Thursday's Task on Saturday 03/13/2021

Because I was traveling on Thursday there was no task for that day. I postponed the task to today. The task today is to post an image or images of places that are less well known yet have beautiful photographic potential.

I have chosen to depict Mystery Valley which adjoins Monument Valley but is far less visited. The greatest appeal of this area is its petroglyphs and ruins.

Eye of the sun. You can see most of the face in the rock wall including the eyes, nose, facial bones and a bit of the mouth.


Birthing petroglyphs are found in a number of places in the southwest. This one is on a pretty wall in Mystery Valley.


The most famous petroglyph in this area is the leaping ram. But most often the surrounding petroglyphs are cropped out of the image. Here is the entire scene on this wall.



The people who built the ruins here were master craftsmen. Look at the masonry work of these ruins.

Square House



Baby Ruin


Lone pine Arch Ruin

I live in an area with great scenes that are not considered icons and I will show some I have never seen from others.

Mt Timapnogos from Mill Canyon Ridge


Mt Timapnogos from Mill Canyon Ridge



Coeur d'Alene River from River road

Ben Egbert said:

I live in an area with great scenes that are not considered icons and I will show some I have never seen from others.

Mt Timapnogos from Mill Canyon Ridge
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Mt Timapnogos from Mill Canyon Ridge
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Coeur d'Alene River from River road
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Beautiful images, Ben.

I am going to pick a couple of images from a small park in Clallam County Washington just west of Port Angeles. Well known to locals but not so much for the rest of the unwashed masses like me

Douglass, please take me there sometime....really!

Loch Eck in the West of Scotland. A 7 mile ong ribbon lake less than 30 miles from Gasgow, Scotlands largest city and once industrial heart. The USA used to have a Polaris submarine base at Holy Loch ,5 miles away but even when industry was thundering away and nuclear submarines, US and British were based nearby this area was calm and peaceful. Ken

The Mountain Loop Highway is a popular recreation destination in Snohomish County, but much less popular than the national parks in Washington. The entrance is only about 10 miles from my house, then winds into the Cascades with many trails and mountains on either side, many with rarely visited routes without trails.


Liberty Mt. as viewed from near my house. No trails into this one makes it rarely visited.


Skiing the north face of Del Campo, again no trail, but in the spring firm snow makes for easy going on skis.


Sunset & moonrise (look in the water) in Gothic Basin, Sheepgap Mt. reflected.


Sunrise from the summit of Kyes Pk.

I'll go with the Stornetta public lands in Point Arena. I pretty much never see anyone hiking along this coastline at sunrise or sunset.

1) My favorite set of arches


2) Some nice light over the coastline


3) And a keyhole rock that has since collapsed into the sea

While Doug went with Mystery Valley which is outside of Monument Valley, I will have to go with Hunts Valley which is in Monument Valley. It's a long 4 or 5 hour drive I think from Monument Valley on some really bad roads which you have to have a tour guide take you up. I went with some friends and spent the night up on the rim. This is from the afternoon when we first got up there.

Jeffrey said:

Douglass, please take me there sometime....really!

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Jeffrey, I think you need a Navajo guide to take you there.......Don't think Douglas quite qualifies

JimFox said:

While Doug went with Mystery Valley which is outside of Monument Valley, I will have to go with Hunts Valley which is in Monument Valley. It's a long 4 or 5 hour drive I think from Monument Valley on some really bad roads which you have to have a tour guide take you up. I went with some friends and spent the night up on the rim. This is from the afternoon when we first got up there.


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Hunt's Mesa is very cool. I went there when Tom Phillips was still alive & guiding. Back then, his outfit was the only one going up there. As shown by your shots, you can get some really great light on the formations that really make them glow.

MonikaC said:

Hunt's Mesa is very cool. I went there when Tom Phillips was still alive & guiding. Back then, his outfit was the only one going up there. As shown by your shots, you can get some really great light on the formations that really make them glow.

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Thanks Monika. Yeah, Tom Phillips took me and Guy Tal and a few other guys. He was a great guy.

Instead of the Bisi Badlands, there is Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah



And outside of Moab, Behind the Rocks as a winter storm moves in.

Jeffrey said:

Douglass, please take me there sometime....really!

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I would be happy to, Jeffrey.

MonikaC said:

Jeffrey, I think you need a Navajo guide to take you there.......Don't think Douglas quite qualifies

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I can take him there with a friend who is the son of the owner of Blackwater Tours. His name is Casanova and he completed a degree in electrical engineering at Arizona State University. He loves the Monument Valley area so much he decided to work for his father rather than pursue a career in engineering.

There's a lot of great traveling (and history) in this thread. Beautiful collection.

Since Monument Valley from Hunt's Mesa is one of the topics, I'll add one from a sunrise there several years ago:



Bart