Impromptu walk in the NE quarter

I found myself up in the NE quarter of Albuquerque in order to make some observations on the ecosystem of the foothills where the city meets the wilderness.  There are water drainage pathways all along the North/South lateral of the mountain span and in this particular area the water drains into a particularly large basin on the west side of Tramway Blvd.  This large basin is also part of the John B. Robert dam built by AMAFCA.  The dam provided the visual intrigue to stop and conduct a walk in the area.  West of the dam runs a concrete flood channel that is hedged on either side by a park and the North campus of Central New Mexico Community College.  The walk itself lead me through the park and on to the top of the dam which in addition to performing its intended function also serves as an imposing piece of land art sculpture as well as providing a wide angle view of the West Mesa and the setting sun.  Most of the walking I have done in fact has been conducted in the afternoons which has lead to me discovering quite a few places in which to observe varying qualities of light from the setting sun.  I also noticed on this particular walk another intriguing piece of infrastructure that I quickly added to Foursquare as a place.  I can only assume that this particular landmark, based on the proximity to and location downstream of the dam that it is part of the flood control system.  The landmark looks to be large ventilation shaft that is then supported by two wooden shade structures and two benches.  There are two of these structures directly across from each other and at one of them someone has added a camping chair to accompany the wooden benches and provided a softer resting spot for me to sit in.

Another area of note was the surface parking lot of CNM and a curious arrangement of 16 parking spots floating in the middle of a sea of asphalt.  Now it wasn't so much that there were 16 spots in the middle of a park lot but it was rather the perpendicular arrangement of the spaces in relation to the spaces that hugged the perimeter.  I'm sure the that whoever designed the lot arrangement had a good reason for doing it in such a way but I couldn't figure it out. 


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Walk #3