May 24, 2013

Page, Utah



Page was a missed opportunity.  There is so much to do there but we followed an itinerary put out by Utah National Parks.  We went to a few overlooks and toured the Glenn Canyon Dam for our one afternoon and evening in Page.  We had planned on taking a rafting trip on the Colorado that left from the dam, but an avalanche on the main highway between the Grand Canyon and Page had closed the road indefinitely.  Normally, the rafting trip is one way and the rafts and people are loaded on trips for their return, but due to the road closure we couldn't raft there. Boat trips on Lake Powell with trips to Rainbow Bridge,  and cross desert vehicles that take one to Native American caverns with unbelievable colors in the walls were just two of the many things we missed.  We will hopefully get back there some day.


Glenn Canyon Dam

View from visitor center of Glenn Canyon Dam and Lake Powell

Glenn Canyon Dam is the second largest in the USA

Glenn Canyon bridge that we crossed to reach the visitor center.  A rafting business and parking lot is seen below in Glenn Canyon on the Colorado River.

A cable system across the lake alerts that flood stage has been reached and water needs to be released quickly into the river.

Glenn Canyon Bridge

View of Glenn Canyon Bridge and Colorado River from top of dam.

The turbines 

The turbines

looking upward from the level of the river knowing there is a lot of water on the other side of that wall.

Monument Valley

May 22. 2013

Bluff, Utah

Monument Valley:

Danny and I arrived at Bluff, Utah and checked into our cabin.  We then headed to Monument Valley.  Monument Valley is not like the National Parks since it is a Navajo Tribal Park.  We did not stay long there.  We got discouraged at the entrance over the lack of things to do there.  Only one short hike was available around the nearest butte to the Visitor Center.  The only other thing to do was a 19 mi. drive through the park on a dusty bumpy red dirt road.  We did not want to take our low slung rental car on that road.  The other option was to purchase a ride in open air trucks with benches that the local venders were selling at high prices and you were expected to haggle with them over prices.  Then you would spend a couple of hours tailing a long line of other vehicles with dust in face the entire trip.  We saw a number of the iconic buttes as we drove into the valley and from the visitor center a number of other buttes were visible.

Monuments on the way to Monument Valley.

The visitor center was enormous with the largest gift shop I've seen of pricey items mostly imports.  There were some Navajo items.  There is a large inn at the complex, too.

From there we headed back to Bluff and rode toward Natural Bridges National Monument.  We found the entrance, but didn't have time see the three bridges in the park.  We came back and took a road that looked interesting.  It turned out to be one of the most interesting rides of the trip.  We came to the end of the pavement where a overlook gave an idea of what was to come.  We were thousands of feet up on a cliff that had a road going down the cliffs in tight switchbacks.  Once to the floor of the cliffs the roads disappeared across a flat valley ending up at Mexican Hat.  Mexican Hat is named for a rock formation that looks like a person wearing a Mexican Hat.

Unfortunately,  I have lost photos from the two days we were in the area.  I know I didn't take as many photos, but I remember specific ones that are not there.  Danny may have a few photos on his phone that I can add later.


Accommodation Notes:  We stayed at very nice cabins in Bluff, Utah at Desert Rose Inn and Cabins.  Nothing is close to Monument Valley or Natural Bridges National Monument without quite a drive and restaurants are hard to find.  We walked to a steak restaurant near the cabins that was very good.  Gas stations are hard to come by.  There is one at Monument Valley and one at the motel on the other side of Bluff.

Canyonlands National Park

May 21, 2013
Canyonlands National Park: Islands in the Sky

Islands in the Sky is the most accessible of the three sections of Canyonlands.  It is a large mesa confined by the Colorado and Green Rivers with endless views of spectacular canyons.  We focused on the hikes and views in this area.

Arriving at Canyonlands NP early we watched the film in the visitor center and made our choices of hikes mostly ones recommended by Anne and Lee Sneed.  Canyonlands is a very large park.

Just as we entered Canyonlands we came upon these two far buttes standing proudly in the morning sun.

These were named for presidents memory fails to recall the names.

 

Green River Overlook: A short walk to the Green River Overlook provided some of the most spectacular canyon views.  Road trails traverse a vast wasteland where visitors can take camping/off road vehicle trips into the canyon. The Green river winds its way endlessly through the canyons.

Green River Overlook

Green River Overlook

Green River Overlook

Cherrie resting along the rim walk at Green River Overlook

Video of Green River Canyon

Aztec Butte was our first hike.  It rose up a slick rock mountain to Aztec ruins.  On a nearby mountain we climbed to caves where the Native Americans stored their provisions.

Lupines were blooming in pockets where the soil provided nutrition for flowers.

These pretty blooms came from succulents that I can't identify.

On the climb to Aztec Butte a view of the distant Green River Canyon

Danny climbing the rock face of Aztec Butte

A view from Aztec Butte of another Butte that remains nameless to me.

Danny at the storage butte Native Americans created.  It was a long walk down Aztec Butte and up to this storage butte.

A closer look into the storage area

A desert rose variety

Spring comes to Canyonlands

More spring beauties

Mesa Arch:  This was a short mile long loop with the beautiful arch with the Rocky Mountain behind.

Cherrie at Mesa Arch

Upheaval Dome:
Islands in the Sky section of Canyonlands NP is a big mesa over looking the canyons of the Green and Colorado Rivers hence most hikes start at the top and wind into the bottom of the canyon in steep down and up hikes.  We opted to make a short hike to Upheaval Dome.  Ann and Lee Sneed hiked the 8.5 mile Syncline Loop trail there to the canyon floor.  Whew!

"The rim of Upheaval Dome is 3 miles across and over 1000 feet above the core floor. The central peak in the core is 3000 feet in diameter and rises 750 feet from the floor.  Since the late 1990s, the origin of the Upheaval Dome structure has been considered to be either a pinched-off salt dome or a complex meteorite impact crater."

Upheaval Dome is the strange green peak in the crater.

Interesting piles of drift wood gathered from the dry washes form fences

Closer look at the fences

Danny on the edge

An incredible butte rises from the canyon floor

The setting of the large butte seen above

A final Arch

A view through the arch

Another view through the arch

As close to the Rockies as we would be

Our time in Moab, Utah is coming to an end and we head for Monument Valley.

Bird Notes:  Few birds were seen but tiny, vocal Gray Vireos made their presence known.
Cherrie's Bird List:  eBird List for Canyonlands NP

Vocal Gray Vireos

More Gray Vireos

Juniper Titmouse

Ash-throated Flycatcher