Day 91, 92 ,Sep 3,4 2011 At Moab , Canyon\land N.P and The Needles
The National Park named Canyonland has two sections. They are the north unit and the south unit. They look out onto the same Colorado, Green River confluence, but are 100 miles apart by road. The trip we took this time was to the south unit which is some 50 miles south of Moab toward the AZ border and then 32 miles west on Route 211. This entrance is a long slightly uplifted plateau, which begins to get into the arroyos and canyons as we get closer to the Colorado and Green river canyons. The sandstone in these formations is White and Red mesa Sandstone , slightly different from the Navajo and Magenta seen in Arches.
This is Wilson's Arch actually on US 191 south of Moab seen from a pullout on the highway.
In this portion of the park there are a number of arches, but not nearly as many as Arches NP.
The first attraction was Indian Creek Canyon a slow meandering stream that has over the millennia carved a very deep (1-2,000 feet deep) onto the surface before it empties into the Colorado. (This part is miles downstream from here.) Here there is the world famous NEWSPAPER ROCK images that have been left many thousands of years ago. The archeologists have not determined the dates of them (See pic).
"Newspaper Rock"
Three cyclists (guys) were getting ready to ride down the mountain all the way from the top. There is a lot of bike activity here in this park as well as the other two parks. The road gradually got to 6,000 feet as we got out into the open again and headed for the rim where the maximum view is located.
"Wooden Shoe " Arch
We saw “Wooden Shoe” arch which looks like a wooden shoe, Pot Hole Point filled with bubbles or “pot holes” , and the end of the road is Big Spring Canyon overlook. This is a dynamic view that looks to the north and west and the entire portion of both rivers and their canyons is seen from Moab to the confluence and from the central Utah where the Green River comes through the plateaus. The relief is 4-5,000 feet in every direction. There is a hiking trail there that leads to the confluence of the two rivers, and is a 2 mile down hill trip (of course one must come up hill to get back).
View from Big Spring Lookout
The lunch we had was at the tables at the Visitor Center a very well equipped building. There were gardens with identified plants in them ,like the Rabbit grass, Mormon Tea, sat grass and a few types of sage. This center and many others are filled with good instructional tables and dioramas and certainly good gift and book selections. We saw a new squirrel (see pic) the Rock Squirrel. Yes, that is his ‘unique’ name.
The last part of the day was to return to US 191 and drive 10 miles north (tward Moab) to Route 211 and the road (22 miles) to the Needles Lookout. This is not in the National Park boundaries but the view from the needles encompasses all of the previous sights and more. (see pic).
"Needles Overlook"
The view is about 60 -70 miles across all the canyons. The colors are indescribable. ON the way out we came upon an Antelope close to the road and slowly drove along side as he wandered along about 30 feet from the car (see pic).
Antelope
It was the first large, four legged mammal we had seen in these parks. There are sheep, deer and others but it was hot and I can’t blame them for hiding in the shade. I would too.
It was still sunny and 95 degrees at 5:00 PM and time for a refreshing dinner in a cool restaurant. We chose “Zax” in downtown Moab which is an all purpose and slightly eclectic place, that had prime rib on special that night. Ruth had Prime Rib with baked potato and a veggie skewered while I settled for the buffet, which was a salad bar, choice of soups (beer cheese or asparagus) and your choice of pizza from a buffet of a dozen pizza types. Oh, did I choose a doozy on the first one? It had hot sauce and what i thought were green peppers and feta cheese and onions. I took a big bite! Right! It was jalapeno not green pepper. Surprise! Maria our waitress took good care of us. It was a god meal and we called it a day.
Day 92, Sunday Sep. 4, 2011- Laundry and the Colorado River drive.
Yes, it looks like the last time we will have to do laundry as we have about 10 days to go and we can stretch the socks use and underwear for that length of time. So after breakfast we took the sheets off the bed, packed the laundry, got the necessary liquids and change (need quarters always) and headed onto town. Jim had already scoped put the three laundromats in town so we headed for the one between the Burger King and the McDonald’s Drive In. We were fortunate as there were washers available at 9:30 so we could get the full load in. Ruth likes to use four washer to speed up the process, and the campground had only 3. We had to dry some clothes more than usual but it was a low price at $8.00 for the entire laundry. We headed for the trailer and put the laundry away, ate lunch and drove toward the Colorado River. There is a 15 mile section of road that leads to a mine (The Potash mine). But at the junction of US 191 and Route 297 where we turned onto the road, there is a huge UMTRA project. The U.S. Department of Energy has started a project to move 16 million tons of uranium tailings from the banks of the Colorado River, near the city of Moab, to a permanent disposal site 30 miles north, near the town of Crescent Junction. This project is called the Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Project. They have already moved 540,000 tons to a site some 30 miles north. They move 25 rail cars each with 4 buckets per day. M-F. THis hole is getting larger every day.
We continued on the road taking pictures of the walls of the River canyon which now were above our heads and very close (see pic). This road had two small campgrounds (Rotary ran one) and many pullouts for pictures and also there is one “put in” for river rafts and canoes and kayaks to take the 15 mile stretch to Moab or beyond. (Very smooth water here,). One of the stops was a dinosaur track that was imbedded on a flat rock that had fallen off the cliff above. It was 80 feet above the river and a picture was difficult to get. Ruth climbed up to the rock...JUST KIDDING!... got a nice picture with the telephoto lens set on the tripod even though it was a few hundred feet away.(see pic). It is a Thesaurus type , like PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON. really, he was modeled after them. The lived in the Cretaceous period of the late Cenozoic Era or 135-165 million years ago. That would have been when those tremendous sand storms that swept across the continent were ending. Those sands created the sandstone we see here today.
I digress! We did see three Great Blue Heron on the pond by UMTRA.
Many pictures later we arrived at the end of the road where the Cane Creek Potash mine is located. It is unique because of the method used to extract the potash ore. The mine began as a conventional underground excavation in 1964, but was converted in 1970 to a system combining solution mining and solar evaporation. Hence, no coal has to be used while evaporating the potash using a system of evaporation pits turning the potash into crystals. There are 300 days of sun here and a 5% humidity rate. Over 400,000 tons of coal a year are saved. (see pic). Ruth took more pictures on the return trip as the sun was at our backs most of the way, Th river twists and turns in wide smooth arcs with many dead bushes along the banks of the river, which are the invasive Tamarisk shrub. The eradication of these plants has lead to the dead ones seen along this stretch of the river where the Tamarisk BEETLE has been introduced. That has been successful and will kill the shrub over a period of time and reduce its growth. The invasion of this plant has altered the Colorado River in places already, so it is a huge problem. (See ‘tamarisk on the Colorado River’ in a search engine.)That was the end of the day and we retired to supper with toasted cheese sandwiches and veggies . Tomorrow is pack up and leave day, when we head east to Colorado and the Rocky Mountains. It looks like the 90 degree F day are over. See you in the “Rockies”
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