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Published: June 10th 2007
Utah
Utah in the distance, maybe a break from climb and fall! THE VIEW THROUGH MY WINDSHIELD (Day 1 - 267 miles)
I have called this segment “The view through my windshield“ because the majority of the photos were taken with one hand on the wheel and one taking wild aim -- as evidenced by the fly that hitched a ride just after I left Gunnison.
I don’t have any photos of the first hour’s drive because I was descending into a canyon and needed both hands on the wheel. Once that was behind me it was a really lovely drive. My first stop was in the little town of Montrose which is very clean and quaint and where I topped up my gas tank. After Montrose the road was two lanes through to Interstate 70. The elevation at Gunnison is 7070’ above sea level, the elevation in Green River Utah is a little more than 4,000’. Unfortunately the descent is done in degrees, for every 100’ drop in elevation you climb back 90’ so the whole day Sunday was one of climbs and falls, climbs and falls. The scenery as you can see was quite spectacular. I arrived in Green River at about 2:30 p.m. Mountain Time. The temperature
Utah Welcome Centre
Zero Scape flower beds change was quite noticeable, for the last ten days I had experienced daytime highs in the 40’s but by and large had been enjoying mid 70’s with overnight lows in the 30’s, but the temperature in Green River was in the low 90’s.
I filled up in Montrose @ $3.25/gallon.
THE VIEW THROUGH MY WINDSHIELD (Day 2 - 225 miles)
Pulled out of Green River bright and early. Fourteen miles west of Green River I started to climb into the San Rafael Swell. The “Swell” is twice as big as Rhode Island, with not a single permanent human inhabitant. It is a starkly beautiful land of soaring cliffs and sandstone towers. It is reported that wild burros and horses run free here. It is also one of the last great American wilderness areas. I was bowled over by the beauty; I have seen sandstone cliffs before but the largeness of this area and the artistry that wind and water have created is beyond words. Thankfully, there are lots of view point pull-out areas and I took advantage of most of them. I traveled on Interstate 70 for another 164 miles before I joined up with I-15
Flowers
A flowering shrub at the welcome centre. No idea what it is. going south to St. George. The scenery while not quite as awesome as what I had traveled through on I-70 is really beautiful. The colors in the cliffs change from bright red to white to grey and some mixtures. I tried to take photos that do the scenery justice but although I love my camera and it‘s great for taking pictures of the family, it really isn’t up to snuff on long-shot pictures of scenery. Remember the old Burl Ives song “The Big Rock Candy Mountain”? It was written about one of these high colorful cliffs, which eventually was named “Big Rock Candy Mountain.”
The park here in St. George is very nice, in a canyon of course, so I don’t have much of a cell phone signal if any at all! It’s quite a bit warmer here, the forecast high’s for the next few days are in the low 100’s! The view from my windshield here is of one of the red cliffs that dominate the scenery around here. I’ll be here for a little more than a week, although of course I am taking a two day trip to Las Vegas on Thursday and Friday……something I am
San Rafael Swell
Looking back from whence I came really looking forward to.
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Garth and Janet
non-member comment
Wow, what a trip!
It looks like you are having a wonderful trip Lyn. What a nice tribute to Wal. He is with you in spirit, that's for sure! Thanks so much for sharing this fantastic experience with us. We look forward to your next adventure journal! Love Garth and Janet