Northern New Mexico has numerous beautiful areas, but the area in and around Ghost Ranch has to be among the most striking. A flock of bright blue Piñon Jays against the red rock of the canyons is a breath-taking sight and the gorgeous yellows of cottonwoods along the Rio Chama would charm the most jaded. I only got to stay for about a week during two separate trips to the area, but I well understand why Georgia O’Keeffe loved the canyons, rivers and mountains of this magnificently stark country.
At the entrance to Ghost Ranch there is a formation known as Chimney Rock. It stands like a sentinel above the mouth of the canyon leading into the main buildings, now used for meetings. Behind these buildings, including a small museum, there are trails leading past a pond and along the red rock cliffs, the main one being the Continental Divide Trail.
The ranch itself offers a number of magnificent views, plus a labyrinth to walk and several local burros with which to commune. The museum has an exhibit of Coeleophysis, a small late Triassic dinosaur found at Ghost Ranch in 1947 (earlier collected fossils from other localities were known, but none so complete or as numerous) by George Whitaker, an assistant to Edwin (Ned) Colbert of the American Museum of Natural History. My parents in law were friends of Ned and it was through them that I met him on a visit to the Museum of Northern Arizona, where he was separating a New Mexican Pentaceratops skull from the matrix. Later my wife, our kids, and I stayed a few days with him and his wife in Flagstaff. He was a very interesting and accomplished man and the little dinosaur that his team found is still ranked as a great discovery.
Following is a series of photos that I took at Ghost Ranch and nearby areas.