Photos of North America

In the September of 2002, Sylvia and I spent several weeks in the Colorado high country
ranging from 8,000 feet to 10,000 feet, before heading into the mountains of New Mexico.
The following pictures show the beauty of just a few places along our mountain route..
James Stoness - Photographer

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	The Rocky Mountains also have colourful red leaves as illustrated by this bush which nicely sets off the long view of a beautiful mountain valley.
	Sylvia stands dwarfed by massive blocks of marble. The marble blocks are discarded from a marble quarry located within the mountain just above. Marble from this quarry is sent all over the the US.
	The Marble River passes through some very scenic mountains. A small campground sits along the river in this location. Many fishermen spend the day wading in the river flyfishing.
	This trail is typical of many dirt and gravel roads that access the backcountry. In some places expect to need 4WD and carry lots of water and supplies.
	Marble Canyon is typical of many river valleys in the Rocky Mountains. Here you can see the typical Vee-shape of a watercut canyon. In the bed of the river you will find white hunks of marble.
	The trail below drops rapidly off Grand Mesa. The top of the Mesa is over 8,500 feet and has several hundred lakes and reservoirs. Thick groves of trees sustained a lumber industry and the area is a treasure-trove for elk and deer hunters. The motorhome climbed the 16 miles to the top in 2nd gear.
	There are several campgrounds on the Mesa top, some of them near a lake.
	Several homes and cottages are starting to appear along the shores of the scenic lakes on the top of Grand Mesa.
	Autumn colours are every bit as beautiful as those in the east. The high elevations give many opportunities to see grand distant views of colourful mountain sides.
	This spectacular view looks north from Grand Mesa towards Grand Junction, Colorado. Across the valley are the Book Cliffs and the Vermillion Cliffs of the Colorado Plateau.
	Along this steep sandstone cliff you will see a water flume built to carry water to a gold mining area. Five miles of the flume are attached high up on the wall. This represents an incredible engineering feat for the period during which it was built.
	The Driggs Mansion ruins are all that remain of an expensive home built by one of the first settlers in this valley.
	Colorado National Monument protects a large plateau of eroded sandstone. There are many grand spires and freestanding walls of rock in the park. The oil shales in the distant plateau contain huge quantities of oil that will be difficult to extract. Perhaps once the vast quantities of oil in the Canadian Tar Sands are finally used up, these oil shale plateaus will be mined and crushed to extract the oil. The oil trapped here will fill the USA'S needs for many years.
	The Climax tailings ponds show the incredible amount of material processed in the Climax Molybdenum mine. The mine is idle now, but large reserves are still there below the surface. The valley suffered considerable damage during the period of operation.
	This is typical of many of the forest campgrounds in the mountains.
	Four ladders and 140 feet of climbing take you to one of the cliff-homes of the ancient people who lived in this canyon. This is in Bandelier National Monument near Los Alamos.
	The Albuquerque Balloon Festival is one of the largest balloon launches in the USA. I had the opportunity to float over the city. Very pretty trip.

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