Mellow Marsupial

As usual, Alex was up at O-Dark-Hundred, so he was very ready for his soft food by the usual rising time of 5 am.  Next in his ritual is a trip outside, although this morning I stood at the back door and watched since it was wet and misty...and, of course, very dark.  I thought he might want in soon.  I had the patio light on and the motion-activated light in the driveway came on, but most of the backyard was still very dark.

Much to my surprise, Alex did not want in immediately and went wandering off down the driveway.  Then to my panic, a very large opossum came ambling out of the backyard, walked directly over the stepping stone, and made a path directly towards the backdoor.  I was nearly panicked.  I was worried Alex would reappear and make a beeline for the backdoor, which would have surely resulted in an altercation with this very large and primitive looking thing.  In any case, I could not open the door with the opossum only a few feet away and closing.

Sure enough, Alex came back down the driveway, then stopped when he saw the opossum on the patio. He stood frozen and the opossum kept coming.  The opossum then made a 90 degree turn and ambled off under the bushes along the back of the fireplace wall.

With the opossum retreating, Alex felt brave and started charging.  I opened the door and called him. Fortunately Alex is a coward at heart and immediately ducked into the house.

I don't know if the opossum saw me through the door or not, but if he did he was unconcerned.   After doing a bit of research, I am so glad he was not scared.  This is from the Wikipedia:

When threatened or harmed, they will "play possum", mimicking the appearance and smell of a sick or dead animal. This physiological response is involuntary (like fainting), rather than a conscious act. In the case of baby opossums, however, the brain does not always react this way at the appropriate moment, and therefore they often fail to "play dead" when threatened. When an opossum is "playing possum", the animal's lips are drawn back, the teeth are bared, saliva foams around the mouth, the eyes close or half-close, and a foul-smelling fluid is secreted from the anal glands. The stiff, curled form can be prodded, turned over, and even carried away without reaction. The animal will typically regain consciousness after a period of between 40 minutes and 4 hours, a process that begins with slight twitching of the ears.

I am so glad this was a more mellow marsupial and chose not to lie "dead" at our backdoor for four hours.  The cats have brought mice and baby rabbits home to share, but a very large, adult opossum is more than I could cope with.

Banana Bread -- Boiled not Baked

Although there has been relatively little to post about recently, that does not mean nothing has been happening...just nothing post-worthy.   I have been busy with teaching two classes and taking an online course from MIT, A Global History of Architecture: Part 1.  Although ostensibly a study of architecture from 100,000 BCE to 1,600 CE, it includes a lot of world history and a lot of introduction to world religions.  It is pretty low level, but I am enjoying it immensely. 

I have also been experimenting with my thermal cooker, including some new "accessories" I received earlier this fall. 


What is a thermal cooker?  It is essentially a crock pot that does not use electricity.  It consists of two pots, an insulated outer pot and a stainless steel inner pot.  By insulated I mean REALLY insulated, as in a vacuum-jacketed thermos bottle.  In fact, mine was actually made by Thermos.  Food is brought to a boil on the stove in the inner pot, then placed into the insulated outer pot.  Assuming there is enough thermal mass in the inner pot, the food continues to cook slowly for up to 10 hours with no additional energy input. 

 
I originally got my thermal cooker (a 4.5 liter Nissan Thermos) several years ago as a low energy way to cook in Silver. It worked great for beef stew, but that was the only thing I had ever cooked in it.  Anxious to expand my repertoire, I began a search for more recipes. 

I quickly discovered that thermal cookers are popular in Australia (think camping in the outback).  However, many of the recipes were in unfamiliar units and for unfamiliar food.  I finally found a place in Utah, Saratoga Jacks, that markets primarily to survivalists.  They did have some recipes and an interesting description of using it while traveling with their kids for eight days on the road.   

Based on that research, I tried a recipe for soy chicken.  It was simplicity itself...a whole chicken, 2 cups of roughly cut shallots, 3 cups of soy sauce and some additional water.  Place everything in the inner pot. Cover and boil for 15 minutes, then transfer to the outer pot.  After a minimum of 1 hour (I think I allowed over 2 hours), remove and enjoy!  I thought it was really good. 

