Another Day, Another Canyon!

Day 5 began as we headed toward Canyonlands National Park.  Quite a bit of the day was spent riding on the bus, taking in the amazing scenery that seems to announce itself at every turn.  This part of Utah is desolate, hot, dry and thinly populated (for good reason!).  Yet, it is also stunningly beautiful and awe-inspiring in the true sense of that word.  On our way, there were a few stops of local interest.  The first was in Hanksville, a wide spot in the road whose claim to fame seems to be that a general store and gift shop (and flush toilets) have been sculpted inside a rock.  Everywhere in the store are T shirts that say: "Where the hell is Hanksville?"  I looked but could not find any T shirts that said: "Who the hell cares!"  If one had been available, I think they may have made a sale!

Enough said!

After another fairly long bus trip, and a lecture in route from Dave about the naming and misnaming of the Grand/Green/Colorado River, we arrived at Green River to peruse the John Wesley Powell Museum.  JWP was a civil-war hero who did not let losing an arm as the result of a gunshot wound, stop him from  being a kind of rough and tumble Renaissance man.  His list of accomplishments is impressive, including being a professor at Illinois Wesleyan College, leading the first and second expeditions to explore the Grand Canyon, becoming the a lobbyist for western exploration and mapping and being the first director of the National Geological Department.  The museum is dedicated to river exploration and adventures, and was of little interest, over all to me.  I did like the statue commemorating the first expedition

. 

 John Wesley Powell and company.

We entered Canyonlands National Park, but the tour seemed focussed on getting us to Dead Horse State Park which abuts the national park.  My impression is that Canyonlands is best viewed from above, and I believe we were directed to a spot that adequately introduced us to its wonders.

View of what I take to be Canyonlands National Park

Arriving at Dead Horse State Park, we did have a clear view of the park's namesake, a distinctive white formation in the shape of the horse.  The main reason for all the excitement, however, is that this is the site of the famous concluding scene of "Thelma and Louise," a movie of some years ago that made an strong feminist declaration of independence at the time.  Western movies seem to have been an integral part of life in this part of Utah in the last 80 years.  We are frequently told of television series and memorable westerns that were shot and frequently peopled with extras from the local population.  Each of our tour leaders have tales of involvement with or relatives who were involved with some entertainment enterprise.

The namesake of Dead Horse Point.

Of somewhat more interest to me was the overlook of the Colorado River meander flowing toward Lake Powell and the Grand Canyon.  Unlike many of the "rivers" we see or pass over, the Colorado, at this location looks like a river and not a creek.

Colorado River meander from Island in the Sky, Canyonlands National Park

Island in the Sky is a large Mesa which stand above the canyon floor, some hundreds of feet.  Hence, it also offers impressive views of the canyon vista.  Our final stop was on the Island in the Sky at a stone arch called Mesa Arch.  In addition to being the first true arch we have seen on this trip, (we are assured that there are many more to come), this arch offers a view of  another arch which can best be seen through the big arch.

Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park

Washer Woman Arch as seen through Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park.

Back on the bus for another hour to our final destination for the day, Moab, Utah, on the outskirts of Arches National Park, which is the destination for tomorrow.  

The motel in Moab is poor and has no dining facilities.  The decore is late sixties, commercial, and we will be here two nights!

Adrift on Capitol Reef

Day 4 dawned bright and heading toward hot.  Consistently during this tour, mornings have been cool but warming quickly into the high 80's, and then returning to the 60's overnight.  The one exception was Bryce Canyon, where it didn't quite reach 80 due to the elevation.  I'm told this is typical desert weather.  After a day of hiking at high elevation, I was wiped out and crashed into bed by 9:00 pm (hence no blog entry) and woke up 8 hours later, much to my amazement.  It was like rising from the dead.  I am not accustomed to sleeping that long, but a few cups of coffee and a good breakfast at the motel, and I was vivified, once again.

