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Published: August 11th 2008
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Yesterday (aka August 9th) was an awesome day!! So I'm starting to wonder if my sickness from two days ago had any relation to the fact that it was 08-08-08!! Because there is a theory out there that the aliens (or maybe just people from beyond our galaxy) are going to come to Earth on December 12, 2012, the date that the Mayan calendar ends. Perhaps 08-08-08 was a prequel. Okay, not really. Just the ramblings of a crazy theorist.
Anyways, the point of this entry: ARIZONA WAS AWESOME!! I had no idea all of the amazing formations in Arizona. Honestly, I thought most of it was pretty flat, but it just left me in awe. Every moment seemed like a kodak moment and I only stopped like every 25 miles or so to flash another picture. The morning started off with a drive through the Petrified Forest. Well I guess first off, I spent a great night in a King-sized bed in St. John's, Arizona (nice town but there is NOTHING THERE) and then headed North to the Petrified forest. This huge area was once a high, dry grassland where there were large conifers and the dinosaurs roamed with
their close relatives (kinda...) other reptiles. But the trees all fell and streams washed everything into a floodplain which eventually led to the anoxic conditions, then silica deposits flowed into the wood tissue, and the deposits crystallized into quartz causing...petrified wood. The region is now uplifted from plates shifting and climate change. The layers that are now seen on the risen areas include sandstone (white), clay (with high Carbon content), and iron sulfide (called hematite) giving it the several different colors. The Painted Desert is a continuation of these stratifications as the organic matter forms many different layers and "colors" that take on different hues at night and shimmer in different light patterns. I took my time and passed through both of these combined national sites.
After hitting up these sites, I jumped over onto the interstate where I also ran into the infamous Route 66. It actually extends all of the way from Chicago to Southern California but areas of it are "hidden" beneath interstates or not accessible anymore because the roads are condemned. I was on it though all of the way from the Painted Desert visitor's center to just west of Flagstaff and only a few
sites actually let people know that they were on Route 66 which I thought was kind of sad.
After winding my way through the Arizona hills by Flagstaff and getting onto a backwoods highway to go see the Grand Canyon, I finally made it to the national park only to find that everyone and their dog was also there. I parked about a quarter of a mile away from the Visitor's center along the road and I'm still not sure how I got my car to fit between that van and SUV and got out alive without hitting either vehicle. But I made it fit somehow (even with my bike on the back) and took off through the trees to the canyon edge trail. My reaction when I finally broke through the trees and hit the pavement: WHOA! It...was...huge! And it was absolutely amazing. There just aren't words to adequately describe the majestic-ness of the Grand Canyon. It is just that - GRAND. It's 277 miles long, almost 18 miles wide, and almost 1 mile deep.
So how was it formed? Well...geologists conclude that it started with plates causing island arcs and that with heat and pressure, metamorphic
rock (the base) was formed...then granite...then limestone...then dark lava...then paleozoic sedimentary rocks...dunes solidified...Colorado plateau rose...and the canyon was carved by the Colorado River, rain, erosion, collapsing layers, and a combination of all these from the Last Ice Age 12,000 years ago. Some rocks near the bottom are nearly 2 million years old and contain the remains of marine life. It is amazing! I stayed for awhile before rescuing my car and driving along the East Rim and snapping pictures along the way. I even saw a gray fox but it got scared away by all of the tourists.
Next was my journey northward across the rest of Arizona where I ran into the west side of the Painted Desert, saw some of the amazing formations of the Hopi Indian Reservation, saw tons of stands with the local natives selling their amazing jewelry, admired the Vermilion Cliffs, passed over into Utah, and zoomed by the Grand Escalante national monument. Arizona was just gorgeous and there is so much more that I didn't get to even touch on like caverns, more famous indian reservations, petroglyphs, and I'm sure a lot more formations!! I didn't travel very far into Utah, just through
some very SMALL towns and what looked like a wilderness before hitting the KOA in Glendale, Utah and calling it a night as I pitched my tent beneath the stars. What an amazing day!
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