Although the thermal cooker is obviously best for things with lots of liquid, hence lots of thermal mass, it can also be used for "baking".  Bread or cakes can be made with a container placed on a rack in water in the inside container.  The bread/cake container is best if it is sealed to avoid excess water getting into the batter.  To give that a try I ordered a rack and a "steamed pudding tin".  (While I was at it, I also got a "bain marie".)  All of this arrived from Australia over a month ago. 

Inner pot on left with rack, steamed pudding tin on right with its lid in the background.

I was still unsure of how to proceed until I stumbled across a blog entry that indicated any cake mix could be used with my steamed pudding tin with two modifications:  (1) use 1/4 cup less liquid and (2) add a tablespoon of flour.  The reduction in liquid was required since water would not be lost during the cooking in a closed container.

Well all right.  With that in mind, I grabbed a box of banana bread mix from the grocery and gave it a try today.

 


Per instructions for banana bread in the thermal cooker cookbook, I greased the inside of the pudding tin and its lid (actually sprayed with Pam), then put parchment paper on the bottom.  I then added the batter, modified as indicated above.

Pudding tin with batter, then covered with parchment paper

I put another piece of parchment paper on the top, put the lid on, then placed it into the inner pot. I had already put the rack and covered it with water plus about 1/2 inch.  The pudding tin went in and I heated it to boiling.

Inner pot on the stove containing the pudding tin with lid and boiling water.  Immediately after the picture I put the lid on the inner pot.

This was allowed to simmer slowly, with the lid on, for 30 minutes on the stove.  It was then transferred to the outer insulated container. 

Inner pot in the outer insulated pot ready to be closed.

 
Instructions indicated anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours, although longer is never a problem. 

Banana bread "baking" with no additional energy input.

After 6 hours I opened everything up.  It was still very HOT.  The big question, however, was whether the banana bread was done.

Hot banana bread

Success!  The bread had definitely expanded and a toothpick came out clean.  Yes, banana bread, boiled, not baked!!

More Backyard Visitors

The birds continue to enjoy the food and water that we provide for them.  I am not sure whether it is because there are more of them or they are more hungry, but they are going through the seed faster than before we left for vacation.  On days that it is 100 degrees or more, the finches also fight for space along the top of the den window.  I can only assume it must feel cooler to them there.  All of the birds are fun to watch, but there have been a few new developments this week.

Hummingbird

In addition to the large flock of finches, mutliple woodpeckers, many chickadees, brown thrashers and now a very large family of cardinals (just to name a few), we occasionally saw a hummingbird flitting around in the yard.  Of course it was not interested in the seed we offer the other birds, so we added a hummingbird feeder which now hangs from the main beam of the patio roof.  We don't see it often, but the hummingbird usually makes one or two short visits to the feeder each day.  We are guessing it is a ruby-throated hummingbird, since they are among the very few hummingbirds that visit this part of Texas.  It is either a juvenile or a female, since we have not seen the ruby throat.  I talk as if this is one individual, but some research about their migration indicates these might be multiple individuals on their way south for the winter, destination central America.  In any case, the hummingbirds are very camera shy, so no pictures to date.

Hawk

One morning last week the blue jays were making a particularly loud racket.  That is not terribly unusual since the jays in our yard are typically quite noisy.  However this was loud even for them and just kept going non-stop.  I looked out the den window and there was a hawk perched on one of the lower limbs of the ligustrum!  Every blue jay in the area was also in the yard screaming at him.  He sat there looking around, then flew off.  However, he was so big he had to do some maneuvering to get through the limbs of the ligustrum and out of the yard.  While this was happening all of the jays were following him and screaming at full volume.  I don't know if he was big by hawk standards, but he was huge compared to the other birds and to the space available for flying in our yard.  (Typical wingspan for a red-tailed hawk is 43-57 inches.)  He can have all of the rats, mice, snakes and I suppose even squirrels that he wants, but I hope he will leave the songbirds alone.  Needless to say I was so taken aback by this little drama that I did not get a picture.

