Classic places in the United States

Where history is fun and the countryside is enchanting!
(still under construction but enjoy what's done)

Searching deep space  with the Very Large  Array on the Plains of St. Augustin. More later.   Searching the underground from millions of years ago. Carlsbad National Park on the walk down to the bottom. It's awesome.

From 600 AD to present New Mexico represents a State rich in history, culture, exciting places, and very friendly people. Come with me to three places in the state. Each site offers a unique peak at the areas history.

We start  where mother nature has been busy for thousands of years forming the worlds largest limestone caverns, the Carlsbad National Park. This park has over 80 caverns, most still unexplored. The largest cavern is the Big Room, 900' below ground, 1800' long by 250' wide. The walk to the bottom is breathtaking, a bit spooky, and full of majestic rock formations. Also spectacular are the bat flights which occur from April to September when 400,000 bats emerge daily from their caves.

When in New Mexico spend some quality time exploring the Catwalk National Recreational Trail in Glenwood. This three mile hike is filled with great vistas and history of the early mining in New Mexico. The trail is handicap accessible as well as rugged. From the top if you want you can enter the Gilla Wilderness. Take a look at this spectacular trail leading to the Gila Wilderness in a personalized tour.

Stay right on the original trail. It's a bit steeper and narrower with great vistas.   The new Catwalk at about 1/2 mile up.

Originally the trail and Catwalk followed an 1880's water line from the bottom of Whitewater Canyon, the mining town of Grahm to the mountain top not far from the now ghost mining town of Mollgon. As you walk the trail you can still see supports for the old line. The Catwalk portion of the trail is nominally 350 feet long winding along the   walls of the deep canyon. At either end there are rest and viewing areas.

From the original trail down through the rocks to the Catwalk.         Landing area from the otherside to overview the Catwalk.

Below 350 feet of walkways hugging the vertical cliffs.

Viewing platform at the end of the Catwalk.

From the Catwalk on it's just fun hiking up a rugged trail with neat things to see. Travel past the pipe bridge, a piece of the original water pipeline up the mountain to the old pipline supports and the bridge across the canyon. This upper portion of the trail extends about 0.6 mile to the top.

Stop and swim up the trail and near the top of the trail wobble over the suspension bride to the top. Think about it. Where on TV have you seen this bridge?

The swimming hole.         The suspension bridge. Has a little bounce on your way to the top.

And at the top a surberb overlook into the wilderness of the Gila. Part of America's great beauty.

The last stop in New Mexico is The Very Large Array Radio Telescope.  Stop at the Visiters Center and learn about the mysteries of our galaxy. This is the world largest radio telescope and was featured in the movie "Contact". Here is a personalized tour of the uniqueness of the telescope.

The VLA in the A array.

Twilight looking down the southwest arm of the VLA.

Here are some details of this huge radio telescope.

400 ton - 80 foot diameter antenna sits atop the transporter awaiting transfer to the antenna station. The transporter travels at 5 mph on double track 18 foot on center. 27 antennas can be configured on three arms to provide a telescope equivalent to 26 miles in diameter.   So sensitive that it can see a golf  ball at 100 miles away. All stations are 90 degrees to the main track. See later photos. In this photo the station is to the right.

The trackage at a station. The 90 degree station rail is higher than the main rail. The transporter has four 6-wheel bogies which can be raised by a system of jacks and then rotated. Inserts are provided over the main track which allows the antenna to move to the station proper.

It takes about 5 minutes to raise and rotate all four boggies. Finally when the antenna is set in place it is shimmed so that it is parallel to all of the other antennas in the array.

Signals which control the antenna movement and also recieve radio waves from space are transmitted down the three arms of the array via wave guides. These are laid in the ground to very tight tolerances with regard to curvature. A simple wave guide device is the ear phones you get on an airplane. If you bend it to far you can't hear anything.

Radio signals from space are processed in electronic racks inside the Control building.

Wave guide entrance to main building.

Wave guide up to electronic racks.

And finally what you hear from space.

Imagine the wonders of our world.

The mysteries of space - an Earth rise from the Moon.       And a Moon rise over the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque.

  Arizona - 4

In Arizona there is lots to see but nothing more spectacular than the Grand Canyon.

A majestic camping site near the bottom and a rafting group enjoying the summer sun. Doesn't get any better than this.

Utah - 5

Utah has the Great Salt Lake and places north, but the southeast corner of the state is the most spectacular with it's massive natural rock formations and deep canyons. Near Mexican Hat the San Jaun River meanders 5 miles in deep canyons while traveling only 1 mile downstream. Further north are a series of national parks, the most prominant of which is Arches National Park.

That gooseneck meander   goes about 1/4 mile downstream. And at Arches the Fiery  Furnace trail walk.

Over 1000 natural arches abound in this scenic part of Utah.

A delicate arch and the Landscape arch.