24.07.08 Arches and Canyonlands National Parks

 

Monday Move Day...We moved to Sun Outdoors Canyonlands RV Park, Moab Utah

Drove into Moab and Arches Visitor Center. Ate dinner at Moab Diner. It was a cute sort of 50’s theme diner. Good diner food. Al had a smothered burger and I had a French dip with green chilies. Very good! $45

Arches National Park—There are more than 2000 arches within Aches National Park’s 76,518 acres. There are many other geological formations including colossal sandstone fins, massive balanced rocks, soaring pinnacles and spires and more.

The campground store and office from our site.

A movie was shot here called Riders of the Purple Sage. We had to rent it on Amazon and watch. This church and the surrounding cliffs were in the movie!

Sunrise

Tuesday July 09, 2024

Al left at 6:30 am to hike The Devil’s Garden Trail and Rim Overlook Trail at Arches National Park. I worked on the blog.

Devil’s Garden inside Arches National Park includes Landscape Arch, Fins, Spurs, slick rock, narrow ledges and Navajo Arch.

Landscape Arch is such a thin ribbon of rock it will eventually erode away and collapse.

When I got to this part of the trail I thought "you've got to be shitting me"!  There were many people while I was there that looked up at it and turned around and left!

I came across this mule deer browsing near the trail.

Part of the trail is this long hogsback, I took a video of it on the way back.

It was hard getting decent shots of Double O Arch because there were so many people up there.

I hiked back to Dark Angel that towers high above the surrounding landscape.  You can see the boulders that are breaking away from the base over time.  It was so peaceful here with no other visitors so I had a nice quiet lunch and enjoyed the surrounding views.

Partition Arch is really cool, as you move around you get a frame of the distant landscapes.

These wierd veins of rock are formed as rain and ice drip down the face of the rock eroding it away.

I wasn't expecting to find this canyon behind the arch!

Tunnel Arch.  The photo doesn't show the depth of the tunnel but it was likely close to 20'.

And...Here is my video of Arches and 

Canyonlands National Parks

Wednesday July 10, 2024

We drove to Dead Horse State Park then to Canyonlands- We followed the Shaka Guide Tour. Shaka Guide is an app that you can purchase audio tours all over the United States. We bought the National Park Package and we have enjoyed the tours so far.

Dead Horse Point lower right inside the river bend.

Dead Horse Point—2000 feet above the Colorado River. The legend of Dead Horse Point states that in the late 1800s the point was used as a corral for wild mustangs roaming the mesa. Cowboys (or horse thieves) herded them across the narrow neck of land and onto the point. The neck was then fenced off with branches and brush. One time, for some unknown reason (maybe the horse thieves were apprehended), horses were left corralled on the waterless point where they died of thirst within view of the Colorado River 2000 feet below. Deadhorse Point is one of the most photographed vistas in the world.

Shafer Trail Road goes down to the desert floor, past the cliff that Thelma & Louise drove off in the movie and comes out near Moab. Starting in 1916, John “Sog” Shafer, used this trail to move cattle from summer pastures on the mesa top to winter ground on the White Rim sandstone, several rock layers down into the canyon. John Shafer is credited for improving the trail and making access into the canyon.

These photos are of Mesa Arch.  This is another arch that creates a "frame" of the canyon and desert below.

Island in the Sky—Is a mesa connected to the Colorado Plateau by a narrow 40 foot strip of land. The Island in the Sky Mesa is surrounded by valleys and canyons carved by the green and Colorado Rivers.

I bought a book at the visitor's center.

Thursday July 11, 2024

We decided to follow the LaSal Mountain Scenic Drive. LaSal Means Mountain of Salt. We got an early start because it was going to be over 100 degrees today.  

Ken's Lake

We stumbled across Ken’s Lake! Stopped for a photo for Ken. 

First off…the beginning of the road was closed. So we talked to the traffic control person and she told us a way around. We couldn’t find it so we went first to the Bureau of Land Management Office (closed since the world stalled in 2020) then we went to the Forrest Service. Finally got a map and set out. We started up the mountain and the woman at the gate said there was 17 miles of dirt road to reach the other side and the mountain lakes. She said no problem with that truck. I asked if it was bumpy…oh, no. It’s a good road. She lied. It started out ok, but then it got rocky…like 4-wheel jeep rocky and narrow…and then one lane with steep drop off scary… and in one spot the road was washing away. There was one spot where there was boulders on both sides and I questioned if we would fit! I was driving. I think Al didn’t trust my driving. 

