Approaching Chinle Wash - #40 in FC-CP series

Finished yesterday, but no opportunity to take a photo, as it snowed all day.  Today was bright and sunny, and the town got about 5-6" of snow.  I'll probably be really sick of snow by the time March rolls around, but for now, it is a novelty.

Chinle wash is an important drainage in the Four Corners region.  Originating in southern Utah, its course follows and crosses the Comb Ridge monocline for part of its north-south orientation.  The Anasazi that inhabited the Comb Ridge area 1200 years ago relied on it for water, as do current-day Navajo living in the area.  It continues south through AZ, passing through the town of Chinle before terminating in Canyon De Chelly.

The wash, seen just to the left edge of the road on the other side of the guardrail, curves around and through a series of sandstone walls and bluffs at its intersection with Hwy 160.  The highway forms a sweeping, dramatic curve as it passes over the wash, disappearing between a section of sandstone and continues east.

Approaching Chinle Wash

11x14

oil on canvas panel