On the way to Canyonlands today (there are three sections; we went to the Needles area), we stopped at what is called Newspaper Rock.  The rock is perhaps 20' wide and at least as high and is full of petroglyphs.  No one knows for sure what the different symbols mean.  Some are easily recognized as buffalo, big horn sheep, circles with different symbols in the center but their meaning is unclear.  It is believed, for instance, that many hands drawn in close proximity is supposed to mean a family gathering such as a wedding.  There were so many different 'pictures' on this one rock, I wonder at their meaning and over what period of time they were put there.

We first went to the Visitor Center in Canyonlands and got information from the Ranger on several different trails.  We walked two short ones (it was hot in the sun).  At the end of the first, we saw what was once a grain storage bin set into the crevice of a rock by Native Americans.  The second was a bit more challenging (we had to climb two latters to get to higher levels) but was well worth the effort.  Again we saw petroglyphs and then a few pictographs.  It was evident that the overhang areas were used by Native Americans and one supposedly used by pioneers.  Interesting.

Example of a "needle"

Storage bin in rock crevice

A pictograph

Water seeps through this rock giving life to plants and small animals

These things belonged to some pioneer(s) who lived in this overhang area until 1875

Canyonlands is a wilderness of rock at the heart of the Colorado Plateau.  Water and gravity are the primary architects of this land, cutting flat layers of sedimentary rock into hundreds of canyons, mesas, buttes, fins, arches, and spires.  It remains primarily untrammeled--roads are mostly unpaved, the trails primitive, and rivers free flowing.  Bighorn sheep, coyotes and other native animals roam its encompassing 527 square miles.







8/30/12

Today we left Capitol Reef and headed for Natural Bridges National Monument.  On the way we drove through Glen Canyon.  We were still seeing a lot of sandstone formations but, unlike Capitol Reef, they were almost entirely one color - reddish brown.  A pronghorn antelope ran across the road in front of us just before we reached the Glen Canyon area.  Poor thing ran into a fence after crossing and acted so confused.

There are three natural bridges in the Monument: Sipapu, the second largest natural bridge in the world; Kachina Bridge, a massive bridge which is considered the "youngest" of the three; and Owachomo Bridge which is the oldest of the three.

Sipapu Bridge

In Hopi mythology, a "sipapu" is a gateway through which souls may pass to the spirit world.

Owachomo Bridge

Kachina Bridge

Kachina is a massive bridge and is considered the youngest of the three bridges because of the thickness of its span. The relative small size of its opening and its orientation make it difficult to see from the overlook.

Owachomo means "rock mound" in Hopi and is named after the rock formation on top of the southeast end of the bridge.  This bridge could collapse at any time (the middle of arch top is relatively thin and is the most likely spot to give way and collapse the bridge).

8/29/12

Spent the day exploring Capitol Reef National Park.  The Park got it's name from one of the formations that looks like the Capitol Dome in Washington, DC.  65 million years ago, a great buckle in the Earth's crust formed that stretches across south-central Utah.  The great force, which later caused the uplifting of the Colorado Plateau, is called the Waterpocket Fold.  This Fold created a barrier, another name is a reef. Thus the name, Capitol Reef.  The Park is filled with many different formations of varying colors.  It is a truly beautiful place whose look  changes as the sun shifts in the sky.  

In addition to the sandstone formations, we saw petroglyphs that are believed to have been drawn by the Fremont tribe.  For those of you who don't know the difference between a petroglyph and a pictograph:  A petroglyph is a symbol that is 'pecked' (with a tool) into the rock; a pictograph is one that is painted on the rock.  Pictographs don't last as long as petroglyphs.

Water freezing and thawing eventually cracks the rock and pieces fall out forming a hollow like this one.

Looking down the Grand Wash

Capital  Dome

Another type of formation

The sandstone formations and structures found in Utah (primarily) are the result of this part of North America being under the sea millions of years ago.  The sand, plants, animal life and minerals in the sea plus nature's "cementing" materials plus time, volcanic activity, wind and water are the bases for all of the sandstone in its various forms here.  The black coloring that appears on some rock faces is caused by manganese. They are unsure about how it gets there - either by seepage from within the rock or airborne particles.  I vote for seepage after seeing some of the rock faces.