Little bandits

The opportunity for getting the hummingbird feeder at the wild bird store was a visit to get new sacks of feed, both tree-nutty that we put in the hanging feeder and safflower seed for the pole feeder.  When replenishing the seeds in the feeders late Sunday, we dumped out some of the older feed onto the ground assuming the ground feeding birds (of which there are many) and the squirrels would eat it as they usually do.  Early Monday morning before light, Alex wanted out on the patio as part of his usual morning ritual.  As soon as he went out he did a quick u-turn and desperately wanted in with a look of terror in his eyes.  That alone is not necessarily cause for concern, since the most minor of events can terrorize Alex.  However, as I let him in I caught a glimpse of two eyes looking back at me from under the bird feeder.  Yep, it was a raccoon.  We got another light on and watched.  It turned out there were four racoons, three normal size and one larger.  They were eating the seeds and nuts off the ground.  They also overturned and inspected the bucket on the patio that had contained the seed.  It had been rinsed but not scrubbed, so probably still smelled like peanuts.  They did not make it to a full blown attack on either of the feeders.  When I opened the sliding door to attempt a picture they took off over the fence.  We had to remove seven baby raccoons and its mother from our chimney in April 2001, but have not seen any since then.  Needless to say we cleaned up the yard a bit better before going to bed Monday night.  We have not seen any evidence of their return, but Alex now refuses to go out until it is light.

2014 Trip to Moab -- The Epilogue

On Sunday, July 13, we returned from our drive along Scenic Route 128, what the locals call the River Road, and looked for a place for dinner.  Moab is a very touristy place and there are lots of interesting restaurants.  We chose one with seating along the sidewalk.  This would not normally be noteworthy, but it was 102 degrees in the shade.  However they had a mister, which significantly dropped the temperature in the dry air of southeastern Utah.

We then did some exploring of a few of the shops along Main Street.  The Frog got a couple of original Red Dirt Shirts...dyed using only real red dirt!  We also found an interesting book about movie making in the southwest, Cinema Southwest, at a local gift shop.  We had an interesting discussion with the owner who has lived in Moab since the 1960's.  He bemoaned some of the more dangerous activities, such as those doing rope swinging off of Corona Arch, but he did appreciate the effort being made to bring groups to Moab over what is now a very long season (March - November).

We started the trek home on Monday morning.  We decided to go back through southern Colorado.  This was a stretch of highway through the mountains we had never traveled before.  The trip was uneventful except for having to outrun an ugly looking thunderstorm that was coming south towards us as we turned south onto I-25 at Walsenburg, CO.  The storm followed us essentially all the way until we turned further east towards our stopping place for the night, Dumas, TX.  Noteworthy in all of that was our ability to watch the storm in real time on the radar on the Frog's iPad as we made our way along the highway.  Geekiness has its advantages.

Another interesting thing, besides the very nice scenery in the mountains, was the sighting of a black bear near Wolf Creek Pass, the high mountain pass at the Continental Divide.  We saw a lot of cars stopped on both sides of the road and assumed there had been an accident.  It was only after we were already past that we saw everyone with there cameras pointed at a bear that was nonchalantly eating.  I only wonder what happened to the man we saw approaching with his two small dachshunds on leashes. 

From Dumas it was an easy trip home.  We made it by early afternoon on Tuesday.

This was a great trip, as most trips are.  However, I had a greater sense of additional things we could see and do if we were to return compared to most trips.  I am anxious to learn more about the geology of the region.  We saw many different things during this trip, but the the underlying theme seemed to be the geology of the region. 

Whether self-study or some future online MOOC, I think we are both interested in learning more about the geology of the Colorado Plateau.  Since the following map is from the May 2005 issue of National Geographic, I need to find that issue in our now online archive.

Map of Colorado Plateau from May 2005 National Geographic

With multiple additional national parks in the area, maybe we can make a return trip to the region some time in the not too distance future.  I don't know if a multi-day backcountry jeep trip would ever be in our future, but I am putting this link to the White Rim Trail around Canyonlands National Park so I can at least easily find it and drool over the pictures.

Scenic Byway Utah 128

Sunday afternoon, July 13

It was our last day in Moab.  As we ate lunch we tried to decide how best to spend the afternoon.  One thing we remembered listed in the guidebooks that we had not done was the drive northeast of Moab on Route 128.  This was one of several designated State of Utah scenic routes in the Moab area.

