The Wandering Adventurers: Canyonlands

May 24
We drove up the road a few miles to Archview RV Park for the next couple of days so we can see Canyonlands. The only campground in the northern part of the park has only 12 sites and no water. We decided full hookups was the way to go! We drove in the park to the Visitor Center and got acquainted with this part of the park. We had been to the southern section last week when we saw the needles area. Later in the afternoon Christy and I drove up to Green River to see the John Wesley Powell Museum. The town got a zero in our book but the museum was great. It gave and excellent history of Powell’s life including his journey down the Green and Colorado Rivers in 1869 and again in 1871. He started his incredible trip clear up in Wyoming. But is also included an all inclusive history of the Green River. Very interesting.May 25
Canyonlands NP preserves canyon after canyon on the Colorado Plateau for us to marvel at. It is divided into three areas with the Needles to the south, the Maze to the west of the Green River and the Island in the Sky area in the center high above the Colorado and Green Rivers. It has an amazing dirt road that skirts the entire park 1,000 feet below along the White Rim. You have to make a reservation to take the two to three day trip with a jeep. Norm is already looking into a 4 wheel drive vehicle. We have put the jeep trip on our list for “some day.” We enjoyed the rim today with magnificent vistas of canyons on both sides of the road. After stopping at a couple of viewpoints, we took the easy .5 mile walk out to Mesa Arch. The view through the arch out to the canyon and La Sal Mountains was spectacular. At sunrise the arch glows with oranges and golds. Too bad I won’t get that camera shot but sunrise is at 6:00 now! Our get up time is closer to 8:00. Looking through the arch you can see Washer Woman’s Arch is the distance. Our next hike was down the road to White Rim Overlook with a two mile hike of vista after vista of canyons and the Colorado River. Standing at the end of the trail along the cliff we could see for miles. It looked like you could touch the snow covered mountains 35 miles away. We got our first real good glimpse of the Navajo stone white rim that winds in, out and backwards 1,000 feet below the rim we were standing on yet 1,000 feet above the two rivers. Looking down on the road it was fun imagining the jeep trip we will make someday. There was a nice picnic table waiting for us when we got back to the parking lot. At the end of the road we took the two mile hike out to Grand View Point. We could see both the Green River and the Colorado River and the canyons they formed before coming together at the Confluence further down the canyon. From then on it is the Colorado river making its way toward Las Vegas. The rivers are calm and meandering until they come together and then it is one wild ride for about 15 miles of rapids. River rafters have to be ready for rapid after rapid as the river heads south. The views were amazing at the point. We were standing on a rock high above the valley floor (2,000 feet) looking out in at least an almost 300 degree circle out to canyons clear down to the Needles area in the far distance. Three snow covered mountain ranges were framing the canyons. What a sight! After climbing up and down stairs and over and around boulders with our three hikes, we decided to take the last scenic road out to Upheaval Dome tomorrow.

Chris and Norm at Mesa Arch

Mesa Arch Looking Out to Washer Woman Arch and Canyons

Chris and I at tthe Lookout Down to Shaffer Road

Looking Down 1,000 feet to the White Rim and the Jeep Road
This is on the Colorado River side of the Island in the Sky.

Chris and Norm at Grand View Point

Me at Grand View Point with the Canyons Behind Me

May 26
We started our day with a drive out to Dead Horse State Park for the incredible view of Canyonlands NP. I was disappointed with a thin cloud layer that was blocking the good light. It looked flat and drab compared to what we had seen yesterday. With good light it would be spectacular. It had great views of the Colorado River and also views of brightly colored potash pools. As they are processing the pot ash and evaporating water from large pools, blue die is added to the water. There was a display of Serena Supple’s paintings in the gallery at the Visitor Center. We have enjoyed seeing her work since our time in Zion. I bought one of her pieces to frame. I’m not crazy about the legend of Dead Horse Point. In the 1800s, cowboys used Dead Horse Point to catch wild mustangs. With sheer cliffs on all sides and an access only 30 yards wide, the point made a perfect horse trap. Cowboys herded horses onto the point and built a fence across the narrow neck to create a natural corral. According to legend, a band of horses left corralled on the waterless point died of thirst within view of the Colorado river 2,000 feet below.
We drove back over to Canyonlands NP to take the road down to Upheaval Dome. It was a short hike to the overlook and were we ever surprised when we climbed up and over a boulder and looked down into the large crater. In the center, the Chinle green rock was spiking up in such unusual formations. It looked like it could be a sci-fi movie set. My camera just doesn’t pick up the brilliant color and formations. Geologists have studied it and much has been written as to how it was formed with no firm agreement. Did salt push up under the rock layers and then dissolve, leaving the rock to collapse into the void? Or, is this the site of a meteor impact? The origin is still hotly debated. Chris and I both go with the salt theory. We met Norm back at the picnic area for lunch before heading back to the Manor and showers.
We began wandering the canyons and red rock of Arizona and Utah way back in the middle of March and have marveled at every one! Sedona, Flagstaff area, Petrified Forest, Canyon de Chelly, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Grand Staircase of Escalante, Capitol Reef, Natural Bridges, Arches and Canyonlands have made a marvelous journey!