A Return to Red Rock Country

I have been blessed to have called Utah my home for the past twenty years.  It is a truly amazing state and holds some of the most incredible and iconic scenery of the west that one could ever hope to see.  Indeed, it is home to the "Mighty Five" national parks (Zions, Arches, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, and Canyonlands National Parks) and dozens of other scenic state parks that are purposefully set aside to preserve some of God's most inspired artistry. 

 

2020 was a difficult year for nearly everybody for many reasons we do not need to delve into on this particular post.  While I was one of the lucky ones that was able to keep my job during the Covid19 epidemic, I felt stifled and cooped up to an unbearable degree, just like nearly everyone else I know.  I would far rather be out social distancing in the great outdoors where the distances are easier to maintain between people... normally.

Regardless, my wife and I were able to make two trips to the southeastern part of our state this year to breathe the clean air and settle our minds.  The first trip was in October, and my oldest daughter and two of my grand-kids accompanied us on this trip.  While I have been to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks too many times to count, my daughter, whom lives in the greater Seattle area had not ever been there yet.  She and my grand-kids absolutely loved our camping adventure amongst the red rock.  Then, my wife and I decided to return to spend New Years at one of our favorite hotels on the Colorado River east of Moab about twenty miles.  It seemed like a great way to start 2021.

These are some of the pictures from our two trips that I wanted to share with you good readers.

The first evening after getting to Moab with my family, we set up camp and then went and had a night time river boat trip up the Colorado River.  

 

 

 

This is the sunset over the canyon walls as we head out down the river.

 

 

If you look closely towards the right side of the picture, you can see the face of a native American man wearing a hat carved in the cliff walls by wind, water, and time.  

 

 

 

As the sun dipped below the walls of the canyon and the dark overtook the Colorado River basin, the boat had a truck following on the road beside the river turn on a powerful flood light on the canyon walls as the narrator on the boat told stories to us about the west and its magical scenery.  I would recommend doing this, if you ever go to Moab. 

 

 

 

This is what the canyon looks like during the day a little further upstream.

These are some of the iconic red rock monoliths carved over eons in Arches National Park which you can hike down a trail amongst them.

Below is balanced rock in Arches.  To get a sense of its scale, notice the people on the rock below it to the right.

  

 

Here is another view of a massive balanced rock!

                           

 

This day concluded with a mile and a half hike through the slick rock desert to the iconic Delicate Arch, whose image adorns many Utah license plates.  We scheduled this as to be at the arch for sunset.  It was stunningly beautiful!

 

 The following day saw us moving over to explore Canyonlands National Park with its breathtaking vistas and rugged scenery.

 

 This is looking out at the canyon beyond an incredibly high cliff where we were perched. If you look carefully, you can see a dirt road in the bottom of the canyon that some more adventurous 4x4's explore.

 

 

My grand-kids noticed these little cairns that somebody had put in the naturally occurring little caves in the cliff side.

A rocky arch encapsulates a beautiful view of the expansive canyon in the distance.

 

 Here is a different angle looking through that same arch.

 

With the massive drop offs, it is dizzying standing at the edge of some viewing areas.

 

 

 

Perhaps one or two of the discernible paths in the canyon below are dirt roads, but most are simply paths for the water to drain from the cliffs above when massive desert storms occur.

 

 

 

This is the river bottom of the Green River in the distance.  You can see some green among its banks.

And then we returned to Red Cliffs Lodge on the beautiful Colorado River where my beautiful wife and I rang in 2021 this New Year's evening.  This picture was from our back patio of our room.  I cannot think of a finer start to the new year.

 

 

 

 

My wife and I also traveled to Dead Horse Point state Park on this trip.  I had not ever been to the red rock country in the winter.  It was beautiful to see the snow dotting the red rock canyon walls like marshmallow cream drizzled over it.

 

 

Dead Horse Point is located at the end of a mesa 2,000 feet above the Colorado River, on the edge of Canyonlands National Park.  According to Utah.com, here is the legend of the area:

"Before the turn of the 19th century, mustang herds ran wild on the mesas near Dead Horse Point. The unique promontory provided a natural corral into which the horses were driven by cowboys. The only escape was through a narrow, 30-yard neck of land controlled by fencing. Mustangs were then roped and broken, with the better ones being kept for personal use or sold to eastern markets. Unwanted culls of "broomtails" were left behind to find their way off the Point.

According to one legend, a band of broomtails was left corralled on the Point. The gate was supposedly left open so the horses could return to the open range. For some unknown reason, the mustangs remained on the Point. There they died of thirst within sight of the Colorado River, 2,000 feet below."

