Zuni Canyon Grants New MexicoMay 4, 2007 We are staying in the Blue Spruce RV Park $13.50 for 50-amps, water & Cable TV with central dump. Blue Spruce is located on the south west corner of the I-40 exit 81 intersection. It is an good enough RV-Park to use while exploring the area. The owners and staff were nice and the price was right.
Ancient "tree-cookie" or cross section with preserved history of the region
This is a "tree-cookie" or cross section of an old tree that has preserved the history of this region. Dendrochronologists (tree-ring scientists) can determine a great deal about past climate and fire history by studying the growth rings in tree-cookies such as this one. Each ring represents a year in the tree's growth. Thick rings indicate wetter periods; thin rings indicate dryer periods. Trees are also scarred by fire, marking the event for dendrochronologists. As dendrochronologists studied dead wood lying on the lava and cored into live trees they realized that some of these trees date to 200 B.C. This particular Douglas fir sprouted on the Bandera lava flow about 200 B.C. It lived until A.D. 550. This tree is the oldest dated wood in either New Mexico or Arizona. This "tree-cookie" was on display at the information center for El Malpais National Monument near Grants New Mexico. By examining wood from both living and downed trees, scientists have restructured a climate history of the El Malpais area for the last 2,000 years and a fire history for the last 600 years. This has resulted in a better understanding of tree growth and natural fire cycles on the lava flows. Note that this tree-cookie began life at 180 B.C. and lived until 400 A.D. Let those dates sink in. Pay attention to where on this tree Christ lived.
Mt Taylor north of Grants New Mexico
On our way back to Grants and our motorhome we snapped this picture of Mt. Taylor. Mt. Taylor is north of Grants and reaches over 11,300' in elevation. Some snow is still visible at the higher elevations. Grants is between where we are now and Mt. Taylor. Grants is in the valley. It snowed for two days following this picture. In a later travelogue we will show you what Mt. Taylor looked like after the snow fell.
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