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Here in the foothills of the Jemez Mountains, the Rio Grande flows through ancient volcanic ash and lava flows near the small town of White Rock, New Mexico. The river's valley follows a rift, a scar in the earth's crust, that reaches in fault lines all the way to the mantle. The river did not erode its valley. The earth's crust in this area sank.
White Rock is a small community, primarily serving as another residential area for the employees at the nearby Los Alamos National Lab. This overlook as well as various trails are accessed from a public park just outside town.
The Sangre de Christo mountains are visible to the east with Black Mesa seen to the northeast.
Some normal pictures around White Rock:
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| White Rock, NM |
New Mexico is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. Inhabited by Native American populations for many centuries, it has also been part of the Imperial Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S. territory. Among U.S. states, New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanics at 45% (2008 estimate), being descendants of Spanish colonists and recent immigrants from Latin America. It also has the third-highest percentage of Native Americans after Alaska and Oklahoma, and the fifth-highest total number of Native Americans after California, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Texas. The tribes represented in the state consist of mostly Navajo and Pueblo peoples. As a result, the demographics and culture of the state are unique for their strong Spanish, Mexican, and Native American cultural influences. At a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth most sparsely inhabited U.S. state.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_mexico]