We went into the Manti-LaSal National Forest.

Then, just when it felt like I drove 50 miles…the actual 17 miles was over and we found pavement. Ahhh… The we followed another dirt road for 4 miles to  Oowah Mountain Lake where we had a picnic lunch. Oowah Lake sits at 8800 feet in elevation.

LaSal Mountain Range--- Magma pushed up from a crack in the fault and pushed rocks upward. Mt. Peal, part of the LaSal Mountain Range is the second tallest in Utah. We saw several patches of snow on the mountain!

Al went dinosaur print hunting!

Many dinosaurs have been discovered in Utah.

The Rectory is a series of sandstone towers with names like Castleton Tower, the Rectory and Sister Superior that rise as high as 1400 feet.

Bon Jovi recorded a video on top of The Rectory! His crew cars, a building and a movie screen and everything were up there!

Bon Jovi "Blaze of Glory"

It was like driving on the floor of the Grand Canyon looking up and all the layers and rock formations.

Made one more stop and Al walked about 2/3 of a mile to Courthouse Wash Pictograph to see some pictographs by the Freemont People about 2000 years ago.…It was now 107 degrees and I was melting and Al was sweating!  Al said it was worth it though!

VIDEO of LaSal Loop Road and Scenic 279

Friday July 12, 2024

We had a 7:00 am reservation to enter Arches. We left early and got there before 7:00 because it’s another day of over 100 degrees (turned out to be 109 degrees). We followed The Shaka Guide Driving Tour for Arches.

Park Avenue—Towering Skyscrapers

LaSal Mountain View- Means The Salt. A Spanish explorer thought the giant peaks looked like salt.

3 Gossips

Sheep Rock—looks more like a lion to me but ok.

The Tower of Babel and the Organ- Named for the biblical narrative about the Tower of Babel.

Courthouse

Scientist believe that the 3 Gossips and the Sheep were once a huge double arch that collapsed. 

The Great Wall

Trying to be the creative tourists!

Balanced Rock

Garden of Eden

Cove of Caves.  This cave on the right was used in the movie Indiana Jones The Last Crusade.  On the left is Double Arch.

Under the leg of the arch

Turret Arch

The Indiana Jones Cave

Double Arch

Panarama Point

There's a small amphitheater here and This Planisphere has a dial on it for the Calendar date and the constellations you would be able to see.  You can also see the Fiery Furnace from here.

Fiery Furnace

Delicate Arch—is 60 feet tall. It was a rock fin that turned into an arch. It will collapse eventually and turn into hoodoos.

We went to The Moab Museum to check it out.

This hind leg bone belonged to a possibly 70 foot long sauropod that weighed more than 25 tons. The femur had been buried in an ancient river, now called the Freemont River, and discovered in 2017.

This relief map was made from balsa wood with a utility knife and wood glue by a Moab local, John Urbanek (1920-2010. Urbanek called it his "Love letter to Moab," taking more than 20 years to carve the 21 sections in scale to USGS Topographic Maps. John moved to Moab to work in Arches National park after a career as a military pilot.

In the early 1900's, ceramic water crocks lined with radioactive materials were manufactured to irradiate water overnight for next day consumption. Proponents touted irradiated water as a cure for everything from arthritis to flatulence to senility. Unfortunately, vanadium and uranium infused water, which also contained known lethal elements such as arsenic and lead also proved to be anything but a magical elixir, and the Food and Drug Administration cracked down on radium water in the 1930's following severe and adverse health outcomes.  The bronze boots belonged to a guy that discovered uranium and landed a contract with the US government and became a millionaire.  Of course he spent it like he had it and circumstances led to him to losing his contract with the government and going broke.  His mansion is now a restaurant in Moab.

This next part is scary...it's a not so distant past!

For almost 150 years after it's discovery in 1789, uranium was used primarily as a coloring agent for glass and ceramic glazes in shades ranging from tallow-green, to yellow, orange, and red. This dessert cup is made of milky glass decorated with painted lines pigmented red from uranium, and the yellow dish is also colored with uranium. Some 20th century pieces were made with up to 25% uranium, but it's use slowed when availability of uranium decreased during the cold war between 1940 and 1990.

Then we went to Cactus Jack’s for lunch. We had a very good lunch! I had a Southwest Salad and Al had a half pound Cactus Jack Burger

Delicious!

...and he enjoyed every bite!