Ok, Just how many Pictures can you take of Rocks?

North America » United States » Utah » Green River
November 16th 2006

Published: November 23rd 2006

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We made it! Back in the saddle and ready to ride… walk or climb, as the case may be. We think that we have managed to slow down and are ready to take in the sights! It is just after 8am and we are ready to go… temperatures are chilly, but the sky is clear and the sun is shining - we will just have to wear coats! The plan - Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park then drive as far as we can towards Capitol Reef National Park…

Statistics

Starting Destination: Moab, Utah
Ending Destination: Green River, Utah
Ending Destination GPS: N: 38° 59.607’ W: 109° 32.454’ Elev: 4165’
Miles Driven: 177.2
Distance Hiked: 6.5 miles (10.4 Km)
Number of Pictures Taken: 456
Enigma for the Day: What is the UMTRA project?

Geology Lesson Number One - Wind and Water, Arches…

Arches National Park is only a few miles outside of Moab, so we make it there not long after the Visitors’ Center opens at 8am, we stop briefly to look at the relief map/model of the park, learn something about the geology of the area and read all the warnings about water - there are only 2 places in the park where it is available. Somehow, we don’t think that this is going to be a problem for us today! Carl has been to the park before, but only really remembers the drive into the park… the drive up the side of the cliff is not difficult, but the view is spectacular! Our first stop is half-way up the side of the cliff, our first brown blob for this part of the trip - a young desert big horn sheep, complete with ID collar is grazing by the side of the road… obviously acclimatized to cars as he hardly notices as we stop, wind down the window and take a few pictures! We reach the rim and from this point - everything is new to both of us.

We stop first at both ends of Park Avenue, where you can see all sorts of interesting rock formations… including Sheep Rock (yes, after seeing the real thing already today part of it does kind of look like a sheep’s head), the Three Gossips (three rock spires), The Organ and The Tower of Babel. Further along the road are the Petrified Dunes - basically very old sand dunes that millennia ago were covered up with other rock, this rock has since eroded and the shape of the dunes is still visible, kind of in Maria’s opinion. Next we have a to make a decision - we don’t have time to see all the park and walk all the walks… so we decide to visit the Windows section of the park and then walk quickly out to the Landscape Arch. But as usual we find other things that we just ‘have’ to stop for - first, the Balanced Rock where despite what the eye sees, gravity has allowed a pretty big rock to balance on top of a rock spire.

We need to keep on going, so we make a pact and drive out to the Windows area… to actually see the arches, you have to walk - so out we get, add a few extra layers of clothing and set off. It is early and there is hardly anyone else there, so we feel we have the park to ourselves as we walk out first to the North Window, then to the South Window and finally Turret Arch - the views are fabulous, in some cases we could actually see the La Sal Mountains in the distance framed by the arch. The sun angle also created some interesting color patterns in the clouds that Maria tried valiantly to capture on ‘film’ but was not successful! After reaching the end of the ‘trail’ we had the option of retracing our steps or taking a ‘primitive’ part of the trail back to the parking lot… only one guess as to which trail we took! Yes, we decided to take the primitive trail around the back of both the North and South arches where you could see “The Spectacles” or both arches together.

Back at the Truck we decide to walk out to the Double Arch, where the rock, instead of weathering along parallel ‘fins’ has weathered almost at right angles to create two arches from a thicker section of rock - you could actually climb through one arch, up into the ‘bowl’ that was created, view out of the second arch… and, then if you looked up you could see the sky and the start of what could be a third arch - in about, oh a few thousand years! Back at the truck we debate - not for very long - about going further into the park. We decide to do it and drive through the salt valley where millennia ago there was a long thin salt dome deposit, which through time was gradually covered over with layers of sediment, until the salt dome collapsed causing the valley, which has since weathered leaving behind multi-colored rocks and interesting rock formations. It is amazing to think that we can describe in a few words what took millions of years to occur, probably!

