area is a little known region of fantastic eroded rocks in the high desert of northwest New Mexico, a generally flat, sandy and uninhabited land drained by shallow washes that eventually meet the San Juan River. Some of the land is part of the Navajo Indian Reservation, and other areas are used for oil and gas drilling, but most is empty, yet access is quite easy since a network of dirt roads criss-cross the desert, many in good condition except after recent rainfall when some become impassable. The WSA is centered on Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wash, a minor drainage running through a wide, barren valley but lined to the north and south by a strip of eroded cliffs, ravines and badlands containing innumerable hoodoos, balanced rocks and other strange formations, plus much petrified wood including stumps still in an upright position, complete with roots. The rocks (a mixture of sandstones, mudstones and shales, from the Fruitland Formation) have a great variety of colors, especially distinctive being the brown-ochre of the badlands and yellow-orange of some of the hoodoos; other dominant shades are grey-white of the mud hills lining the valley floor, and deep black both of the badlands higher up, and scattered coal beds closer to the wash. Although the formations extend for 6 miles, the best and most easily reached section of the WSA next to the official trailhead is just 1.5 miles across so the majority can be seen in half a day; other interesting areas on the north side of the valley and downstream to the west would need a day or more to explore fully. Besides the petrified wood, the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah region is a fruitful source of animal fossils, and many dinosaur bones have been collected here over the last hundred years; some may still be seen in situ.

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January 20th, 2017

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