Canyonlands National Park

The next stop on our tour was Canyonlands National Park.  Located only a few miles from Arches it offers an entirely different scenic wonderland.  It is more wide open and wild.  We had to watch for free range cows as we drove into the park.  The main road follows a ridge top through the park with amazing vistas to each side.

This was looking to the east with the La Sal mountains in the background.  Actually Arches National Park is between where we are and the mountains.

Another view to the east showing the rock layers exposed by erosion over eons of time.

This is looking to the southwest.  The Green River is in the center.  The ridge we are on actually runs between the Green River to the west and the Colorado River to the east.  They flow together a little farther south of where we are to continue on as the Colorado.  

This is a closer view of the Green River.  At this point it is as large or larger than the Colorado which is only a few miles away.  The views in this park are amazing.  It is wide open and you can see for miles.  This photo shows how the river erodes away the land to form the valleys.  

The La Sals in the background make a beautiful scene.

This shows the wildness of the area.  You can see for miles across the canyons to the mountains in the background.

More of the vast maze of canyons all flowing together eventually.

This is another side canyon opening eventually into the river.  This whole area was explored in the early years of the white man.  You can see trails and roads in some of the pictures which were used by the early miners and oil and gas exploration teams. 

This park ranks right up near the top of our list as far as places we enjoyed the most.  We both appreciated the vastness, wildness and raw natural beauty of the area.

Arches National Park

We had a little accident with some of our pictures.  I use Picasa for my picture managing and while attempting to backup my photos to CD's I somehow lost a bunch of them.  That is why it has taken me so long to make another entry to the blog.  I was able to reload from the original memory cards I used in the camera, so fortunately they were not permanently lost..  I did lose my original captions but I got a chance to relive the trip while going through the photos again.
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 Entering the park we were greeted with this panoramic view of the valley with the mountains in the background.

I really liked this ridge with several different formations spreading across a couple of miles.

This formation of several arches was a good example of the views throughout the park.

This is one-half of Double Arch.

Here is a longer view of both of the arches.

This is Window Arch, the other half of Double Arch.

This is Balanced Rock.  It was one of several similar formations that will eventually fall continuing the natural erosion process.

This landscape view shows Delicate Arch surrounded by the beauty of the red rock formations.

Just another panoramic view.  I love the wide open spaces with the mountains reaching into the clouds in the background.

Bryce Canyon & Grand Staircase Escalante

WARNING PICTURE INTENSIVE!

As we continue our trek making a big loop through southern Utah we are amazed again and again with the raw rugged landscape.  The views change constantly as we drive along.  Today we started in snow covered ground at Bryce and drove through some of the most amazing scenery you can imagine from snow to desert.  I know I am being redundant but it is just not possible to describe what we are seeing.  I think one has to see it themselves to really get a feeling of just how dramatic it really is.  We drove through some very rough barren country today as well as some nice National Forests.  

The first picture is in Grand Staircase Escalante.  The scenery here is awesome.

This is another one from Grand Staircase Escalante showing Powell Point named after the man who explored much of this area.

This one is of some Hoo Doos in Grand Staircase Escalante.

Here is Marcia pointing out a Hoo Doo to Dew.  All of these in the Grand Staircase Escalante are along American Scenic Byway 12 which is a great drive but very hilly and curves around with several switchbacks.  We decided not to take the camper over this drive but went out the other way to avoid the 14% to 16% grades on this route.  We did drive it with just the truck and it was scary even then.

This is the first one of Bryce Canyon.  It shows the immensity of the area with the Henry Mountains so far in the background you can hardly see them.  They are 50 to 100 miles away.

This is a stream which is part of an irrigation project the early settlers used to irrigate the valley.  They had to dig 10 miles of ditch across the top of the plateau to divert this water from a stream and this is where it comes down to the valley floor.  There is a tremendous amount of irrigation in all of the valleys.  They grow hay in the valleys which needs a lot more water than they normally get as rainfall.

Another view of the sweeping valley showing some Hoo Doos in the foreground.

This is called Natural Bridge.  It is a large opening formed by natural forces where the water finds its way to the valley below.

Another view across the valley with the mountains way in the background.

More valley views from another perspective at Rainbow Point.


More from Rainbow Point.


Just to prove that I was actually this high up.  I can't imagine why I wore shorts up here where there was still 2 to 4 feet of snow in places.

Hope everyone enjoys the pictures.  As I said before they do not do justice to the natural beauty of the area.

Zion National Park

Our next major stop in the four corner area was Zion National Park.  Our introduction to the park was a steep, twisting road to the bottom of the canyon that rivals any ride at Cedar Point!  The spectacular view was worth the trip, although Dewey wasn't sure on the way down.  This picture shows the Virgin River that cut the canyon and the Cottonwoods just starting to leaf out beside the river.  We can't believe that in each park we have visited, the rock formations and vistas are unique to that park.  We have agreed that our pictures and  descriptions fall far short of capturing the feeling of awe and wonder you have when you are here in person.