The initial thought of yet more driving did not seem appealing to me since we had already taken so many scenic drives.  Boy was I wrong about my hesitation to take this drive.  This was definitely a highlight of the trip.

The description in Fodor's covers the basics:

The start of one of the most scenic drives in the country is found 2 mi north of Moab off U.S. 191. The byway runs along the Colorado River northeast to I–70. First passing through a high-walled corridor, the drive eventually breaks out into Professor Valley, home of the monoliths of Fisher Towers and Castle Rock, which you may recognize from various car commercials and old cowboy movies. The byway also passes the charred remnants of the single-lane Dewey Bridge, which was in use from 1916 to 1986 and was the second longest suspension bridge west of the Mississippi River when built. Unfortunately, most of it burned in 2008 during an accidental blaze. Near the end of the 44-mi drive is the tiny town of Cisco.

Unfortunately we had not done research ahead of time and did not have that description.  Therefore we missed some of the things we could have done..multiple things for our next trip. 

Fortunately we did have a brochure,"Canyon Country, A Geologic Guide to the Canyonlands Travel Region" by the State of Utah Department of Natural Resources, which we had picked up earlier at the Arches National Park bookstore.  One foldout page had a map and some highlights.  With that as our guide, off we went.

Top of foldout for Scenic Byway 128 page in brochure

Center portion of the foldout from brochure that shows the map of Scenic Route 128 from Moab to Cisco

The beginning of the trip is in the narrow canyon of the Colorado River with high red cliffs.  The road appeared to be newly upgraded and for about the first two miles there was a very nice biking trail that paralleled the road but was cantilevered out over the river due to lack of space.  Unfortunately, like most of this trip, we did not take many pictures.

Most of the land along Route 128 is BLM land, with lots of locations for river access and multiple camping sites.

After about 13 miles the gorge widens as the highway proceeds past Castle and Professor Valleys.  Dividing these two valleys are large rock formations (Priest and Nuns and Castle Rock) that are very reminiscent of Monument Valley.  We later learned that both of these valleys have been the site of numerous movies and TV commercials. These include such early classics as "Wagon Master" (1949) and "Rio Grande" (1950), as well as slightly more recent movies such as "City Slickers" (1993).  One website indicated that 80% of movies in the Moab area contain scenes shot in Professor Valley.

At approximately mile 14 is the very large Red Cliffs Lodge complex along the Colorado River.  We later learned they are home to the Moab to Monument Valley Film Commission Museum which is free.  Having enjoyed the film museum at Goulding's more than I would have expected, we probably would have enjoyed this, too.  Maybe next time.

One of the most spectacular features is at the eastern end of the valley, Fisher Towers.  I was totally unaware of them, at least by that name.  They are on BLM land and are a popular hiking, camping, and rock climbing site.  Only much later did I realize that we had seen them multiple times before on TV, with this video shot on Ancient Art Rock in Fisher Towers being one of the best examples.  (Update: I thought this story of the video shoot was interesting.)  Interestingly one of the iconic rocks in Fisher Towers, Cobra Rock,  toppled during heavy thunderstorms several weeks after our visit.

At approximately 24.7 miles is a viewpoint looking back towards Fisher Towers with the La Sal Mountains in the distance.  Being July, the mountains were not snow-covered but the picture from that spot was otherwise the iconic picture for the region.

Fisher Towers and La Sal Mountains from viewpoint along Colorado River on our way back to Moab.

We did not go all the way to Interstate 70 or the town of Cisco noted on the brochure map.  We did not know until later that Cisco was an interesting ghost town...yet one more thing for next time.

However, we did go as far as Dewey Bridge and stopped to look around.  We could not make sense of what we were looking at until later.  Dewey Bridge was a 502 foot long suspension bridge built in 1916.  On the day of its completion, Dewey Bridge was the second-longest suspension bridge west of the Mississippi River. It remained the longest suspension bridge in Utah until it was destroyed by fire in 2008. Only the suspension towers, cables and metal hangers are left, awaiting fund raising to rebuild the bridge.  (As an aside:  Last year we visited the suspension bridge in Waco, TX, at 475 feet the longest suspension bridge in the world when it was completed in 1870.)

