Moab, Utah Day 4

The day started off cloudy so Laura and I went for a walk along the Colorado River.  We found some interesting rock formations and some cactus to photograph.  We noticed the sky clearing so we headed into Arches National Park to a number of arches.  This is Double Arch.

Near the Three Gossips I found this interesting tree with Sheep Rock to the left.

As we headed back for lunch we stopped at Park Avenue.  This is a wide view of that area.

After lunch, a treat from Gaye as she made us her Avocado Shrimp dip with a Lemon Cream pie for dessert, we went into Canyonlands National Park.  While the two parks are very close together they are ages apart geologically.  While Arches is comprised of rock upthrusts with arches (of course) Canyonlands is more canyons (of course- hence their names!)
This example shows how deep the canyons are. 

Note the Jeep on the road near the top right of the photo.  Note also the road WAY down on the canyon floor in the middle of the photo- that's the same road!  How would you like to drive that road?

You can tell this area is very old because when you look out across the canyon you can see evidence of the dinosaurs that once ruled this land.  Here are two shots of a giant dinosaurs footprint.

Here's a better view...

Just kidding!  While dinosaurs really did rule this area milions of years ago they wern't quite this big!  This was caused by erosion from the Green River way down at the bottom of that canyon.  We're about 1000 feet above the white rim that you can see and it goes down about another thousand feet below that!

Unlike the Grand Canyon there are few fences along the edges of this canyon.  We were able to get very close- well as close as my nerves would allow- to the edge to take photos.

Moab, Utah Day 3

As it was supposed to be cloudy today I was not in a rush to get going.  Laura walked the dog and said that it was partially cloudy so I made a quick trip out to The Professor Valley hoping to get the sunrise illuminating the Lasal Mountains in the snow.  No luck there but I did get The Priest and the Nuns.

We went into Arches National Park and went all the way to Landscape Arch.  This is the largest of the arches and is longer than a football field.  It is also the thinnest which means that it is also the oldest having endured many more years of erosion from rain, wind and frost.

One of my favourite things about red rock country, as I've probably said before, is the contrast of greens against the reds.  The predominant trees are Junipers and Piñon pines.

Piñon Pine (Pinus edulis)

As we headed down a very light rain started and the mist obscured the view of the La Sal Mountains but gave a surreal look to the buttes in the distance.

Shooting light was gone so we headed into town to get T-shirts and then we went to dinner at the Moab Brew Pub.  I snagged a bonus take-home beer glass with the brew pub's logo on it because of a forgetful waitress.

Moab, Utah Day 2

Our first full day began with me giving up on the quiet day thing.  Red rock cliffs all around us means only one thing- Photography!

We did get our grocery shopping done and picked up a few things for the dog as we couldn't bring dog food across the border.  So we went and bought dog food imported from Canada- go figure!

We drove out along Highway 128 through the Professor Valley towards Castle Rock and Fishers Tower.

The temperatures were up to 27C today and out here in the canyons it is very dry.  We go through the water like crazy!

Fishers Tower was very impressive.  This shot was taken with a wide angle lens.  It's difficult to imagine these things standing like this.  You can see the deep fissures so that means slices of them do fall off occasionally and the debris field below them prove this to be so.

Laura with Castle Rock on the right in the background and The Rectory on the left.

Moab, Utah

We left Ely, Nevada early for a push through to Moab along US Route 50.  Just outside Ely we came across a herd of Elk about 30 strong.  What a nice sight first thing in the morning.

This route travels along what is known as the Loneliest Highway, a very desolate portion of the Great Basin Desert.  You begin by travelling through Connor and then Sacramento passes at an elevation of 7720 feet and then dropping into the basin.  It reminded me very much of Death Valley which has a similar terrain.  Once you climb out of the basin on the other side you begin to see patches of red rocks indicating that we are getting closer to our destination.  Among the red rock patches are patches of green and yellows all with Junipers trees growing.  Couple this with a gorgeous blue sky and you have the makings of some very pretty scenery.

We've now met up with Gaye and Lee, our friends from the Okanagan, and after setting up the RV we sat and had a coouple beers and caught up.  We're planning a quieter day tomorrow doing some shopping and such but will get in a local hike to see some petroglyphs and then...who knows?.