Aspen, Ice Caves, Grottoes, and Cascades - Colorado

Aspen Forest

Aspen: a tree, a city, a forest; in any case, a beauty to behold.

The city of Aspen is an alpine jewel set in nature's precious wilderness.  It is a wealthy city where billionaires push around millionaires; it's Beverly Hills on steroids; and it sits in the wild rich Rocky Mountains of Colorado.  Arriving by plane or driving, one discovers the genteel habitat of eggs benedicts, mimosas, and NorthFace-clad hikers and mountain bikers.  It's the gateway to the playground of those who've arrived; or those who simply love nature.

Whether outfitted by REI or Walmart, everyone enjoys venturing past the city and into Mount Massive Wilderness Area in the San Isabel National Forest on the way to Independence Pass.

Magnificent mountains magically morph into an amazing aspen forest on the way to the pass.  First sight of an aspen clump of trees reveals a living organism composed of interdependent living units.  Each tree bolstering the other while searching for sunlight sings a primal leave-rustling melody beckoning to an earlier, perhaps mythical age.  They are tall with greenish white skin - scarcely a bark - and graceful round leaves like swishing earrings in auburn hair.

Within the forest wonders await.  Steep terrain belies a rocky bed where granite stones form crags, caves, and caverns topped by boulder mounds.  Tectonic plates are still forcing bedrock out of the ground and rock gardens of gigantic proportions pop up the mountainside.

Cascade

Rainfall captured at the top cascades down, tumbling, and tunneling while carving hard rock into abstract sculpted stone; some looking remarkably like pock-marked faces in various stages of surprise.

Pocked Rock Face

Natural sculpture gardens filled with reflecting pools and zen reflections capture the imagination.  

Zen Reflection

Granite vessels and fountains randomly created by fickle streams surprise at every turn.

Granite Vessel

Exploring further reveals that hydrology has been busy beneath the surface.  There are rocky grottoes, cave entrances,

Cave Entrance

....and granite ravines, or gullies lead to the most unexpected surprise of all in the warm summer month of August.

Grottoes Ravine

Ice caves, not made of ice, but carved out of solid bedrock and stocked with ice deep underground.  A subterranean pool of melting ice delightfully green with thriving aquatic life greets the unsuspecting spelunker.

Ice Caves Pool

Spring water infiltrating rocky pockets as big as bedrooms freezes in Winter and tunneling endlessly year after year expands space to chamber-size proportions. 

Ice Caves

And always, there is light; playful meandering light overhead, entering deep within crevasses; illuminating, delineating, casting dark shadows over rounded boulders; a beacon, a ray to be drawn to... a hope.

Playful Highlights

Rocky Mountain National Park

Zen-like View

Climbing out of the Colorado desert titanic mountains march North-South in a massive migration spanning eons and stretching from Canada to Mexico.  Meet the Rocky Mountains.

Travelling at maximum speed takes forever to get there.  Driving Eastward at 80 mph behold behemoths reaching for the sky in a slow motion dance highlighted by the sun and underscored by shifting shadows.  Clouds form, gather, and vanish above, around, and in front of the mountains like characters in a play.  The Rockies face the Heavens above and creatures below with indifferent magnificence.

Eventually, climbing up foothills, up the mountain skirt steeply the landscape changes to dense bush, the air thins, and panting, almost gasping for oxygen you end up on the Continental Divide.  The Pacific watershed lies westward, the Atlantic watershed eastward, and each is impossibly far.  At this point in the range the altitude is a mere 9,523 feet above sea level; the summit road reaches an altitude of 12.300 feet with Zen-like views.

Accessing the Rocky Mountain National Park is most convenient from Estes Park, a small alpine city with every sort of accommodation, although the most intimate way to this national treasure is by camping.  Either way, this formidable high-altitude expanse is rewarding, yielding extreme sights.