The single lane Dewey Bridge originally carried Route 128 over the Colorado River, but was replaced for highway traffic by the adjacent bridge which was completed in 1988.  By connecting this part of Utah to Grand Junction, CO, Dewey Bridge had a major impact on the development of the region.  The Colorado River was a major impediment to settlement in southeastern Utah.  I found it interesting that even today there are only three bridges that cross the Colorado River along its 400 mile length through the State of Utah, this bridge at the Dewey Bridge site for State Route 128, US 191 just north of Moab, and the Hite Crossing Bridge which carries State Route 95 across the Colorado River northwest of Blanding at the informal upstream limit of Lake Powell.  We crossed two of the three bridges both coming and going on this trip this afternoon.

We found a place to turn around and made our way back to Moab.  Since we did not shoot hardly any pictures, here is a video from the handlebars of someone's motorcycle that shows some of the route.

Arches NP Part 3

Sunday, July 13

It was our last day in Moab.  We had driven through Arches National Park multiple times over the past several days and had gotten to see several of the arches and other features up close and personal.  However, there was a popular section of the park which we still wanted to visit, Devil's Garden.

Devil's Garden is a region of sandstone fins that extends for several miles.  A number of the fins have eroded to produce arches.  The most well known of the arches in Devil's Garden, and our target for this trip, was Landscape Arch.  It is about 0.8 miles from the trailhead, so it would require a bit of hiking to get to the base of the arch.

Trail head area of Devil's Garden showing some of the fins (picture by Sanjay Acharya, copied from by  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_Garden)

 
Devil's Garden is at the end of the 18 mile park road.

That drive, plus the relatively late opening of the restaurant in the hotel put us at the trailhead at approximately 8:30.  Although early was not absolutely critical, it would hopefully be cooler than later in the day (forecast high was to be about 100) and it would hopefully improve our chances of finding a parking place. By 8:30 it was already quite warm, at least in the sun.  There were also lots of people, but fortunately there were still plenty of parking spots.

Actually we were quite lucky to be here when we were.  The entire area had been closed for 11 days earlier in the summer (June 16-26), including all access to the trails, to add 45 additional parking spaces or a 40% increase.  That included re-aligning the road for angled parking and the construction of tour bus and RV parking. I am very glad our trip put us here after the reopening.  It would have been a shame to miss this part of the park.

We got everything assembled and were off through the fins.

Entrance to Devil's Garden

The narrow track through the fins was very short and we were quickly onto an open, well-maintained trail.  It was an enjoyable trek with lots of birds high in the rocks above us.

Rock wall along the trail to Landscape Arch

Interesting tree beside the trail

We had only been on the trail for about 20 minutes when there it was ahead on the left, Landscape Arch.

Our first glimpse of Landscape Arch

It is hard to tell at first from this distance, but the arch is huge.  It has a span of 290.1 ± .8 feet, a height of 77.5 ± .5 feet, a width of 18.0 ± .5 feet, a thickness of 6 feet, and an opening breadth of 295 feet.  There has been an ongoing debate as to whether Landscape Arch or Kolob Arch (in Zion NP) is the largest natural arch.  Using laser technology and the standard definitions for natural arch dimensions established by the NABS (Natural Arch and Bridge Society...who knew such a society existed?!), a team found the above dimensions for Landscape Arch in June 2004.  Kolob Arch was subsequently remeasured and found to have a span of 287.4 ± 2 feet.  Landscape Arch wins with a span of 290.1 feet!

However, all of this may be a moot point.  Landscape Arch is nearing the end of its life.  Since 1991, three slabs of sandstone measuring 30, 47, and 70 feet long have fallen from the thinnest section of the arch.  This is part of the explanation on the plaque on the trail near the current view point:

September 1, 1991 — Hikers thought they heard cracks of thunder from distant clouds. Visitors resting under Landscape Arch noticed loud cracking and popping noises overhead. They fled as small rocks tumbled from the slender 306-foot-long span. Moments later, a 60-foot-long slab peeled away from the arch’s right side. When the dust settled, 180 tons of fresh rock debris lay scattered on the ground.

