Arches NP Part 1

Friday, July 11

After a stop in Moab for lunch, we made the short (5 mile?) drive to the entrance to Arches National Park.  Since we knew so little about the park, we thought we would do some driving around to get the lay of the land so to speak.

There is one main road that is 18 miles long.  There are also various other sections of the park that are off of that road.

Although there were lots of people in the park, it never seemed really crowded.  We only had problems in one location finding a parking place, the Windows Section near Double Arch.  Even then it only took an extra loop through the lot until something became available.  I recently saw that Arches now has more than a million visitors per year.  Fortunately July is probably not the busiest time.  That is apparently in the spring.

Although we did a lot of gawking along the road, our first major stop was Balanced Rock.  This was a good place to start for multiple reasons.  It is one of the signature pieces in the park and is only a very short, easy hike.  From my research ahead of time, I think it was the site of Edward Abbey's trailer when he was here in the 1950's and wrote Desert Solitaire, but there was no indication of that on the signage.

Beginning of the 0.3 mile trail around Balanced Rock

Balanced Rock is bigger than it looks--note the kids in the cave beyond the guy in the white shirt

Parade of Elephants as seen from Balanced Rock, with the La Sal Mountains in the background

Next stop was Double Arch.  This is one of several features in the Windows Section.  Double Arch is impressive even at the parking lot, 0.25 miles away, but it is really big once you get close.  The larger opening has a span of 148 feet and a height of 104 feet.

From the beginning of the trail

The Turkey does some gawking while taking a break on the climb up to the base of Double Arch. 

Double Arch

I don't know the dimensions, but even the smaller span is huge

Next stop was to the lower viewing area for Delicate Arch.  There are over 2000 arches in the park, but Delicate Arch is THE signature arch for the park and for all of Utah.  We were concerned about the elevation gain over slick rock on the 3 mile trail to the base of Delicate Arch (not to mention the heat), so we decided rather than hike to the arch we would view it from the lower viewpoint. The lower viewpoint is about a mile from the arch, but it is only a 100 yard walk from the parking lot.

Delicate Arch from the lower viewpoint

Zooming in a bit on Delicate Arch

One of the areas which I had not understood very well before we arrived was Fiery Furnace.  Contrary to the name it is not particularly hot.  The name merely refers to the red color. In fact, it is shady among the fins and is probably cooler there on a hot and sunny afternoon.  We did not go down into the Fiery Furnace, since that requires an advanced reservation for the ranger-led tour. However, we did walk down to the viewpoint.

Fiery Furnace

The fiery red color is due to iron, but only as iron +3.  It is also iron that produces green rocks when it is in a +2 state.

A little chemistry

One of the most surprising things about Arches National Park was its size.  It is much larger than I had expected.  I think that is because I had been looking at maps of both Arches and Canyonlands.  Arches is small compared to Canyonlands, but in no way is it a small place.

From the Fiery Furnace Viewpoint -- looking across Salt Valley.  The La Sal Mountains are in the far distance.  I think the red cliffs in the distance (beyond the brown ones) are part of the Colorado River gorge.

One of the most interesting arches we visited was Sand Dune Arch, which was back in the fins.  Much of the rock between the fins and some of the fins themselves have disintegrated into sand.  As with most of the arches, it is the deterioration of the center part of the fin that produces an arch.

Walking back in between the fins

Back in the fins on the way to Sand Dune Arch

Sand Dune Arch

Top of Sand Dune Arch

Although there was still more to see, it was getting late and we were getting tired.  We retraced our path back out of the park.  Before leaving we stopped at the Park Avenue viewpoint, one of the places we had skipped over on our way in. The light of late afternoon made this area look especially good. 

Courthouse Towers on the left and Park Avenue on the right

We made the quick trip back to Moab and got checked into the motel.  We had dinner at the very eclectic Moab Brewery and got to sample some of their beers.  It was a great ending to a great day.