Alberta Falls

West of Estes Park is Alberta Falls, a robust gushing waterfall within hiking distance from the parking lot.  Sparkling alpine water is a refreshing sight cascading and thundering down granite boulders, delightful to behold.   Climbing to the top and seeing the water tumbling, or staying at trail's end to enjoy the display is certainly worth the effort.

Bear Lake

A strenuous oxygen-deprived two mile hike from the falls delivers a group of alpine lakes the closest of which is Bear Lake, quaint and classic with jutting granite peak backdrops.

Abyss Falls

Intrepid drivers may tackle a one way dirt road steeply climbing from near the park entrance to the summit.  On the way to the top is a hidden gem called Abyss Falls.  This waterfall is continuously carving solid granite into a narrow tubular channel tumbling precipitously into the abyss: a fluid yet steadfast sculpture.

Jagged Moutains

Jagged mountains impress upon all sides on the trek to the top.

Summit - RMNP

Approaching the highest peaks accessible by car is rendered dramatic by rarefied air and endless vistas.
Elevation 12,301feet, more than two miles high is crystal clear, the atmosphere a rugged ambiance.  And, the alpine setting is rich in wildlife.  Nature's bounty is abundantly clear.

Nature's Bounty

Plentiful elk roam gracefully grazing and posing; suddenly sprinting and galloping away; tolerating humans up to a point, bolting when spooked, they're gone.  Here one minute, miles away the next, effortlessly, foraging, drinking melted snow pooled here and there and everywhere conveniently placed in this wildlife playground.  Often, summer thunderstorms turn even the most idyllic hill tops into moody mountains.

Moody Mountain

Fresh air combining with vast vistas fuels the imagination, flaring into ancestral dreams.  And everything is green.  Patches of snow persist well into August highlighting verdant mosses with their complimentary orange lichen.  Alpine views greet you as if smiling.

Alpine View

Crows crackle their craven craw, gliding, soaring, searching: a murder in flux.

Crows Crackle

Marmots scurry in and out of dens stopping to stare and wiggle whiskers: sniffing out the air.

Scurrying Marmot

Distant hawks keen their killing cries while pikas screech high pitched notes ears piercing anew and Elk Bull bugles his mating calls, in rut.

Elk Bull

Suddenly the realization hits that we are like aliens from another planet freshly landed and witnessing a fragile system best left untouched, a prime directive to not interfere: to look and not touch or it will break and shatter like a broken dream.

And yet this is home.  Peace descends like a warm shower.  Little things show off their beauty.  The lichen seems a little redder, the sky a little bluer, smells a tad more pungent, and sounds a whole lot keener; even touching is sharper, describing jagged rock edges and smooth moss textures.  In short, senses are heightened and freedom reigns at one with nature and yourself: atone.

Josie Bassett Morris

Green River

Utah wilderness was settled by many colorful figures but a little known woman stands out for being tenacious in the face of adversity.  Josie Morris dealt with the typical pioneering hardship: eking a living out nothing in the middle of nowhere.  However, the territory was filling up and the state had entered the union; people were there and so was man's Law.

Josie's claim to fame was that she was a wild west woman going solo in a codified world, an American woman in an arid land. Her challenge was being one of the last homesteaders in the modern context of strict water rights and land ownership laws.

Sand Spit - Green River

Someone had already staked a claim to the Green River water rights and he wasn't sharing.  Though hardly anyone lived in the area known today as Dinosaur National Monument, a few ranchers had cattle grazing on  the open range.  Josie's options were limited and she chose an unwanted patch of dry dirt bounded by massive bedrock, relatively close to Vernal.

Bedrock

She couldn't access the river, so she squeezed water out of the rocks; almost literally; and she made her own corner of the desert bloom.

Artesian Spring

Precious autumn rainfall seeps into porous rock formations, freezes during the winter, and is released in Spring like trickling water from a soaked sponge.  Josie captured the dribble, channeled it, and made it flow to her land; homestead irrigation a rustic aqueduct. And, she fashioned a pond, storing water for her fields, hogs, and other barn animals.