What caused this cataclysmic event? Water had been slowly shaping the arch for countless centuries, dissolving cement between sand grains, seeping into tiny cracks, freezing and expanding. What had finally upset the delicate balance?

Unseasonably heavy rains the preceding ten days may have filled pore spaces within the sandstone. The added weight may have finally overwhelmed the rock slab in its timeless struggle with gravity.

We proceeded on for a closer look.  Visitors are no longer allowed to go under the arch, but there are multiple locations to see it from a presumably safe distance.

Turkey in front of Landscape Arch

It would have been a climb up the hill to get to the base.  I could not help but notice all of that rock piled on the right hand side, presumably what has been falling off the arch.

Lots of fallen rock from the failing Landscape Arch

It seems somewhat ironic that the other iconic arch in the park, rather than this one, is called "Delicate Arch" since Landscape Arch seems ready to go at any moment.  Of course, in geological time, any moment could be two days or two thousand years.

A very "delicate" Landscape Arch

Also visible from below Landscape Arch is Partition Arch.  It and another nearby arch, Navajo Arch, are accessible from a side trail further up the main trail.

Landscape Arch on the left and Partition Arch on the right

Looking ahead, we could see a traffic jam of people where the trail goes steeply up one of the fins.

Trail north of Landscape Arch where it goes up and over one of the fins.  Note the lighter colored rock in the shadow to the left of  the trail--what I believe is the remnants of Wall Arch

One interesting feature visible in the picture of the trail going up the fin is the lighter colored (presumably newly exposed) rock in the center of the shadow to the left of the trail.  I believe that is what is left of Wall Arch.  Wall Arch, what was the 12th largest arch in the park with a span of 55 feet, used to be in the fin immediately to the left of the current location of the trail.  The trail used to go along and under the arch.  However, sometime on the night of August 4, 2008, Wall Arch came crashing down, blocking the trail.  The trail now goes up and over the fin to avoid the debris.

Going up the fin would probably have been ok, but coming down with our bad knees would have been problematic, so we decided to turn around and not risk a fall.

The trail back to the trail head

As is so often the case, the trail looked so different going the opposite direction.  The views were especially nice here because of the slightly higher elevation.

View of more fins to the east from Devil's Garden Trail

About 0.2 miles from the trailhead, we took the side trail to two other arches, Pine Tree Arch and Tunnel Arch.  Both of these were exceptionally good.

First was Pine Tree Arch...

Pine Tree Arch

Wow, it is big when you get up close

The shade is a welcome relief from the intense sun even this early in the morning...fortunately I had been wearing long sleeve shirts with a high spf rating, but I still got a sun allergy on my hands

...and then Tunnel Arch.  Tunnel Arch and the other arch whose name we did not know were high above in the rock.  Although the main trail goes right below them, they were only visible from the back side.

Tunnel Arch from the east side

After the climb back up to the main trail, it was a short walk back to the trail head.  It was good to get back into the car and out of the intense sun.

As we headed south, we stopped again at the parking at the trail head for the trail to Delicate Arch.  We had already decided not to make the difficult 2-3 hour hike to Delicate Arch, especially in the midday heat.  We did however make the short hike to the Wolfe Ranch site along Salt Wash.  This is the location of the Wolfe family's one room cabin (still standing) where they lived around the turn of the last century.

Salt Wash near Wolfe Ranch

Ravens scolding us from above the trail near Wolfe Ranch

Just beyond Salt Wash is the site of even earlier humans.  There are clearly visible petroglyphs above the trail.  Given the images of people on horseback, they were likely made between 1650 and 1850 AD, after the introduction of horses to the southwest by the Spanish. The location is obviously well marked by the national park, but it is not on the map distributed to visitors.  Fortunately it was the site of a terracache I had noticed in the park.  Thanks to terracaching we got to see a petroglyph site we would not otherwise have seen AND we got a first to find!
 

Petroglyph site near Wolf Ranch

On our way out of the park we stopped one last time at the visitor's center.  The Frog dumped out the large amount of sand that had accumulated in his shoes.  We then checked out more of the displays before heading into town for lunch.

