Canyon del Cobres

I thought the canyon got it's name from the beautiful sandstones that have copper or yellow tones to them. However it was named because of four Spanish copper mines that were worked years ago. We have yet to find them. The canyon and this entire area were formed by a series of huge volcanic eruptions and flows and then years of erosion and upheaval. This entire region is made up of the Valles Caldera. The last recorded flow was 50,000 to 60,000 years ago. There were two caldera forming eruptions that took place 1.4 to 1.1 million years ago.

As you can tell from my previous pictures we are surrounded by fairly tall mountains and cliffs. But if you'd Google map this area you'd see just how large the caldera and impact of the explosion was. I am told that debris from the eruption can be found in substantial layers of soil as far as the Mississippi River.

Two weeks ago after Mark finally got me convinced to get outside and hike we headed up the arroyo behind our house. This is just one of several that drains the canyon. I was like a kid in a candy store looking at formations, pebbles, boulders, and the amazing array of colors in the sandstone deposits. I wish I was a geologist because we found a slew of different types of rocks and pebbles. There were flints, lava, mica, conglomerates, many different colors of quarts, of course sandstones, and a ton of others that we didn't know.

I always wanted to live in "Red Rock country" but I am very happy to live in an area that is so much more colorful. The pictures that Mark and I took can't begin to capture the colors, the beauty, or the scale. We took a hundred shots that day between us. It's very hard to pick just a few to share with you.

It all starts with some soils, some water, some wind, and of course a few million years!


Now can you see why I am not too upset that I don't live in the red rocks?




These lava formations were really amazing. Some looked like a sci-fi creature because of the erosion on them






In the distance is the red rock knife edge that has been in a couple other postings.


We have the biggest ravens I have ever seen. They have always intrigued me. This one decided to tag along with us for a short time.


Me on some of the yellow sandstone.


One of two dry waterfalls that become rushing torrents after a good rain. The erosion makes a beatiful place.






This is a nice red rock formation in the midst of other colors.


More beautiful colors.


Erosion can turn out some pretty suggestive forms. Or am I being bad?


I caught the indirect sunlight lighting up this cliff late in the day. This picture has not been touched up! This is the true color!


Our walk down the arroyo to home


That's it for this blog. In the next few days I will show you another set of cool views from this trip. But I want to focus on the subject matter a bit more.