Valley of Dreams

In the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Study Area of northwest New Mexico there are three distinct areas of strange geological features.  The primary, and most easily accessible area, doesn't have a name (other than ASSP WSA); I have posted about it here.

The other two are "King of Wings" (see blog post here) and "Valley of Dreams" (this post).

My photo buddy, Alan, and I have visited Valley of Dreams twice.  It's a two-mile hike from where we have to leave the car, and the first time we visited it we only explored the part nearest the car.  But the far side of the area, which we visited in September, is much more interesting.

Valley of Dreams is filled with fantastic features, some of which look like the crumbling walls of a fortress . . .

There are hoodoos large . . .

and small . . .

This one even has a name; it's called "Alien Throne":

There are lots of nooks and crannies . . . 

and even some shapes we can recognize:

The top of this one reminds me of a Cubist reclining nude sculpture:

It's like the abandoned ruins of a large, medieval fortress city . . .

In addition to the large-scale features, Valley of Dreams is full of small-scale details, textures, and colors:

You might ask, "How do you find these details?"  I would answer, "I just look for them."

Here are a couple of examples.

The detail:

 and where it came from:

Another detail:

and where it came from:

In this rocky soil there's very little vegetation, but occasionally some tenacious plant will take root and bloom . . .

And not much in the way of wildlife either, though I did see a hawk . . .

perhaps hunting for this rabbit hiding among the rocks:

And on our way back to the car, we saw horses grazing on the scrubby land above the Valley of Dreams:

If you would like to see these images (and more) in a larger format, please visit my photography website, Todos Juntos Photography, by clicking here.

Enjoy!