April 21 through 26, 2004
Wed Apr 21 – On to Capitol Reef National Park via spectacularly scenic Route 12. Stop at Tropic for a walk on the Mossy Cave Trail along the Tropic Ditch, a ten mile diversion of the East Fork of the Sevier River dug to supply the town with water. Found snow in the cave, which had been hollowed out by seeping springs.
On to Kodachrome Basin (named by Kodak) Utah State Park and a short hike to a newly discovered arch, named for Tom Shakespeare, the ranger who found it. Mormon (also called Indian, Navaho) tea plant (actually ephedra!) has spiny leaves like horsetail clubmosses. Lots of junipers, called cedars by the early settlers. Grape holly and serviceberry in bloom.
Back in the car and past the massive Escalante River Canyon and up over the Hogback Ridge road to Boulder, Utah, first built by the CCC in 1940. Looking out we see distant rainstorms on both sides but we travel in sunshine.
A stop in Boulder at the Anasazi Indian Museum showing pueblo construction, pottery and other artifacts. Then up to the 9000′ level of Cap Reef through thick groves of aspen. We learned that these groves are actually a single tree connected by underground rootlines and containing identical DNA. Past six pregnant elk ladies in a south sloping grove. Snowbanks still cover the north sloping banks. A herd of mule deer on either side of road. In and out of minor snow squalls. Ponderosa pines and Douglas fir replace the aspen. Finally over the pass and down to high juniper drylands of Torrey.
Thursday light snow on and off all day. Drove down to Capitol Reef National Park (no snow there, only light mist). Views of Waterford Fold formations, tectonic plate movements which shoved up the entire Colorado Plateau. It is a hundred-mile buckled wrinkle of earth layers and almost impassable ridges called reefs by early seagoing frontiersmen. Indians called this area the Land of the Sleeping Rainbow. Mormons settled the fertile Fremont River Valley and planted it in fruit trees, where you can still pick fruit to eat free of charge. We took a picture of a little old Mormon blacksmith shop for Carl’s benefit.
Friday morning Alan brushed an inch of wet snow off the car and we descended from Torrey back past Cap Reef on Route 24 passing through light rain to clear skies. Lots of lava ashcoated frozen dunes.
At Goblin Valley State Park we wandered among bigheaded, squatty fat hoodoos shaped by flash floods. In the river washes rabbitbrush, vetch, Mormon tea flourish and we are told the dusty rattlesnake, scorpion, jackrabbit, kit fox and pronghorn can be seen in the cooler times of day or night.
Green River at the junction with the Colorado River is a popular place for river float trips. The John Wesley Powell River History Museum gave a very interesting pictorial record of those first dangerous descents through the mighty rapids.
On across the San Rafael Desert and down to Moab, crowded for the weekend with an antique car rally. The snowtopped La Sal Mountains (12-13000 feet) can be seen to the east.
Two short hikes in Arches National Park, whose solitude, once defended by then ranger Edward Abbey (“Desert Solitaire”) is now a tourist mecca. Two hikes on the Balanced Rock and Delicate Arch Trails. Red paintbrush, stalks of thick dock blossoms, white desert primroses, foamy white balls of peppergrass, yellow daisylike stemless woolybase.
Saturday we joined a ranger-led hike on the Windows Trail. Learned that Arches was underlaid by a huge salt bed which flowed and buckled under pressure. Overlying red sandstone cracked and weathered into fins and hoodoos and arches.
The ranger pointed out ancient blackbrush, which grows so slowly it can be thousands of years old. He also pointed out black patches of biotic crust, essential microorganisms that put nitrogen into the sand and so fertilize it for other plants to use. These take decades to accumulate.
We hiked to the North Arch, Turret Arch and South Arch and back with views of the Salt Valley and distant La Sal Mountains. We heard the call of the Say’s phoebe, somewhat like “C’mere, c’mere.”
On the Sand Dune Arch Trail we made our way through narrow passages and found families with kids sliding and playing in the accumulations of fine red sand in the shade of the eroded slickrock cliff fins. Yellow biscuitroot flowers along the path.
Another hike to the Skyline Arch. This arch was almost doubled in size in the 1990’s by having a huge chunk drop out of it. Took a walk past the base to admire the fallen debris. Saw two hawks or falcons.
Sunday we drove from Moab to Dead Horse Point State Park passing the Monitor and Merrimack buttes. There a one mile rim walk provides views of the Colorado River gooseneck as well as the La Sal and Abajo Mountains. (These are all laccolithic ranges pushed up by lava emerging and spreading out below.) Met Colorado chipmunks
and ravens.
Some of the antique cars had followed us to Dead Horse, but they did not go on to Canyonlands Island in the Sky section. As the name implies, this part of Canyonlands is on the rim looking out over the other two sections, Needles, which we visited next, and Mesas, accessible only to backcountry hikers. The view is very much like that at Grand Canyon.
Monday found us leaving Moab with our first stop at Newspaper Rock State Park along the bright green cottonwood-lined Indian Creek valley. Essentially this was a huge wall so called because of all the Indian petroglyphs on it.
In the Needles section of Canyonlands we walked the Roadside Ruin Trail to a pueblo granary under a cliff shelf. Then we took the Pothole Point Trail over ancient sandstone dunes containing scoured out potholes still full of water in which a half dozen types of marine animals manage to emerge and procreate in the short time the water lasts…tadpole and clam shrimp and others. Distant views of the “Needles” – candy cane red and white clusters of spires which can be reached only a longer hikes.
Stopped at the Big Spring Canyon Overlook at the end of the seven mile park road. Took the Cave Spring Trail which led to the cave sites of ancient pueblos more recently used by cowboys (their equipment still there) and up a couple of ladders to the tops of the cliffs.
Good sighting of a gopher snake (markings similar to copperhead) as we left the park as well as wild turkeys and a newborn calf being licked by its Momma at the Dugout Ranch.
Took an exciting winding route up over the Abajo Mountains to the motel in Blanding. Could see San Juans in Colorado as well as La Sals.
Here endeth Part 2 of our travels. Final section to follow.
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