Northward to Moab

Friday, July 11

We had already had a very full few days, but our ultimate destination was Moab and the national parks nearby, Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park.  We set out on our northward trek from Bluff up US Route 191.  That took us through the farming communities of Blanding and Monticello.

Fortunately we had realized from our research at home that Canyonlands is really three different parks separated by the Green and Colorado Rivers: Island in the Sky District, The Needles District, and The Maze District. The three districts are not interconnected and hence access to each is separated by many miles.   The three districts also seem very different in character.

Island in the Sky is accessible from north of Moab, so that would be later in the trip.  The Maze is mostly serious backcountry exploration, not what we were prepared to do on this trip.  The Needles district is accessible via route 211 off of 191 north of Monticello and would logically have been the first portion of the parks to visit.  However, it appeared we would not be able to see much unless we were willing to walk fairly long distances once in the park.  Given the heat of mid-July, we decided to bypass the Needles District, however we decided to go to the Needles Overlook to at least see some of that part of the park if only from a distance.

The Needles Overlook is not part of the National Park but is on BLM land, in this case part of the Canyon Rims Special Recreation Management Area.  The overlook is 22 miles back a paved road from route 191.  There is not one point for the overlook but a rough trail around the whole end of the peninsula, allowing views in multiple directions.

View to the south from Needles Overlook

The Needles District to the southwest, with maybe the Maze District in the distance.

Some more of the Needles District -- 1600 feet below the overlook

 

Looking to the west from Needles Overlook.  Island in the Sky is on top of the mesa in the distance.  The wide ledge one step (1000 feet?) below the mesa is white rim.  Somewhere between here and there is the Colorado River.

Zooming in a bit while looking to the west towards Island in the Sky.  The Colorado River is the green splotch to the right of center

Needles Overlook looking to the north towards Dead Horse Point

Needles Overlook is obviously not visited as often as other sites in the region, but it was well worth the stop.  Even the long drive back through the deserted area was interesting.  Given that it is BLM land, I would love to come back here with Silver and just hang out for several days and explore the region.  It was very quiet and peaceful. 

After our return to route 191, our next major stop was Wilson Arch.  It was exciting because it was our first arch and because it was so accessible, just a pull off along the side of the road.

Wilson Arch

Although we saw lots of families with energetic kids take off up the hill, we decided not to make the climb to the base of the arch.  I don't know how far it would have been, but it would have taken some effort to make it all the way to the top.

Back into the car, we were now only 24 miles south of Moab.  It was an easy drive into town and lunch. 

Going in All Directions

Thursday, July 10

It was hard to leave such a beautiful place as Monument Valley.  However, we had lots more to see and do, so onward we went up scenic Route 163 for more exploration into the canyon country of southeast Utah.  Driving in this area brought new and different scenery with almost every mile.

First was a stop at Mile Post 13 for a look back into the valley.  I was afraid the Frog would make me run up the hill for the shot, but fortunately he did not since my runnin' days are already over.  I will leave the running here to Forrest Gump.  Run, Forrest, run.

Forrest Gump Highway, Highway 163 - Mile Post 13

In canyon country directions are not just north, south, east and west (or perhaps forwards, backwards, left and right), but also up and down.  We first ran into that as we approached the town of Mexican Hat.  We started to see frequent signs about a right hand turn ahead, but could not understand why they were posted miles in advance.

Picture of the sign I found on the web--northbound towards Mexican Hat

How bad could it be?  Why would they post these like this? The town of Mexican Hat is on the San Juan River.  The road drops precipitously (10% grade) down to the bridge and then suddenly dead ends (actually a right hand turn) into a 300 foot high solid rock wall immediately on the far side of the river.  If you don't make the turn you crash into the wall.  I could see someone not paying attention when driving a large truck or RV might get into trouble here, but fortunately we had no problems.

We quickly made our way through Mexican Hat.  There did not seem much to see, but we did stop at the rock formation outside of town that gave the place its name.