Today we left the KOA in Vernal UT and drove to Capitol Reef National Park.  Between there and here (we are staying at a Best Western in the Park for tonight and tomorrow night) we again got into big sky country but different from Montana.  Instead of vast open flat spaces, we saw flat, arid countryside dotted with mounds, mesas, buttes and what appeared to be mountains - or all of the above - (the variety of shapes is awesome) in varying colors from dirty white to tan to brown to reddish purple to charcoal gray; and then suddenly we would get a glimpse of green--trees, corn, grass or alfalfa--that were either near a river or on land that's being irrigated.  The variety of shapes is awesome.  At times we saw rocks precariously perched on the tops of the shapes or on hillsides.  Just before entering the Park, the ground turned to a reddish tan sand that was sprouted with dry grasses or sagebrush.  

We passed a coal burning electric generation plant on the Price River (which at that particular point was little more than a trickle) as well as oil rigs and areas of coal mining. 

Tomorrow we will spend the day in Capitol Reef.

Inside Capitol Reef NP

Inside Capitol Reef NP

Inside Capitol Reef NP

8/27/12

Today was spent at Dinosaur National Monument.  We arrived at the Visitor Center around 11 a.m. and were promptly taken by tram to the Quarry Exhibit Hall where the back wall is a mass of petrified dinosaur bones (the Hall was built around a dig site).  After going through the Hall and reading the information provided, we took a self-guided tour along Cub Creek Road primarily in search of petroglyphs that date back 1,000 years.  It was much too hot to hike around or we would have seen more. 

Section of back wall of Quarry Hall

Section of Quarry Hall back wall

Flute Player petroglyph

Lizard petroglyph

8/26/12

Today was our day for seeing wildlife as well as the beautiful Flaming Gorge and Red Canyon.  We started out in Flaming Gorge, named by a one-armed soldier who mapped the area.   We went well into Sheeps Creek Canyon; besides the beautiful rock formations and the rambling, babbling creek we saw there, we were also treated to a gray fox running across the road in front of us.  We proceeded on to Flaming Gorge Dam (which is on the Green River and created a 91 mile long lake) where we viewed a film about it's creation and the electrical power it provides the area.  As we drove higher and higher we were able to look down on the Lake and see how it curved in around the canyons and bays it created

Entering Flaming Gorge

Sheeps Creek Canyon

We got to Red Canyon and were promptly greeted by a group of Big Horn sheep--lambs and ewes.  The Park Service person told us that the rams rarely come into the Park staying primarily on the cliffs.  After or Visitor Center visit, we went in search of a shady picnic table to have our lunch.  The one we found was by a small lake in which we saw a moose cow standing on the far side in the lake eating aquatic plans that she pulled from the bottom of the lake.  We also had a chipmunk come near hoping for a few crumbs to be left behind from our lunch.

Flaming Gorge Lake

Big Horn Sheep lambs

Our lunchtime visitor

Moose cow across the lake

Today we started out for Flaming Gorge which is on the border of Wyoming and Utah.  We never made it.  We stopped along the way at Fossil Butte National Monument.  Fifty million years ago Fossil Lake teemed with life.  Since then lake sediments have turned to limestone which entombs the remains of plants and animals.  To find them thin rock layers are split like the pages in a stone book.  It's hard to believe that this dry and arid land could ever have been under water but the evidence proves it was--millions of years ago.

The layer below the white top .of this butte is where fossils are being found

Another view of the area.

Incidentally the difference between a National Monument and a National Park is that the President can designate a National Monument.  It takes an act of congress to establish a National Park!

8/24/12

Today we visited Craters of the Moon National Monument near Arco, ID.  It's like nothing I ever saw before - created by volcanic activity thousands of years ago.  It covers a vast area of which we saw only a little.  We saw cinder cones, spatter cones, lava tubes and caves which are really lava tubes that gave opened up.  The area temperatures range as high as 150 degrees F in summer and -20 degrees in the winter.  It was very windy and apparently often is.  It is very dry (we saw tumbleweed race across the road in front of us as we approached the Monument) and, at least on this day, almost cool.  You would think nothing could grow or live in that environment but it does.  There are limber pines and plants of varying types.  Among the animals that live there are chipmunks, ground squirrels, yellow bellied marmots, pack rats and pikas.  A truly fascinating place across which some of those hardy Oregon Trail folks traveled.  Native Americans have lived and crossed the area for eons and believe it is a sacred place.

Cinder cone about 600' high that we walked up

Spatter cone

Snow cone

Indian Cave (collapsed lava tube)

8/23/12

From Baker City, OR we drove to Boise, ID and again marveled at the dryness of the land unless relieved by irrigation.  It appears that water showers the land from morning till night.  At least in Idaho, the crops include wheat, alfalfa, corn, sugar beets and onions.  

We visited the Idaho State Penitentiary in Boise.  It was first occupied in 1873 and remained in operation until 1974.  A number of the buildings were added by using prison labor to build them.  A totally separate building, ringed with a 12' wall, housed the women.  In 1976, the penitentiary was added to the National Registry.