Homestead Irrigation

Although Josie did not imbibe forbidden juice during Prohibition, she made moonshine; she conducted business.  Money raised by her stilling output bought building materials for a modest, yet comfortable cabin; most notably, expensive glass windows.

Josie Morris's Cabin

We take glazed windows for granted today, but they were a valuable innovation allowing ample lighting while keeping the elements outside and maintaining a comfortable temperature inside.  Josie's cabin windows are remarkably big and wonderfully segmented into cottage style panels.  By installing a fire place her rustic cabin was transformed into a home during cold winters.  How she got wood in a desert place is a mystery, most likely she bought coal with her hard earned illicit money.

Into the Rocks

Today Josie Morris' legacy is a fertile canyon home to wild flora and fauna.  So after visiting Dinosaur
National Monument and seeing a fossilized dinosaur head

Dinosaur Head

or two take a side trip out to Hog Canyon  - named after Josie's favorite home grown food.
It will be a rewarding surprise: an oasis in the desert.

Petroglyphs - A Photographic Essay

Warriors

On the outskirts of Vernal, Utah enormous cliffs jut out of the valley. A pleasant, moderate hike on a well groomed trail winds along giant red boulders for about one mile.  Exposed bedrock bearing the largest, best preserved collection of petroglyphs in the world line the cliff walls on this trek. This prehistoric Art gallery is embedded in rock with delicate and precise etching.  Keeping line weights consistently wide and deep the Artists - or possibly one of the earliest artist's collective - Native Americans memorialized their creations for eternity.  A first glance may falsely register simplistic drawings, but careful observation reveals sophisticated abstraction akin to modernist composition.

Petroglyphs

Although the art collection is of necessity on a linear progression along a path at the bottom of a cliff with rock face sheer and shooting straight out of the ground, no linear story telling is taking place.  Rather, a series of vignettes illustrate discreet themes like paintings at the museum.

Hoop Man Carving

Glyph themes typically depict iconic symbolism, or more frequently people.  Figurative scenes show various stages of human development; children, adolescent love.....

Young ones

adulthood; family or clan groupings, Paleolithic families (stone age man and wife with welcoming gestures),

Paleolithic Nuclear Family

 chiefs and warriors.  But strangely absent is death: all figures are vertical, none horizontal.

Family Clan

At times, a powerful chieftain figure stands alone, headdress prominent.  Other times a group of impressive figures with variously complex head pieces gather looking outward.

Chieftain

Whatever their purpose, head ornaments are intricate and wonderful.   Each hat is strangely alien; some evoking electric equipment or images of electronic receivers like headphones or giant ears; possibly signifying a connection with the other world; intricate headdress, more likely accouterments of rank.

Tribal Headdress Clan

Occasionally there are images of hunting, like a man fighting a fierce bear... presumably victorious.

Bear Hunt

Some petroglyphs are reminiscent of stone age crop circles leading to the inevitable conjecture that perhaps crop and geological manifestations have been occurring for quite some time.

Stone Age Crop Circle

One glyph is remarkably like the solar system, suggesting a connection to the cosmos.  None appear to be hieroglyphs: absent pattern repetition.

Solar System

In any case, who were these people? And, what inspired them?

The natural landscape is reason enough to prompt reverie.  With massive cliffs and giant rock formations sticking out of the ground, it is easy to see the magic of this place.  When monolithic stones start looking like giant heads, deities come to mind and similarities to the great Moai statues of Easter Island emerge.

American Moai

Desert Crossing

Driving from California to Utah is challenging and rewarding; crossing an interminable wasteland to reach the Great Salt Lake.  A sparse sprinkling of bright spots surprise the weary travelling on highway 80.  Mind expanding vistas beckon to look far and wide as time dilates in the face of disproportionate space.   Points of interest emerge and a diminished sense of human scale is relieved by some bright spots.

