Pepe Paban - Botanical Abstracts

Fajada Butte - Chaco Canyon

High atop the imposing butte at the entrance of the canyon is the most famous of Chaco’s sites. There, a set of spiral petroglyphs pecked into a cliff face behind three giant slabs of rock functions as a solar marker. At summer solstice, a vertical shaft of light pierces the main spiral exactly at its center. On the winter solstice, two shafts of light perfectly bracket the same spiral. Light shafts strike the center of a smaller spiral nearby on the spring and fall equinoxes.

A Moment of Clarity

Image from my "Niege Bleu" series

Capitol Reef Natl Park, UT
~Panorama Point~