MESA GOLONDRINA AND THE CHAMA RIVER CANYON WILDERNESS

This foreboding place is called the Chama Canyon Wilderness. Mesa De Los Viejos (Plateau of the Old Ones) is on the right side of the image while the Rio Chama (river) runs along the bottom of the canyon and forks into the Rio Gallina at the base of Golondrina Mesa (here in the middle of the image). Please click on the image for the full screen version.

Golondrina Mesa, is full of wonderful wildlife like black bear, elk and mule deer, and the periphery is lined with wonderful ruins of the Gallina culture( or or Largo-Gallina), an obscure culture that existed during the pre-Hispanic period in theAmerican Southwest from approximately 1050 to 1300. 

The Rio Chama is a major tributary of the Rio Grande. For 31 miles, it flows through canyons and designated wilderness. The serpentine twists of the river take it below towering cliffs, heavily wooded canyons, archeological sites, and dinosaur tracks.

This wild and Scenic river is popular among river rafters and canoeists running through six miles of rapids in the Chama Canyon Wilderness.  If you look closely in the lower foreground of this image, along the river you will note there is a radical twisting turn along the river. This is known as the "Screaming Left Hand Turn" for obvious reasons! It contains very rough rapids, especially during heavy rain periods when the river is full and running fast.

This historic river and canyon has been used by humans for nearly 10,000 years, dating from the time when camels and wooly mammoths roamed the southwestern United States. 

The bedrock of Chama Canyon is shale, basalt, tuft, sandstone, granite, quartzite and other types of rocks, some of which formed about 110 million years ago. The walls in Chama Canyon rise 1,500 feet above the river and the canyon rim and sloping uplands are frequently punctuated by steep sandstone and shale outcroppings. 

Down in the canyon are a plethora of geological and historical wonders including high, steep canyon walls and escarpments consisting of rock slides, ledges, pinnacles and ridges and old ruins from the First Nations Ancestral Tribes. 

The Chama Valley contains thick stands of Ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, Pinyon, Juniper, Mountain Mahogany, Currant, Oakbrush and Serviceberry. The raparian area also includes cottonwoods, box alder, willows, hackberry and numerous shrubs that are indigenous to the northcentral New Mexico area. It is teeming with a variety of wildlife including cougars, black bears, elk, mule deer, badgers, bobcats, coyotes, beavers, raccoons, ducks, dippers, spotted sandpipers, Canadian geese, turkey, golden eagles, bald eagles, falcons, hawks, owls, turkey buzzards, brown and rainbow trout, flathead chub, flathead minnows, white suckers, carp, channel catfish, black crappie, longnose dace, and several other species of animals, birds and fish. Various species of rattlesnakes and copperheads are found in the adjacent mountain valleys and canyons. 

There is an exceptionally dark human history to this area which I will cover in a follow up post. 

I lensed this foreboding image while flying from Taos, New Mexico to Winslow, Arizona trying to not get caught in the rapidly developing storm that was forming up all around me. I was captivated by the dramatic colors being created along the canyon clifftops and the river cutting through this harsh and rugged terrain. 

This is from "Where Eagles Fly - The American Wilderness Expedition" my personal project of exploration in the North American Wilderness. 

I am on a mission to raise awareness of our Iconic Natural Heritage Treasures of North America. If you wish to help spread the word and share these images of our amazing planet, please resteemit ! 

Yehaw!!