Desert Adventures, May 19, 2007

Since our last posting, we have been moving about a bit and are now in Torrey, Utah, between Capital Reef National Park and Grand Escalante National Monument. I will relate some of our travels and adventures, which will have a few pictures.

Two weeks ago we were in Blanding, resting and watching a small snowstorm. From there we went west to Natural Bridges National Monument. In this National Monument there are three natural bridges. We had visited them the previous week, but arrived so late, we only had time to visit one bridge, of which there was a picture in our previous post. This time we hiked to the other two bridges. Each natural bridge has its own beauty, and they are all different -- different because one is quite old, and has no active stream under it. Another is middle aged and another quite young and still in the process of getting larger. (Natural Bridges are formed as the result of streams in horseshoe bends in meandering and deepening canyons, finally cutting through the "legs" of the horseshoe.) A picture of one of the aging natural bridges is above. right.

Here, it seems almost everywhere, there were ruins of ancient native American dwellings and petroglyphs. On the left there is a sample of the petroglyphs seen at this Natural Bridges Monument. These are thought to be about 1,000 to 1,500 year old. The images are obviously of wild animals. These differ somewhat from images of older petroglyphs and pictographs, which are discussed further, below.

From Natural Bridges National Monument, we traveled to the other side of the Colorado River, crossing by bridge at the extreme northern end of Lake Powell. The scenery was fabulous and beyond my ability to describe adequately. It was quite warm on the cliffs overlooking the river/lake, while there were beautiful snow capped mountains in the background. An example of what I am describing is on the right.

We finally landed up near Goblin State Park. The State park campground had no hookups, so we decided to boondock at a BLM campground, where running our generator would not annoy other campers. Also we are trying to get some boondocking experience with out new (to us) rig to see what is needed to improve our abilities to be self sustaining.

Goblin State Park is interesting. The park is on the edge of the San Rafael Swell, huge anticline, characterized by spectacular cliffs, canyons, and high plateaus. The Goblins are red round boulders of various sizes, posed on top of each other. These are the remains old ancient tidal waters. The formations resemble goblins to some people, and mushrooms and toadstools to others. The soil (which must of been mud at an earlier time) holding these boulders together is

being eroded. What is amazing that we were

allowed to walk and crawl about these formations, which must cover an area of about 100 acres. A picture of typical "goblins' is on the right.

While here we also did some four-wheeling on the back roads. originally we had planned to go to the Maize District of Canyonlands. However this proved to be a long drive. Four -wheeling in the Maize District seems to be designed for those willing to take a 3-day trip, pack extra fuel, etc -- a little too primitive for us. Hiking and back packing in that area is said to be fabulous, but perhaps more for those young in body as well as young at heart.

On the left see me negotiating large rocks. Below see a high balancing rock. This is on a spire that is perhaps thirty feet high, and this is one of the sights we saw on our back-road trip.

Instead of going to the Maize in Canyonlands NP, we opted for a seven-mile hike up Horseshoe Canyon, a part of the western section of Canyonlands

National Park. The was the famed Grand Gallery,

a collection of very ancient pictographs, and sometimes combination of pictographs and petroglyphs. A picture of Madeline and I under the Gallery is on the right. The pictographs are on a cliff perhaps twenty feet above the ground. Th panal extends about one hundred feet. while it is possible to get quite close to the pictures, there is a chain barrier to prevent this.

We got a special treat. We had arrived at the sit around noon, ate lunch, and took photos. Then a ranger appeared, having hiked in. He ate his lunch and visited with us and a few other hikers. Then he walked off to the pictographs on the cliff, unhooked the barrier chain,and said" Come on, let me show you how the look up close. Just be sure you don't touch them, as the grease from your fingers will destroy the paint. He then proceeded to show us all of the pictograph, and we were right next to them -- as if in an art museum!

These pictographs differ from any we had seen earlier. For on thing most of the figures had no arms. The body was decorated with stripes and various types of designs. These pictographs are said to be from the "barrier' period. They are at least

2,000 years old, and perhaps as much as 8,000 years old. Unlike some other rock art, they definitely are not Native American graffiti. Some of the symbols and signs seem to represent a calender, and some of the alignment of figures seem to be aligned with summer and winter solstice. There are a number of slot canyons in the area, that are quite amenable to hiking. One day we hiked up one of them, Wild Horse Creek Canyon. The canyon, while very beautiful, at times became quite narrow (see picture on the left). Sometimes one could barely pass through. it was a beautiful hike, and timely for the middle of the day, since one was usually in the shade.