Along the road north of Mexican Hat

Our first major destination for the day was Goosenecks State Park.  This is a scenic overlook 1000 feet above the entrenched meanders of the San Juan River.  It was a very neat place.  Although only one loop of the river is visible in the picture below, there are actually multiple loops here.  Undergoing these 180 degree bends, the river flows over 5 miles through its meandering channel while only covering 1.3 miles as the crow flies.

Meandering San Juan River 1000 feet below

Overlook at Goosenecks State Park

Further down the same road to Goosenecks State Park was the road to Moki Dugway.  A dugway is a road cut into the side of a steep hill.  This particular road is quite famous, but we did not know much about it other than it is a very steep 3 mile long gravel road.  Then we began to see multiple warning signs.  This one was one of the more mild ones. 

Even at the bottom of the climb we quickly lost sight of a car in front of us and could not see where the road went as it climbed up the side of the mesa.  We finally chickened out since we did not know enough about the road and we knew if we started up we would probably have to go all the way to the top before we could turn around and begin the return trip.  In retrospect, now knowing more about the road, we could probably have made it even with my fear of heights.  It will be one more thing for the list for next time.

The scenery continued to be outstanding as we wove up, down and through the hills, most notably up and through Comb Ridge, an 80 mile long ridge of high, funny looking peaks which we had seen ahead of time on Google Earth but did not understand.

We finally made our way into Bluff, Utah, our destination for the night.  Bluff is an interesting place with lots of history, especially given that it has a population of only about 300 people. It was a center of prehistoric life.  There are apparently many rock art sites in the area.  Below parts of the present town of Bluff is an ancient village site dating to AD 750-900. Dating from AD 1050-1250 are several other features partially visible above ground in the area including a great house, great kiva, and remnants of a prehistoric road. Current inhabitants recognize some of those early inhabitants on the sign at the entrance to town.

Note the date Bluff was established.  This is the sign on the north (actually east) end of town looking southwestward.  The bluffs in the background are on the far side of the San Juan River.

Current Bluff was founded by Mormon settlers as part of what is now known as the Hole in the Rock Expedition after the trail they blazed across southern Utah in the winter of 1879-1880.  The Hole in the Rock was a crevice they used to gain access to the Colorado River gorge.  The trail was so bad that it was only used for about a year, but the Hole in the Rock and part of the cuts in the rock used to lower the wagons and livestock is still evident.  I found this to be an incredible story, but it was totally new to me.  There is lots about it on the web, including some semi-official sites, but this site has some of the most detail and best pictures.

The Mormon pioneers were originally to settle further north, but after their multi-month ordeal they chose the current site of Bluff.  The original fort they created has been partially restored as Bluff Fort Historic Site and is available for viewing.  There are also a number of Victorian era homes in an historic part of town.  Although we drove around the Victorian homes and took a look at the cemetery on the hill above town, it was too hot after dinner (the car said 102) to do much exploring of the fort.  That is on the list for next time.

However, I am getting ahead of myself.  As we arrived in town it was not yet noon.  There are no fast food restaurants in this tiny town, but we were glad we stumbled upon the Twin Rocks Cafe.

It is next to a signature rock feature of the area, the Navajo twin peaks.  The restaurant was very pleasant, including many hummingbird feeders along their long front porch.  We were impressed with the service despite the fact that the tour bus that we had seen earlier at the The View Hotel and at Goosenecks State Park arrived at about the same time as we did for lunch.

This is a picture I stole from the restaurant's website.  Notice the Navajo Twins in the background.

After lunch we decided to check out some of the prehistoric remains at Hovenweep National Monument. Hovenweep includes six prehistoric Puebloan-era villages spread over a twenty-mile expanse that were built between A.D. 1200 and 1300 and were home to more than 2500 people.  The visitor's center and the unit we visited, the Square Tower Group, were about an hour's drive northeast of Bluff.

We stopped in the visitor's center for directions.  The ranger indicated the first ruins were 300 yards down the hill behind the center.  We were not sure exactly what we were going to see, but with the monument's map and brochure in hand we set off down the trail.

