Zion
From Hurricane to Valley of Fire
Orwell at sunset
At Lake Powell
A truly Spanish inscription
Explorers left inscriptions in trees and rocks in case they never returned home. In 1776, the expedition of Dominguez – Escalante passed by Glen Canyon and carved on the rock `paso por aqui, año 1776´, (We passed by here. Year 1776).
The Father Dominguez and Father Escalante were trying to find a direct route between the Spanish missions established in Santa Fe, New Mexico and Monterrey in California. Due to hardships experienced during their journey, they decided to return to Santa Fe before reaching their destination. They wrote a journal and mapped their expedition which became an invaluable resource for future explorers such as Antonio Armijo.
This ins
At the Crossing of the Fathers
Climber rescue on Lake Powell
Whilst its marginally off topic I wanted to include the following post as today, aside from seeing the remarkable 1776 inscription left by the Dominguez-Escalante expedition, I also witnessed what was a truly remarkable rescue by the National Park Service of an injured rock climber who had fallen about 35 feet at Gregory Butte in Lake Powell. The team risked everything to repel down to the climber, hand winch him up to a safe point and then used two separate helicopters to firstly get him off the mountain from a very difficult position and then to take him to the nearest hospital. I can only highlight the amazing team efforts by the National Park Service and the associated organisations involved in this rescue. Photograph by Matt Wright. You can use the gigapan above to zoom in and see the challenge they faced.
From Valley of the Gods to Page
From Towaoc to Valley of the Gods
A proud New Mexican with Spanish roots
Rudy Fernández was born in Peñasco, a small village near Taos Pueblo where for decades Spanish has been the primary language. He has been best known as ´Froggie´ since he arrived in Santa Fe to look for new opportunities when he was 15 years old. Nowadays, Rudy dedicates his spare time to acting in theatre plays and occasionally in movies, as he says, `it helps him to exercise his memory.´
Rudy can picture a smaller Santa Fe where the plaza was the meeting point for the locals. Today, he is part of the `Caballeros de Vargas´ a collective that preserves the cultural aspects related to the historical figure of Diego de Vargas. He is a proud New Mexican and feels that his roots are found in Spain. He explains in this interview some of the similarities he sees between the New Mexican and Spanish cultures.