From the Saint Rafeal Swell area we moved to Capital Reef-Grand Escalante area. Originally we planned to hike and four wheel in Grand Escalante., but again we found the facilities for nearby activities, too primitive for our taste, and the distance too great for comfortable facilities. We need to try another time when we are a little fresher.

We have had some good time, however. Mostly we have been riding about--sightseeing. One day we took a nice long trip along the Water Pocket fold. This is a long chain of cliffs, caused by folding of the earth, and probably was responsible for the name "Capital Reef". There are only occasional ways to cross this "Reef" through occasional canyons cut by creek. The scenery is spectacular.

We will be here a few more days, then we leave for Boulder, where we will meet up with family, and get ourselves ready for our next adventure; a trip to the Klondike.

Pictures Arizona/Utah May 6, 2007

These two pictures were taken in the San Juan River Valley, near Bluff, Utah. The archaic ruins are in remarkably good shape. The Petroglyphs are extensive. This is a sample of some of the best ones.
Below, see a photo of one of the natural bridges, in Natural Bridge National monument. This is said to be the second largest in US, second to Rainbow Bridge which is on the shore of Lake Powell in Glen Canyon.

Below is a picture of me at the base of the Superstition Mountains, near Phoenix.

A beautiful desert sunset. It always makes me feel good to be out here again.

The Goosnecks in Gooseneck State Park. The meandering river became trapped, when the Colorado Plateau rose.

Southeastern Utah, May 6, 2007

Since our last posting, we have been on the move!

We went from Phoenix up to Prescott, AZ, where we camped (boondocked) in a beautiful National Forest campground out in the woods. Madeline’s brother lives in Prescott, so we had a chance to do some more family visiting. Madeline’s nephew, Clayton, has recently bought a house and spends half his time living with his mother and dad, and the rest of the time living in his house. The house is a fixer-upper, so he had lots to do. Clayton is in his finishing year in junior College. He is also works as a fire fighter, working on forest fires. The summer season for his work is fast approaching.

After a few days in Prescott, catching up on errands, reading mail, and family visiting, we drove north, ending up in Bluff, Utah. Bluff is a small village in Southeastern Utah. It is on the edge if the Navajo Indian reservation and was settled in the late 1800’s by Mormon pioneers. The pioneer’s trip to Bluff was an interesting one. They made a trail south and more or less blasted a passage across the Colorado River at a place nor called “Hole in the Rock” They then worked their way east more or less following the San Juan River. What they did not realize was that they were blocked by an escarpment called Comb Ridge. They tried to bypass the escarpment by going to the San Juan River and following it up. This they did, but after tremendous work, since Comb Ridge goes down to the San Juan River. Finally, six months after starting their journey, the pioneers reached the area which is now known as Bluff, which was short of their original destination. They decided enough was enough, and they settled at Bluff.

We have had several adventurous trips from Bluff. One day we went to Goosenecks Canyon. This is a place where the San Juan River once meandered. Then the Colorado Plateau gradually rose, making the meandering river into a deep meandering canyon. We also took a road north from the canyon. The paved road suddenly turned into dirt road and proceeded to climb, with a series of hair-pin curves, up the side of a cliff to the top of a plateau. From this plateau we drove out to a spot overlooking the canyon some 1000 to 1500 feet below! Off to the distance we could see the spires of Monument Valley.

Another part of a same trip was through “Valley of the Gods”. This is is sort of a poor man’s Monument Valley, with lots of striking rock formations out in the desert.

We have spent quite a bit of time looking at archaic Indian ruins as well as petroglyphs. One day we visited Hovenweep National Monument. This is set of striking ruins in a canyon, and also on top of the canyon. The ruins were in fairly good shape, after some stabilization by the government people. The most striking thing about then were several high towers in building both in he canyon and on the rim of the canyon.

Last Thursday, we visited some interesting archaic Indian sites down on he San Juan River. These can only be reached by hiking, rafting or a 10 mile ride with 4-wheel drive. (We drove.) It was a pretty trip over fairly rough road down a long wash. We got a little lost a couple of times, but that added to the fun. Finally we came to two pueblo ruins set under cliffs. These were in remarkable shape. One could walk into the ruins and look at everything carefully. There were traces of corn and other seeds, shards of pottery. What an experience to see these thing, almost as if you were the first one ever to be there since they were abandoned 1000 years ago.

From there we drove on and at the end of the “road”, we found a cliff just full of petroglyphs. These were beautiful – really striking – and among the nicest we have ever seen. While there we ran across a midden ((refuse pile) full of pottery shards, flint striking and some curious stones that looked like broken grinding stones.

We have now left Bluff, moving north a few miles to Blanding. We are a little higher elevation, and yesterday it snowed. So much about our concern about wanting to be here before it gets too hot!