Moving Clocks

The shift to/from daylight savings time change effects the valley twice a year and it is always a time of confusion when trying to make an event on the other side of the state line.  The New Mexico side of the valley changes time but the Arizona side always stays the same and events across the state line always leads to an arrival either an hour early or an hour late, especially for me.  Though the change to/from daylight savings time has no affect on the views on either side of the state line as evidenced by these 2 views, one east and one west taken at sunrise from the Painted Pony Resort.  The sun still rises over the Peloncillo mountains and the first rays of sunlight illuminate Portal Peak in the Chiricahua mountains.  With views like this it is all right to be late to an event.

Sunrise over the Peloncillo mountains on the New Mexican side of the valley

Sunrise on Portal Peak on the Arizona side of the valley with the setting moon

Obsidian crystal from Paramore Crater?

As noted in the previous post, obsidian was found as inclusions in exposed basalt along the south rim of Paramore crater as well as scattered across the surface.  While examining and photographing the partially exposed nodule in the photograph below, an odd shape off to one side caught my attention.  An odd looking piece of obsidian with structure.  Obsidian is described as having no crystal structure, so why the tabular structure with several visible facets?  At first glance one might assume some altered rate of cooling resulting in a partial crystal structure but closer examination of the surface reveals a more likely explanation for the structure observed in this piece of obsidian.  In the second photograph notice the seam running down one of the facets.  This does not appear to be a crack but rather the junction between 2 masses of melted obsidian.  In addition, the surface is covered with the remnants of small air bubbles of uniform size, suggesting a small space between the surface of the cooling, and out gassing obsidian, and some other structure.  If exposed during the cooling process one would not expect a uniform surface of preserved escaping gas bubbles but rather a surface smooth surface as shown in the first photograph below.  The underside of the obsidian, a partial view in the third photograph, displays some bubbles but of varying sizes.  Rather than demonstrating some obsidian crystalline structure a more likely explanation is that this piece of obsidian represents a cast and is a positive naturally created from a negative in the host rock.

The next question that arises is more perplexing, if the crystal like structure observed in the obsidian is the result of a natural casting process that took place during a period volcanic activity in the San Bernardino Valley, what was the original positive that gave rise to the cast into which the molten obsidian migrated and filled.  The octahedral nature of the facets combined with the tabular layering found in a volcanic setting could be any number of minerals.  For example Pyrite or Spinel are both octahedral, but a diamond would also be nice.  Though I doubt the magma pipe goes deep enough to reach the temperatures and pressures required for diamond formation.

Obsidian nodule partially embedded in basalt

Upper surface of obsidian

End face of obsidian with larger air bubbles visible on the undersurface

Paramore Crater with the Portal Rodeo Hiking Club

In a celebration of spring in the valley and the arrival of the poppies the Portal Rodeo hiking club visited Paramore Crater.  One of several volcanic maar craters, Paramore Crater lies south of the drainage divide separating the San Simon Valley and San Bernardino Valley.  Located on a private ranch, permission was granted by the rancher for the hiking club to travel across the ranch to the base of the crater for this hike.  Covering about 5 miles with only about 400 ft of elevation change, the crater is a spectacular viewing point for spring wild flowers blooming in the San Bernardino Valley.  The surrounding cinder cones in the Geranimo lava field, part of the Boot Heel volcanic field, were carpeted with yellow poppies and bladderpods and the color grew more intense as the day progressed.

Named in honor of James Harrison Parramore, who in partnership with Claiborne Walker Merchant created one of the early ranches in the San Simon Valley the San Simon Cattle and Canal Company, the crater is a result of the interaction between lava rising towards the surface and ground water.  The resulting steam explosion leaves a large circular crater often mistaken for a meteor impact site.   Two other maar craters are found to the southwest of Paramore Crater.  One is similar in size to Paramore Crater while the smaller one is known as Neville Crater.