Dead Horse Point

Saturday evening, July 12

One of the places we had wanted to visit since beginning to plan our trip was Dead Horse Point.  It is an overlook of the Colorado River with access just outside of the entrance to the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands NP.  It therefore made sense to stop there on the way out of Canyonlands.

Dead Horse Point is actually part of Dead Horse Point State Park.  The park is actually fairly large and there are a large number of overlooks in multiple directions,.  However, it was getting late when we arrived.  We did not even stop at the visitor's center since the gate guard said it was closing in 5 minutes.  We went directly out to the point, i.e. Dead Horse Point.

According to legend, the point was once used as a corral for wild mustangs.  Cowboys could easily block off the neck to the point with brush, since it is only 30 yards wide.  They then chose the horses that they wanted.  For unknown reasons, the other horses were left to die, hence the name.

The point is a very nice location, with multiple observation points and large picnic shelter type areas for shade.  There is even an elevated observation deck so that photographers can take portraits of people below with the river in the background.

We spent some time there looking around and taking pictures.  The views are stunning.

Looking to the east from Dead Horse Point

The gooseneck in the Colorado River south of Dead Horse Point

One of the many informative plaques

 

A shot of the river 2000 feet below in the setting sun. 

Potash ponds (solar evaporators) looking east from Dead Horse Point

The potash ponds are visible to the east as large blue ponds.  Potash is one of multiple potassium compounds used primarily as a source of potassium in fertilizers.  It was originally mined in underground mines.  More potash is now being recovered from those former mines by pumping water into mines, allowing the potash to dissolve, then pumping the water (now saturated with potassium salts) to the surface.  This solution is allowed to evaporate in the sun, leaving the solid potassium salts behind.  I could not figure out the blue color, since potassium salts are white, but finally found that a blue dye is added to help with absorption of sunlight.

One of the interesting things we discovered about Dead Horse Point State Park is the large number of movie scenes that have been filmed here.  Here is a collection of links to selections that I could find on YouTube that show some of the scenery.

Ending scene of Thelma and Louise (1990) Although the movie wanted you to believe the final scene was in Grand Canyon, it was actually below Dead Horse Point.  The "launch" site is now known as Thelma and Louise Point.  It is off of the unpaved road, a continuation of Potash Road, I think.  I am not 100% sure, but the I think Thelma and Louise Point is the ledge overlooking the river at the far left of the picture below.
 

Looking over the edge with the Colorado River canyon near the top and the main gooseneck on the right.  I think Thelma and Louise Point is near the upper left.

Opening scene of Mission Impossible II (1999)  Apparently Tom Cruise was really up there, but with a harness which was later digitally removed from the image.  He is crazier than I thought.

The Spirit Platform in Lone Ranger (2013)  We have not seen this movie (the trailer made it look dumb to me), but there are scenes from both Dead Horse Point and Monument Valley.  This YouTube clip is about the scene at Dead Horse Point.  Since I only see undeveloped rock near the edge, rather than the improvements at the overlook, I am guessing this may be at the overlook north of the point but still on the east side.

The opening scene of the pilot for my all time hero MacGyver was also filmed here.  I am not sure if all of the opening scene was even shown in the U.S. since it is listed among scenes that were cut and I could only find it here in Czech, but cool none the less.

This was a busy day but a very good one...several locations in Arches NP, lots of Canyonlands NP including a very hot climb up Upheaval Dome, and then great views from Dead Horse Point.

Canyonlands NP

Saturday, July 12

After a quick lunch and a stop to make sure the Rav was full of gas, we were off to the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park.  The park is just a bit southwest of Moab.

However, such a "direct" route would require going up the very steep Shafer Trail Road.  That was not in our plans for this trip.  The improved route is north on route 191, then west on route 313.  It is a total of 32 miles from Moab to the visitor center.  Like everywhere else in the region, it is more beautiful scenery along the way.