A unique aspect of this prison was its rose gardens

Prison walls and guards post

8/22/12

We left the campsite, and on the advise of another camper and an Oregon City resident who volunteers at the SP, we traveled to Baker City to visit the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center there.  One can't imagine the hardships those early settlers must have faced and overcome.  The land around the Center was probably typical for too much of the trek:  dry, dusty land covered with sagebrush and grasses.  Only where there was a river, would the area be treed and green.  Can you imagine leaving your family and most of your possessions behind to take off in a covered wagon into the unknown? I can't.

Depiction of a wagon train

A typical wagon on the Oregon Trail

Today at least some of the landscape is relieved by acres and acres of wheat, corn, alfalfa under cultivation because the land is irrigated.

Here are some of the pictures that should have been in the last couple of  blog postings:

Pole climbing at Squamish Logging Day Event

Log rolling - Squamish Logging Day Event

Mask- Aboriginal Cultural Center, Whistler, BC

Mask - Aboriginal Cultural Center, Whistler, BC

Black Bear we 'met' on last hike of August Camp

Giant Sitka Spruce at Hoh Rainforest

Nursery log in Hoh Rainforest, Olympia National Park

Mt. St. Helens

Astoria Column, Astoria, OR

Miles & miles of beaches - Oregon coast

Another section of Oregon coastline

The Spruce Goose

Yaquina Head Lighthouse

8/18/12

Today was a day of driving and stopping as we traveled along the Columbia River Scenic Highway.  The western end of the highway is picked up just east of Portland, Oregon.  The drive is located on the borders of Washington and Oregon.  The western end is lush and green; we saw numerous waterfalls and towering cliffs.  The landscape changed as we drove further up the Columbia becoming less treed and somewhat less green.   By the time we got to the eastern most part of the river (before it turns northward into Washington state) the had flattened and become arid and almost desert-like.   Along the borders of the two states the Columbia has five dams, some with locks to allow shipping up the river.  These five dams supply 1/3 or 1/2 of all the hydroelectric power produced in the US.  We stopped at Bonneville, the first dam ,where we were given a lot of information about the dam being built, the spillways and the effect they can have on salmon, and the salmon ladders which (supposedly) allow the salmon to return up stream to their spawning grounds.   (According to a PBS show I saw in the Pacific Salmon before we left, the fish program is not really working and supposedly several of the dams further up river have been removed to try to reverse the decreasing numbers of salmon.)  We crossed the River twice to allow us visuals of both sides of the 'palisades'.  Our crossover from Washington back into Oregon afforded us a beautiful view of a snow-covered Mt. Hood directly in front of us.  We stopped for the night at a place called The Dalles, Oregon (another dam site).

Horsetail Falls, Columbia River Scenic Highway

Bonneville Dam spillway, Columbia River Scenic Highway

 8/19/12

Eastern Oregon was a surprise to both of us.  The land was covered with dried grass and sagebrush - almost desert.  As we drove along, we came upon farms, a lot of wheat being grown in the area and, at this time of year, golden brown and ready for harvesting.  These farmlands are there because  of irrigation.   We saw a tree farm that stretched for miles and miles (width and depth) - as far as the eye could see. 

As we approached Wallowa Lake State Park in eastern Oregon,  a deep haze lay over the mountains which turned out to be smoke from the forest fires in Idaho.   We are camping at Wallowa Lake SP for the next several days to unwind and regroup.  As we were getting settled, we had visitors--4  young buck mule deer idles around our campsite obviously looking for a 'handout'.  They still had the velvet on their three and four point antlers.  The next morning, two or three young does decided to visit us.

Young mule deer that visited our campsite

Sunset our first night at Wallowa Lake State Park

8/20/12

It was good to wake up and not have to pack up and go. Hells Canyon is located between the borders of Oregon and Idaho and stretches south for a t least 100 miles.  The smoky haze from yesterday persisted and allowed limited views of the area.  The gorge is so deep (7,500 feet - deeper than the Grand Canyon) we couldn't see the Snake River that runs through it.  

A very smokey view of Hell's Canyon

8/21/12

Day two at Wallowa Lake SP was a day of rest except for the hike we took on the Chief Joseph Trail.  It was rather rocky and steep but we made it fine.  The western branch of the Wallowa as it cascaded down the rocks and ravine was visible several times as was the Wallowa Lake.  The day was a little warm but beautiful.  Our nights at the campsite were cool, the last night being downright cold. 

West branch of Wallowa River

Wallowa Lake from the trail