After an easy walk to the rim of the crater, the group dropped down to the crater bottom and crossed the crater to the east making their way through head high native grasses.  After visiting the main drainage into the crater and viewing the old dam on the southeast corner, the hiking club climbed up the southern lip stopping for lunch.  Exposures of the underlying basalt held inclusions of obsidian and eroded obsidian was visible on the trail along the south rim.  Evidence of early habitation was also found along this southern lip and included chipping and flaking, some hand scrappers and a broken metate.  The route of this hike may be found on the hiking page or here.

Topographic map of Paramore Crater

Point cloud of Paramore Crater from the interactive Photosynth Flying Below Ground Level

Hiking with Poppies

Ghost in the Grassland

A Finished Balancing Stone Image

Below is a final finished image of the single balancing stone from the stream bed in South Fork of Cave Creek Canyon.  As with all the other photography, the camera was a Canon SX110 digital IS. The original image was processed by reducing the input light level (across all colors) by about 10%, increasing contrast by about 10%, and adding a tilt shift effect.  The composition uses the sunlight reflected off the steam to highlight the balancing stone increasing apparent depth.  Click on the photograph to enlarge.

Balancing Stone in South Fork of Cave Creek Canyon.

Portal Rodeo Hiking Club: On Top of the World

With the reopening of the remainder of the Chiricahua Mountains in the Coronado National Forest last week the Portal Rodeo Hiking Club took the opportunity to get into the high country to view first hand the results of the fire along the Crest Trail.  On the drive to Rustlers Park everyone stopped to admire a Mountain King snake near the Basin Trail head, a beautiful animal.  Upon reaching Rustler's Park the group parked at the entrance before the gate (the camping area is currently closed) and hiked up to the Crest Trail and headed south.  The hiking club was met with a profusion of wild flowers carpeting the higher elevations of the Chiricahua Mountains.  After stopping for a break at Bootleggers Saddle the group headed on to the intersection of several trails at the base of Flys Peak.  One group of hikers continued along the Crest Trail to Anita Park while the rest headed to the summit of Flys Peak.  After lunch on top of Flys Peak and a decent down the south side to Round Park the group divided again with several hikers heading to Bear Wallow on the east side while several others hiked back along the Crest Trail on the west side covering about 6.5 miles with 1300 ft of elevation change.  The hiking map may be found here or in the sidebar.

Mountain King snake near the Basin Trail.

Along the Crest trail

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View from the Crest trail NW across the Chiricahua Mountains

Skeleton Canyon Panorama, Making the Big Picture

On each hike with the Portal Rodeo Hiking Club, time is spent gathering photographs for a large format panorama as part of the documentation process.  The idea is to create a "big picture" view from an overlook or other scenic vista somewhere along the hike that can be translated to a reader.  In the 1500 square miles of the bootheel the views and vistas are immense and it is not difficult to find vistas where a person can easily see over 50 miles.  Coupled with the fact that humans have an approximately 180 degree field of view capturing an image that adequately presents this information can be quite a task.  Fortunately, Microsoft has a tool that helps create such an image.  Photosynth, allows the creation of large multi-image panoramas or Photosynths that translate what was seen on the hike into a format that can be enjoyed by others.




Here is another example of an aerial photosynth of Paramore Crater in southeastern Arizona created from a light sport weight shift control aircraft.

The view from Silver Peak, Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona

Below is a  panorama composed of 13 images taken from atop the cistern at the old fire lookout station on Silver Peak. Hosted at Microsoft's Photosynth this 360 degree panorama encompasses the complete view from atop Silver Peak.  The panorama is centered on members of the Portal Rodeo Hiking Club enjoying lunch northwest of the cistern. Several of the peaks and other points of interest visible from Silver Peak are also highlighted.




Requires Microsoft's Silverlight to view the interactive panorama.  Clicking on the box icon (on the right below the image) will open the panorama full size.  "Escape" will return to the post.