RHH's photos with the keyword: mesa

This formation is near the Crystal Forest area of Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona and is known as "The Battleship."

For reasons unknown to me the area we hiked is known as the Scablands and the photo shows some of the geology of the area. The mesas which separate the coulees from one another are full of these columns which I assume are basalt and of volcanic origin. This picture was taken as we hiked up from Dusty Lake across the mesa to Ancient Lakes. We had to scramble up the loose rock in the foreground and across the sloped area at the base of the columnar formations and through the notch in the distance. ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2013/04/ancient-lak...

Having hiked to Dusty Lake and over the mesa to Ancient Lakes, we had our lunch near this waterfall that dropped from the mesa down to one of the three lakes known as Ancient Lakes. It was only later after we had hiked quite a distance that we realized there was another part to the falls up above and a steep path leading to it. That, I guess, will have to wait for another occasion. ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2013/04/ancient-lak...

As we began hiking some of the coulees at Ancient Lakes early in the morning the sky above was laced with the contrails of many jets traveling to or from the airports in Seattle and Spokane. Photography was a bit of a challenge since the early light made for deep shadows on the mesa and a lot of contrast between the sky and the ground. This was the best of the shots I was able to take. The photo shows only the top of the mesa and the columnar basalt formations that make up so much of the geology of the region. ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2013/04/ancient-lak...

This was the view from the top of the mesa that we crossed to get from one coulee to another by the shortest route. The view is toward the west with the Columbia River Gorge and the hills on the far side of the gorge in the distance. ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2013/04/ancient-lak...

I am not very happy with this picture, but perched as we were on the side of the mesa, it was impossible to get a better perspective. For whatever reason the perspective seems awkward and unattractive. I wanted to post the picture, however, because it shows one of the coulees we hiked and the mesas on both sides of the coulee with Dusty Lake in the foreground. Below the coulee is the Columbia River and its gorge. The white on the shores of the lake was typical of the lakes in these coulees and must be some kind of mineral deposit from the water, though I have no idea what it actually is. I'll post a close-up of these deposits later today. ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2013/04/ancient-lak...