This is another view of the canyon walls that shows the steep drop from the rim.

This picture shows us sitting on a wall overlooking a forested valley with a little stream.  Imagine the courage it took for Dewey to sit on that wall with a sheer drop behind him!                                  

This picture is in the same area showing the formations around the valley.  We are under a waterfall with drops falling over us.

That is all from here we will have more soon.

Grand Canyon

We had a good trip from Farmington to the Grand Canyon. I cannot begin to describe all of the beautiful scenery. This whole four corners area is one huge picture postcard. It is difficult to come up with adjectives to describe the surreal beauty. The neat thing is that it is constantly changing so if you don't like it right now just wait a few minutes and something new will come into view.

We pulled into the Grand Canyon on Monday and found the campground and got to our site. The first thing I saw as we got situated in our site was this TREE HUGGER! After driving through a lot of desert Marcia was glad to see some trees.

The next morning we woke up to about three inches of snow covering everything. The temperature was in the twenties so the furnace was running a lot. We did not have any hookups here so had to run the generator in the morning and evenings to keep the batteries charged so the furnace would run all night.

This is a shot across the canyon the morning of the snow storm and as the sun started melting the snow these clouds were forming low down over the canyon. I thought it made for a nice picture.

This was a day later and the snow was all gone except on some high areas and north slopes where there were still drifts from this winter. This is toward the upper end of the park and gives about the best view of the river itself than from any other point in the park. I don't know if you can see it but the Little Colorado flows into the Colorado from the right.

We had a great time here. I know the pictures don't really do justice to this amazing place but I tried to pick out a few that give an idea of the enormity of The Grand Canyon.

Chaco Canyon

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLE!

Chaco Canyon is wild, desolate, dry and awe inspiring. One of the first questions that comes to mind when visiting the canyon is: why here? It is extremely dry and the Chacoans relied on farming for some of their food. They did have an extensive system of dikes and canals to hold and channel water for irrigation but we were here in spring and it was dry as a bone. In spite of that, this was the cultural and trading center for a much larger network of settlements in the four corners area. Theories differ but many feel THE PEOPLE left the area after years of extreme drought which I think explains abandoning such elaborate building sites.

Here us a rather unique view of a butte framed in an opening in one of the ruins walls. This butte stands by itself away from the canyon walls as if it is watching over the area.

This is a section of ruins that shows the extensive amount of work that went into building these sites. This one is figured to have been four or five levels high. The walls at the base are massive, from three to four feet thick. This indicates the Chacoans planned these structures in detail because the knew they needed the thick foundation walls if they later planned to build much higher. The really amazing thing is we don't really know for sure because they did all of this without any type of written communication. How did they figure all of this out?

Here is Marcia on an upper level overlooking the lower levels. You can see the large holes in the back wall that had large poles which had to be carried in by hand from over fifty miles away. These larger poles supported smaller ones running the opposite direction(smaller holes to right wall) which was the ceiling of the lower level and the floor for the upper level.

This is one of the larger kivas which were ceremonial meeting places.

This one is Dew emerging from the Mother Earth through an opening in the kiva.

Words cannot describe the feeling we had as we walked through these sites that are the oldest prehistoric structures in the United States(850 to 1250 AD). We left this area with a feeling of awe and respect for this advanced culture.

Palo Duro Canyon

Our trip is going well. We started on Sat at 12:30 and got about 70 miles past St Louis and stopped for the night at a Cracker Barrel. Of course we had to have breakfast there the next morning. Then we travelled to Springfield Missouri and stopped at Bass Pro Shops main store, it was very interesting. From there we went on to Fred and Sandra's to spend the night. They were wonderful hosts; they let us park in their drive and Fred fixed a great steak for supper. Marcia did not participate in the steak thing but she did have a great meal topped off with Sandra's delicious lemon pound cake and ice cream. Fred suggested stopping at Palo Duro for our next stop and we thank him for that -- it is beautiful. It is the second largest canyon in the US after only the Grand Canyon. It is an amazing place. You are driving across this flat Texas caprock and all of a sudden here is this huge canyon.

This is a shot of the rim of the canyon taken from our campground which was in the bottom of the canyon. Let me tell you that was a white knuckle drive dropping off the rim and going almost straight down into the canyon. At least it seemed like it was almost straight down.

This is on a trail from the rim to the bottom(we did not go all the way). We were crossing this open area and the wind was blowing about 40 miles an hour which it did constantly for the first three days of the trip. It really isn't just a bad hair day for Marcia, it was all you could do to keep from being blown away.

This is a view down the canyon which I hope shows the canyon in all its splendor. The canyon is 120 miles long and has a lot of historical significance. The Indians used it extensively for protection from the elements and their enemies. Charles Goodnight also located his headquarters in the canyon.

This is yours truly on the trail. We are having a great time and will try to make updates as time and internet connections allow.