We were told that there would be a surprise stop in the morning, before we entered Capitol Reef National Park, and they were true to their word.  We bused a few miles back to a Flute Shop, which several of us had noticed the day before, wondering what something called a flute shop in such a desolate location could possibly offer.  It turned out to be far more interesting than my imagination could envision.  Out in the middle of no-where, a local ranger began making native american flutes and has turned it into a thriving business.  Not to be outdone, his wife opened a rather high end native art and artifacts shop, co-located in front of the flute workroom.

We were given a demonstration of flute making along with a personal history of how a hobby became a business, and given a little time to shop.  Most bought flutes.  I resisted since I have two recorders at home which I have never learned to play.  Adding a pentatonic flute to the collection seemed excessive.  I very much admired an authentic Navajo incised bowl in black and brown, which, frankly, I admit, I regret not purchasing.

Ye ole flutemaker

We loaded ourselves back on the bus, and amid the sounds of novice flutists, made our way to the Park.  The "Reef"  make a formidable presentation.  It rises up abruptly from the Colorado Plateau to hundreds of feet of sheer rock (Navajo Sandstone, of course).  I asked why it was called a reef, rather than an escarpment, or fault, or rift, and was told that the pioneers who first encountered it on their way west had maritime experience, and so their analysis of such an obstacle was that it had to be navigated like a reef in the ocean.  And the name stuck.  The "Capitol" in the monicker comes from a particular formation which they saw are resembling the capitol dome.  Hence, we now have Capitol Reef National Park.

THE REEF

Our destination was a feature called "A Wash" which is a route that flash floods take when rivers and streams can no longer accommodate the overflow.  This one was impressive in size.

Capitol Reef Fremont Wash

We walked for nearly a mile up this wash, marvelling at the evidence of the power that moved (moves) large rocks and boulders down stream like they were balsa wood.  Part of our education that day included locating rocks that had been washed in from other distant locations, including some quartz, granite and limestone.  One of the more interesting diversions was a brief lecture by Dave on the archeological significance of packrat nests.  Packrats are notorious for collecting objects which are of interest to them, and then, if they find something that they like more, leaving what they are carrying in exchange for what they think is more interesting.  According to Dave, their entire life is spent on home improvement.  The archeological significance of these nests is that scientists have discovered that some of them have been in continuous use for 40,000 years!  The organic accumulation is a gold mine of information about climate, local vegetation and any number of environmentally informative indicators.

 Packrat nest, probably abandoned due to exposure from erosion.

A couple of more pictures from the walk in the wash.

It was time for lunch and a lovely spot by the Fremont River was chosen by our tour guides.  The Capitol Reef area was originally populated by Mormon pioneers who irrigated and successfully farmed the arable land that they found.  There were never more that ten families living the the community they called "Fruita."  But, they lived well and in apparent harmony for many, many years.  When the federal government approached them about purchasing their land and farms for a national park, they at first said, "No."  Eventually, though, they agreed provided that the government maintain the orchards and farmland as they had improved it.  Consequently, there are fruit trees, apples, pears, cherries and peaches scattered throughout the park.  The fruit is free for the picking, and some of our number used the lunch break to harvest apples and pears, presumably for later consumption.  The picnic grounds were very near the Gilford house, one of the preserved homesteads, which is now a museum and, of course, gift shop.  I bought a cup because I am tired of drinking coffee out of paper cups.  I resisted all other temptations although there were many.

Our next stop along the reef was to examine some petroglyphs left behind by the Fremont people who lived on the reef from about 500 - 1300 A.D.  I always find the artifacts left behind by ancient peoples fascinating, and, although it was difficult to photograph these particular glyphs, I submit one that I think is representative.

Petroglyphs at Capitol Reef National Park

We returned to the Red Sands Motel in Torrey, for a quick clean-up and a dinner at a local restaurant.  As with the evening before, we were given three choices for entrees, grilled mahi mahi, some kind of dressed up chicken or a pasta dish.  I had mahi mahi, and sat with a group of four friends with whom I had great conversation and more fun than I expected.  Not quite as exhausted as the previous day, I completed the two previous blog entries, and went to bed, tired but content.