Among the few small towns clinging impossibly to life along a ribbon of asphalt Winnemucca is a miracle of human tenacity; and here is a surprise: the largest concentration of free flowing desert dunes in the US.  They're reminiscent of Sahara dunes in their undulating and rippling nature but lighter in color; they're surrounded by mountains mimicking and magnifying their magnificence.

American Sand Dunes

With the setting sun warm tones envelope the landscape in a pink glow until the onset of darkness on the Winnemucca Sand Dunes.

Winnemucca Sand Dunes

On the far Eastern side of Nevada is Wendover, the gateway to Utah the next time zone.  Eastward, an hour vanishes instantly from the chronometer and mental gymnastics ensue adjusting to the fact that arrival time will be one hour later than anticipated.  Mountain time seems ironic because the terrain actually drops from slightly rolling hills to the flattest most level landscape in the world entering the great Salt Flats of Utah.

Bonneville Salt Flats

Adding to the overall eeriness of the place, vast salt deposits stretch to the horizon all around but for punctuating jagged buttes Northward.   This is the flattest most level surface on Earth: primordial salt deposits parched by the searing sun.  It is here on the Bonneville Salt Flats where fast cars set land speed records, naturally.

And it is hot. White hot.  Other worldly. Survival impossible without human ingenuity.  The car better not break down...

Later, much later, around the Grantsville Rest Area, the landscape subtly morphs into rolling scrub lands pocked with rocky boulders, a more hospitable terrain, home of the hardy grasses, hares, and birds of prey.  

Grantsville Rest Area

Then there's the Great Salt Lake.  A land of contrasts is the setting, with flatness once broken by stark peaks in salt water.  Life is scarce; the water is far from potable, toxic to almost all marine creatures.  Only the brine shrimp make it's home here, and few flying bugs. 

Salt Lake, Utah

 Everyone else is just passing by....

Great Salt Lake, Utah

Marin Art Festival

• June 16 at 10:00am until June 17 at 6:00pm

Nearly 250 fine artists will be gathering in a spectacular lagoon setting in the Marin Civic Center, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, fifteen minutes North of the Golden Gate Bridge. The Civic Center was one of Frank Lloyd Wright's last commissions and ranks among his finest Architectural marvels.  Not only does it serve as Marin County Seat and Court House, it also houses an exquisitely designed Theater, County Fair buildings, and is beautifully landscaped.  Here we see the famous Prairie Style transformed by an organic response to the rolling golden hills of Northern California into an undulating rolling mass of buildings that sit nicely respecting it's surroundings.

Marin County Civic Center

One of the nicest features this facility has to offer is the lagoon and the grounds around it which are often used for special summer events such as the Marin Art Festival.  It is a humanizing water feature that will serve as an aqueous backdrop to the show.

Besides the many fine artists, performing artists will entertain on two stages strategically located on both sides of the grounds thereby forming an axis of sound.  The producers ensure a discreet aural ambiance rather than the mind numbing noise that sometimes plague such venues.  Among the great musicians, Maria Muldaur stands out for her melodious voice and sweet lyrics like her signature "Midnight at the Oasis".

The festival promises to be a visual extravaganza.  Plan on spending a good time.  This is not to be rushed.

Romagosa Fine Arts will be showing original oil paintings and Giclee reproductions on canvas as well as on  archival paper.  Virginal Verge reproductions, shown below during it's creation, for example may be yours at a discounted price when you mention this blog.

Juan Romagosa - Artist at Work

Visions, a surrealist dream painting, will debut this weekend and will be available for purchase upon request by that discerning Art Collector.

Visions - 18x24 Oil on Linen

We will be enabling limited edition Giclee reproductions on canvas and on archival paper to suit every budget. 

Admission is $10 per person, but if you email romagosafinearts@gmail.com I will send you FREE Admission passes to print on your end.

So please come enjoy a warm Father's Day weekend in Marin County's Architectural landmark building and grounds; visit booth #70 and witness the artist at work on a new creation, see the work in progress, and have a good time.