The Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge for the week of July 8, 2016.

For this week’s challenge, take a moment to look up. Whether it’s the fan above your head at work, your bedroom ceiling, or the night sky, what do you see? Is it familiar? Or does it show you a new perspective on your surroundings?

As I’ve mentioned (many times) before, I live in an area with a lot of intriguing historical reminders of the past.  I’ve come across quite a few of them by looking toward the ground. But this week I found myself looking up above my head.

I was exploring some trails that were new to me, east of the historic Folsom Powerhouse. Back in 1895, when the original Folsom Dam was built, it was linked to the powerhouse by a large canal, built mostly by prisoners from Folsom Prison.

The remains of the canal are still in place… but I was still surprised when I rounded a curve on my chosen trail and caught sight of this ahead.

So I went closer to investigate.

It’s difficult in photos to convey the feeling of standing at the bottom of this huge rock wall (on top of it there’s a dirt lane), but I could barely tear myself away from the spot… partly because it was nice and shady!

Looking up from the bottom

Thanks to Kevin Knauss’ blog post Folsom Prison Canal Trail Run for some background info.