While I cannot tolerate the infernal heat of the beautiful red rock country in the summer, it is a magical place any time the rest of the year, and I absolutely recommend that if possible, that you try to see the area at least once in your life time.  You will not regret it, I promise you!

Majestic Southern Utah

October has been a hectic month in my household.  You see, my beloved wife broke her ankle quite severely a few years back.  She has had multiple surgeries on it during the ensuing years, but nothing really helped with the pain and the arthritic joint that developed because of it.  The only real way to give her any lasting relief was to fuse her ankle joint together.  As this is a painful surgery and the recovery time before she can even put any weight on the ankle is on the order of months, we decided to take a trip to the southern part of our state to get away on vacation before she was cooped up and unable to go anywhere for basically the remainder of the year. 

My wonderful in-laws went with us and we spent several days meandering through some of our National Parks in southern Utah in what has to be some of the most magnificent and majestic scenery that God has ever created.  With that said, I thought I would veer away from politics briefly and share some of the pictures we took on our trip.

We started our trip by staying near Moab, UT at a beautiful resort on the Colorado River called the Red Cliffs Lodge. This is a picture looking at the cliffs at sunrise from just outside the front door of our room.

Using Red Cliffs Lodge as our home base for the first couple of days, we explored the surrounding areas starting with the beautiful Fischer Towers.

The next day we all ventured into Arches National Park to see some of the beautiful red rock formations and natural arches created by untold millenia of weather and erosion.

The above picture is of balanced rock.  If you look real closely you can see people at the base of the rock between it and the monolith to the right.  That gives you an idea of the size of this monster.  For some strange reason I am reminded of the roadrunner cartoons by these peculiar formations.

Below is a picture of just a few of the thousands of rock arches that give this beautiful park its name.

Below is a picture of Wall Street.  This one is far prettier than the one in New York City.

The following day we ventured towards Canyonlands National Park and stopped at a Utah State Park called Dead Horse Point along the way.  Dead Horse Point is a beautiful overlook that towers 2000 feet above the Colorado River below.  The point of the mesa from which we took this picture is accessed by a very narrow span that is no wider than the width of the road.  Legend has it that cowboys used to herd wild horses across this choke point onto the mesa and then built a fence at the narrow point to corral them in there.  At one point, the cowboys didn't get back to the horses in time and they died there due to thirst on this arid mesa overlooking the Colorado River below, hence the name of the park... so legend goes.

From there we took our leave and wandered to Capitol Reef National Park.  At one point within the park, etched into the side of the canyon walls are ancient Anasazi Indian petroglyphs which are still visible today.  Unfortunately there are signs of idiots that have carved their initials into the wall by these petroglyphs.  The foolishness and short-sightedness of some people never ceases to amaze me, especially in such beautiful places.

These days of Indian summer were warm and pleasant on our trip and all of nature seemed to be enjoying the sunshine before the first snows come to Utah.  My wife captured this picture of a Monarch butterfly that was flitting about the wild flowers near the petroglyphs.

From there we headed to one of my most favorite places on earth: Bryce Canyon National Park.  Nowhere else in all of my travels have I found scenery as unique and as mysteriously awesome in the truest definition of the word than at this park. 

In previous years on our journey to Bryce, my wife, youngest daughter, and I would hike down into the canyon amongst these sand stone "hoo doo" spires and be lost in wonder at the beauty of this canyon.  Unfortunately on this trip there would be no such hikes for us this time.

 On the way home, the clouds started to come in and my wife captured these cotton-ball clouds in the late afternoon as we ventured north towards home again.

 The trip was wonderful, all the more so because I spent it with people I loved.  And by the way, my wife's surgery was successful.  As she continues to heal, hopefully the beauty we all experienced will tide her over until she is up and walking on her own two feet once again. 

Last Month's Vacation to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks

I figured I'd post a few of the pictures that my wife took on our vacation last month to end this week's postings.  We went with my sister and brother-in-law to Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park near Moab, Utah in early September.  The scenery is breathtakingly beautiful, although I would recommend going in the Spring or Autumn when it isn't so blazing hot there.  Bring plenty of water if you wish to do any hiking on the myriads of fantastic trails there.

Although a little expensive, I would further recommend staying at the beautiful Red Cliffs Lodge while staying there.  It is several miles off of the main highway up the Colorado River in a small valley lined with majestic red canyon cliffs.  The trip is definitely worth your time.  I could easily have spent a week there.  Put this one on your bucket list, friends!

My wife and I standing with a huge rocky monolith in the background at Canyonlands National Park.