Our last planned stop for the park was the Devil’s Garden Area… we didn’t have time to see all the formations, but particularly wanted to view the Landscape Arch. This arch is one of the world’s longest stone spans - it stretches 306 feet (93 meters) and is only 11 feet (3.3 meters) thick at its center, although it looks thinner than this in “person.” Actually, it was thicker until 1991 when a slab 5 feet deep and 60 foot long section dropped from the underside of the arch… hence, no walking up to the arch - we had to stay well away from the ‘danger’ as we snapped our pictures. We had seen pictures of the arch in the National Park information, but in ‘person’ it was far more impressive! It was a 0.8 mile (1.3 Km) walk to the arch and well worth the effort, but along the way we got distracted and took side trips to both Pine Tree Arch and Tunnel Arch. Both were interesting, but not as spectacular as the Landscape Arch. Unfortunately, by now we were starting to feel the effects of 2 weeks off - we are going to have to put in some more miles if we hope to do some of the more challenging hikes in the next few days!! Back at the truck, we fixed some lunch and took off… to our next destination!

Geology Lesson Number Two - Water and Gravity, Canyons…

From Arches National Park, the drive to Canyonlands National Park was not very far, it was just up, up, up… Along the way we stopped to view the Merrimac and Monitor Buttes - two Buttes, which, if you use your imagination look like silhouettes of the legendary Civil War Ironclad Ships. But these didn’t prepare us at all for our first view of the park. The park is divided into 3 sections by the Colorado and Green Rivers which meet almost at the center. The section we were in was “Island in the Sky”… we couldn’t really understand why until we looked down - into this unbelievable two level canyon 2,200 feet deep - and then across the many sub-canyons to the horizon over 100 miles distant! Neither Carl, nor Maria had been to the Park so we were not really familiar with the “smaller” sights - so we stopped first at the Visitors Center. By this stage it was 3pm and we didn’t have much sunlight left in the day… The Park Ranger suggested that we stick to the Overlooks and take in the sunset; we of course thought that perhaps we could squeeze in a few more items!

Our first stop was the Shafer Canyon Overlook - from here you could view the switchbacks of the 4-wheel drive track into the canyon. It turns out that there is a 100 mile long rim road that follows the White Rim - the first level within the Canyon… now Carl definitely thinks that next time we do this trip we need to bring a Jeep! Further along there is a trail to the Mesa Arch, yes we had been looking at Arches all morning, but this promised to be different… and it was! We walked the quarter mile out to the arch for a different view of the Colorado River canyon - you can see the canyon (the white rim, then part way to the river), several rock formations (Washer Woman Arch, Monster Tower and Airport Tower) and the La Sal Mountains all through the frame of the Arch. On the way back to the truck we actually got to see some of the cryptobiotic crust - a complex mixture of cyanobacteria, lichen, algae, fungi and moss that enables plants to grow by retaining moisture. We had seen signs everywhere asking us to “stay on the marked trail” and “protect the crust,” but we had yet to recognize what we were trying to protect!

Our next stop was the Grand View Point Overlook - and it was grand! We could see more of the White Rim, the White Rim and other old mining roads as well as the many sedimentary layers that make up the walls of the canyon. We walked most of the way out to the Grand View Point, but wanted to save some time to get to the recommended “sunset” overlook so we came back! However, Carl did get one of his questions answered - we met a Park Ranger along the trail, and yes they do carry a sidearm. Back in the truck we drove to the Green River Overlook, where we could look down into the canyon created by the Green River - this time we could actually see part of the river. We waited diligently for the sunset, and it was impressive, but we both decided that the best view would have been of the color reflecting off the snow atop the La Sal Mountains… we could just see the tip of the peaks from where we were. After a long day packed with many awe-inspiring sights in was time to move on. It was kind of eerie driving in the dark across the top of the Mesa and down to the main road in the Moab Canyon and then on to Green River, our stopping point for the night.

Carl’s Travel Trivia

Yesterday’s Answer: There are two Eisenhower Tunnels; one is 8941' long other is 8960' long.
Today’s Question: What is the difference between a Mesa, Butte and Needle/Spire?

Ok, Just how many Pictures can you take of Rocks?