Coming up the hill:
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2009%20V/LosAlamos01.jpg)
Dramatic outcroppings of earth:
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2009%20V/LosAlamos02.jpg)
. . . begging the question, How did this come about? In the Leaving Los Alamos post, you will see this very same view in the evening . . .:
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2009%20V/LosAlamos05.jpg)
On the way up, it looked like Los Alamos was precariously perched on top of some skinny little mesa strip atop a butte, and I remember seeing the Los Alamos Airport way above the road . . . but when I kept going up the hill, eventually I saw the airport way below! You can see it just over the bus here:
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2009%20V/LosAlamos14.jpg)
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2009%20V/LosAlamos16.jpg)
That means the first shots in this post were waaaaay below:
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2009%20V/LosAlamos09.jpg)
The View From The Hill:
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2009%20V/LosAlamos12.jpg)
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2009%20V/LosAlamos17.jpg)
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2009%20V/LosAlamos20.jpg)
The View Of The Hill:
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2009%20V/LosAlamos19.jpg)
So apparently, this amazing place is merely the hillside of an old volcano where the erosion has carved a series of radiating gullies that show sedimentary layers from old seas that used to be right here. The hill where I shot these pictures was just halfway up the caldera. There had been a fire in these hills a few years ago, that is why the trees look a bit burnt, but the undergrowth gave a great impression of a beautiful spring day in the northeast where it is sunny and warm but the leaves have not filled in yet.
Now take a look at that little toy bridge down there:
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2009%20V/LosAlamos21.jpg)
Not three minutes and two ear pops later:
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2009%20V/LosAlamos22.jpg)
Beautiful. Dramatic. Bewitching. And good people . . . next post.
Colin