It is a climb up to the top of the mesa and includes travel across a narrow neck of land. Once up on top of the mesa, the features of interest are fairly spread out but are connected by good roads.  The Colorado River gorge is on the east side and the Green River gorge is on the west side.  One of the things that is somewhat deceptive on the map is the dashed (unpaved) White Rim Road that encircles the park.  It is on White Rim, which is 1000-1500 feet below the top of the mesa rim but still 600 feet or more above the rivers.

One of our first impressions in driving across the central part of the mesa was this was more "normal" or like some of the dry areas of Texas, i.e. grasslands with some small shrubs vs the sand and slick rock of Arches.  However, upon more detailed inspection, there are notable differences.

Tiny prickly pear cacti--the first we had seen in the area

Any prickly pear cactus we saw was small and stunted looking, nothing like what we typically see in Texas.  This is apparently typical of the Great Basin Desert.  Because of colder temperatures relative to the other North American deserts, cacti do not grow well.  As in Arches, we also saw lots of cryptobiotic soil crusts.

Cryptobiotic soil

Our first objective was Mesa Arch, one of the signature features of Canyonlands.  It is a hike of about 0.5 miles from the parking area. 

The Frog at Mesa Arch

 
Mesa Arch is a pothole arch on the eastern edge of the mesa rim.  It is a sheer drop of over 1000 feet.  However the view through the arch is spectacular, looking out over White Rim, Buck Canyon, and beyond that the Colorado River. 

The view through Mesa Arch with Washer Woman Arch and Airport Tower in the distance

Mesa Arch

Not sure what this little plant is, but he did a nice job of posing at the edge with the mountains in the background.

Of course, this is not the only place from Island in the Sky to see vistas off the mesa.  One of the most well known locations is Grand View Point Overlook.  We stopped there twice over the course of the afternoon to take advantage of different light.  The potential panorama pic from here would be stunning.

Looking south from Grand View Point Overlook

The old overlook sign I found online--no longer in place since the renovations at the overlook--that explains the view: 1 LaSal Mountains, 2 White Rim, 3 Colorado River, 4 Totem Pole, 5 White Rim Road, 6 monument Basin, 7 Abajo Mountains, 8 Needles, 9 Mining Roads, 10 Confluence, 11 Green River

The White Rim Road jeep trail meanders along towards what should be White Crack backcountry camp site, although it was too far to see it from here.

An extra added attraction at this overlook was a flock of ravens.  We had seen ravens at several locations on this trip, but they acted like they owned Grand View Overlook.  They were quite the characters at this location, squawking and making quite a ruckus.  We did not feed them, but they apparently thought we should have.  They followed us all the way back to the car, protesting the entire time.

Ravens at the edge near Grand View Overlook

Ravens at Grand View Point Overlook

Although Grand View Point Overlook is more famous, another equally stunning place for views off the mesa is Green River Overlook.  Unfortunately afternoon was not the prime time for pictures from there (somewhat more towards the west), so we don't have as many pictures.

View from Green River Overlook.  The promontory on the left is probably Murphy Point.

Green River from Green River Overlook.  The lone small butte in the bend of the river (to the right of center) is Turks Head.

In addition to spending lots of time taking in the views from the rim of the mesa, we hiked to the rim of Upheaval Dome.  Upheaval Dome is a crater-shaped topographic feature which is 8000 feet across and over 1000 feet deep. The origin of the structure has been considered to be either a pinched-off salt dome or a complex meteorite impact crater.  It is not clear which is correct.

On the rim of Upheaval Dome at the first overlook

The hike to the rim is reportedly only about 1 mile round trip with 100 feet of elevation gain, but it felt a lot longer.  It was probably due to the heat (high 90's), the intense sun, and the very uneven and unstable footing.

I am not a geologist, but the rocks definitely looked different than normal.  I think the light colored rocks in the center of the crater may have been more green than they appear here.

 

Upheaval Dome from the first overlook

It was more of a struggle than it should have been, but we made it.  At least I thought it was worth it. However it was formed, it was very interesting.  It would be a great place to explore in more detail sometime when it is cooler.


We had squeezed a lot into one afternoon and we were tired, but we definitely wanted to see Dead Horse Point before returning to Moab.  It is actually a state park and is a few miles outside the entrance to Canyonlands, but still on the mesa.  That will be the subject of the next blog.