Hiking Plaza Blanca

This past Saturday we decided to go hiking at Plaza Blanca, near Abiquiu, New Mexico.  Plaza Blanca, located in Georgia O'Keeffe country, is an area she referred to as "the White Place" and was the subject of several of her paintings.  Numerous movies have been filmed in the area, for example, Plaza Blanca is where the final scenes of "Cowboys and Aliens" were filmed.

We left Santa Fe early, as the sun was rising, and got to Plaza Blanca a little after eight in the morning.  Some road trips are centered around the chance to take photos, and some are more about the journey.  This trip was about getting out of the house and going hiking after a long work week, but I did bring my camera.

After parking we walked down the hill toward the white limestone rock formations, but instead of veering left towards them as most do, we kept going right, following the short dirt road until in ended at an arroyo.  We then followed the arroyo, curving left, until we were on the backside of the rock formations.  The moon was still in the sky, and at one point I stopped to take a few photos while it was positioned in the "notch" between two columns of rock...

Later on I saw this tree, standing lifeless, and liking how it looked with the cliffs in the background. I took a few shots, trying several different compositions.  This is the one I ended up being most pleased with...

We kept heading back, towards the ridge in the distance, working our way to the left, around a small slot canyon, then up, scrambling in spots, until we reached the top of the ridge, stopping to take a look back...

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 18-55 DX
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