Here's Looking at You

As long as I was putting up images of rocks that had facial features, I thought I would continue the series. This image is really pretty scary. I am not sure that you can see the face and the suggestion of much more, but that is what it looks like to me.

Rock Faces

Seeing faces everywhere is called pareidolia. This is either a benign result of the way our brains are wired or a serious issue with mental health. To me, almost every rock in this image has a face. I suppose that tells you something about my mental state, or not, depending on which camp you happen to be in. Well, I can remember several instances when people saw religious images in things as common as a cheese sandwich and on the floor of Terminal 3 of Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, Arizona. I guess my tendency is to see animals and monsters.

Monoliths

Some of this clay and sandstone just happens to be harder than the surrounding rock. As you can see the ground is almost level and the sandstone/clay monoliths seem to jump right out of the level plain. The differential weathering creates the isolated formations that are mysterious in their solitude.

Banded Clay

As I look out the window at a tree-covered mountainside, I have to remember that under that layer of vegetation, there are rocks and sand and gravel that were deposited millennia ago by the giant Lake Bonneville. In the image above, you can easily see the layers silt and clay that were deposited millions of years ago. At the base of the cliffs, you can see piles of eroded sand and clay that pile up and are then carried away by water and wind.

Temples of the Sun and Moon

By any definition, this is spectacular desert scenery. If you want to see this view however, you will have to drive over 17 miles of dirt road (one way not roundtrip) to get to Cathedral Valley. This is a shot of both the Temple of the Sun, in the near distance, and the Temple of the Moon. This is part of the Capital Reef National Park but the boundary of the Park is only about a mile or so behind where I am standing to take this photo.

Temple of the Moon

The remote Cathedral Valley and the Temple of the Moon with the other cathedral formations in the late afternoon. The wind was blowing and it was fairly chilly. We saw only two other cars on the 26+ mile dirt road on the way in. This is one of the places that have to be seen to be believed.

Light and Shade, Form and Substance

I have a hard time imagining how water, wind, sand and ice can create the variety of landforms in the deserts of Arizona and Utah. What I find interesting in this image is that the cliffs rise straight up to the overlying rock and the land in the foreground is relatively flat. The huge mesas just seem to spring straight up into the sky.