Stronghold House

Twin Towers from across the canyon

Eroded Boulder House in the center and Rim Rock House in the background

Eroded Boulder House and one of the Twin Towers from Tower Point

Hovenweep Castle from the side

Hovenweep Castle from the front

Still standing after all of these years

Square Tower and Hovenweep House at the head of the canyon

It was very interesting, but very hot.  After collapsing for a few minutes at the visitor's center, it was nice to return to the air conditioning of the car on the drive back to Bluff.  We checked into the very interesting Desert Rose Inn and had dinner at the Cottonwood Steakhouse. The latter was good but could have been even more interesting due to all of the outdoor seating under the cottonwood trees where they grilled the steaks.  However tonight it was too hot (at least for us) to sit outside and it was almost too hot inside when the power and air-conditioning went out temporarily...all part of the adventure!

Monument Valley Part 3 - The View Hotel

Wednesday, July 9

It had already been a wonderful day, but it was now late afternoon and time to check into the hotel.  The View Hotel was built and is run by the Navajo nation.  It has only been open since December 2008. As the name implies it is all about location. 

The View Hotel on the rim above Monument Valley.  This picture was from their website

We had a very difficult time finding any available rooms this summer at the View when I started checking some months ago.  I checked repeatedly and stumbled across one room available on this one day (apparently due to a cancellation), so we planned our entire vacation around that availability.  I suspect the heavy booking is at least in part due to the large number of tours bringing in people by bus and the relatively small size of the hotel.  As was clearly evident when we were in the restaurant later in the evening, many of the hotel guests were from outside the U.S.

We did some exploring through the hotel, including some time in the trading post.  The Frog bought me a beautiful Calvin Begay inlay pendant.  It is native Navajo jewelry, but it has a more modern design.  I am not sure of all of the stones, but the sales person indicated it included turquoise, spiny oyster, and lapis lazuli.

I have to give the designers of the hotel credit, they have gone out of their way to take advantage of the view of the valley in every way imaginable.  There were overlooks on both the front and back of the hotel.  The trading post, lobby and dining room all have expansive views of the valley and (what a surprise when you enter!) even the elevator has a fantastic view.

View from a window inside the elevator of the valley

But the best part of the hotel, and the only reason for paying such a high price for a room, is the view from the individual rooms.  Every room has a balcony that overlooks the valley.

View to the left from our balcony, West Mitten Butte, East Mitten Butte, Merrick Butte and the valley road.

View to the right from our balcony, Merrick Butte on the left, Spearhead Mesa and Artist's Point in the distance on the left, an unidentified butte in front of that, John Ford's Point in the distance to the right, and Mitchell Mesa in the foreground to the right.

The view from our balcony was especially nice since we had already driven through the valley and knew more or less what we were looking at.  With binoculars I could even see the horse and rider occasionally make the trip out onto John Ford's Point.  Our balcony with its table and chairs was a perfect spot to relax and enjoy this magical place.  That is exactly what I did.  It was fantastic watching the changing light, the changing clouds and the approach of rainstorms from across the valley. 

Of course, all of that meant taking pictures.  The Frog had lots of fun playing with his camera and his new panorama setup.

On the balcony of our hotel room overlooking the valley

A portion of the view from our hotel room

We sat on the balcony and took in the changing view until it was too dark to see, then walked to the restaurant for dinner.

View from our hotel balcony as sundown approaches of West Mitten, East Mitten, Merrick Butte and the valley road.  Some of the rocks on the ground in the foreground are shiny from the light rain and there is a rainbow just visible over East Mitten.

Of course, having this view from our room also meant we could set the alarm and get up in our pajamas to watch the sunrise. 

Sunrise from our balcony

Finally, here is one last shot before leaving the hotel.  We thought we needed photographic proof that we did come together.

The two retirees on their hotel balcony before checking out--life is good.