Utah Nat'l Parks

[tanglefoot]

It was great seeing the parks again. Many of them I hadn't seen since I was quite a bit younger. In middle school we took week-long field trips to Canyonlands so there was some definite nostalgia there.

We started at Horse Thief Campground near the Dead Horse Point entrance.
I was a bit overcome by the landscape. It had just rained so we could kneel down and observe the critters living in the potholes.

The "Expo" rig.

The runabouts:

I think red dirt is just good for the soul...

 

[tanglefoot]

Dead Horse Point State Park

The Potash evaporation basins

Once inside the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands, we could see the Shaffer Trail...

...as well as part of the White Rim road and some of the seismic lines left over from Uranium exploration.

It was 105 degrees in Arches

 

[tanglefoot]

We got a tip on some rock art in the canyon on the way to Potash, not far North of Moab.

We stayed at Ken's Lake on the way out of Moab and I ventured up the 4wd road to the waterfall up the hill.

...and spotted some tracks...

...and I'm not sure what made these tiny ones...

The falls:

 

[mph]

Awesome pics...I just spent 5 days down there too. It was nice to do the National Park thing Thanks for sharing!

 

[Backwoods Rambler]

Cool pics. Thanks for sharing! I love Moab & can't wait to go back in November.

 

[Moody]

Great selection of the Moab area...

I am going to try a July trip (haven't been down in the summer for years) to remember what true desert heat is like all over again.

 

[tanglefoot]

Thanks guys. The first part of the week was abnormally warm. Then the second part was abnormally cool. The reports were saying 20 degrees below average.

After Ken's Lake, we turned toward the Needles district of Canyonlands and stopped by Newspaper Rock, where we ran into the Road Dawgs from BC. Mom's friend Marie had them line up for a photo op.

Newspaper Rock is pretty miraculous, no matter how many times I see it.

Once in the park, we took a short hike to a grainery...

...and found a site in Squaw Flat, right next to the group site where we stayed in middle school.

The next day we took the Cave Spring hike and saw the old cowboy kitchen

And I found myself a nice 'room with a view'.

Dad and I rode bikes to the Elephant Hill trailhead...

...and had a look at where the trail continues at the top.

 

[tanglefoot]

Then we traded sandstone for limestone in Bryce Canyon NP.

"Some Kind'a Hoodoo's come across this land"

It was fun to go down in the basin.

Even though some of the trails were a little crumbly.

We spent a cold night in Dillon on the way home. It was strange to be in 30-degree weather after the 100+'s.

Most of the trees in the campground had been cut down following the beetle kill, but new things are happening on the forest floor and I think things will recover.

Isn't it strange going through the photos afterwards? I guess it's time to plan another camping trip.

 

[Hill Bill E.]

Awsome pics! I was in Moab last April, for a week of Jeeping.

We camped along the road to the Potash plant. I had time to checkout some of the Indian Writing along Potash road, pretty amazing!

Is your pic of the Potash settling ponds from the end of Cliff Hanger trail?

Great view from there!!

Always great to see the area through someone elses camera, can't wait until next April, to head out there again!:coffeedrink:

HB

 

[VikingVince]

Tanglefoot...I have a Toyota Odyssey also! It's primarily my "beachmobile" since I live in southern Cal. Mine is a '90 with 55K miles when I bought it about 2 years ago.
Thought you might get a kick out of my tricked out Tiki interior. Here's some pics the seller posted before I bought it.
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral...12&PHPSESSID=eba33f64ea6154e811817ba0b678bf7b

Nice pics...I did those areas a few years ago in my Taco, plus driving the White Rim Trail...makes me want to return.

 

[User_Name]

Excellent pics!

Thanks for sharing, it's one place I have always wanted to visit:drool:

 

[tanglefoot]

Thanks HB. That shot overlooking the Potash ponds was taken from the overlook right near the visitor center. I just realized that the view is similar to the poster of a cliff dwelling I have on the wall at home. Were there any cliff dwellings on that trail?

Vince--you have the Tiki one?! I think I saw pictures of it on Ebay a while ago. That is quite a finished product. I can't imagine how much work that must have taken. It must be a first-rate beach-combing rig.

My parents and grandparents picked ours up in '88 when I was 8 years old. I remember the six of us piling into the Tercel wagon to drive from Colorado to California to the factory and pick it up. It's an '88 on an '87 chassis with the 22RE and 4-speed manual tranny. We used to take it all over the states, Mexico, and Canada for 2-months at a time when I was younger. It has 110k miles on it now.

Eric

 

[VikingVince]

Eric...wow, what a great history you have with your Odyssey. So many memories must flood your brain when you still take it somewhere. That's great!

Yeah, you're right! Mine was on Ebay a while back...amazing you recall that. Actually, I won that auction...flew one way to Phoenix to pick it up and drove it back to CA.
Funny story: It was for sale in my neighborhood. (the link I posted) I couldn't decide if I wanted it. When I called the seller back a week or so later, he had sold it to a career army couple who were retiring and were going to live in it until they found a house in Phoenix. I was so bummed at the time. Then about 6 months later, just by chance I was perusing Ebay and saw it. I had to have it. I ended up getting it for $3K cheaper than what I would have paid here! It was meant to be mine! LOL

 

[CSG]

Great photos! We just got back from a tour of the Utah parks (and North Rim and Mesa Verde) too. I took my 10 and 12 year old boys in our camping van. Hit many of the same spots you did and took similar pictures. Just got back last night. Earlier that morning we were in Canyonlands!

The van is great but I want to go down when it gets cool again in my Cruiser and do a little deeper exploring. We reversed the order of our trip and did Capitol Reef, Bryce and Zion first. Arches was in the low 70's on Monday.

 

[Hill Bill E.]

Thanks HB. That shot overlooking the Potash ponds was taken from the overlook right near the visitor center. I just realized that the view is similar to the poster of a cliff dwelling I have on the wall at home. Were there any cliff dwellings on that trail?

Eric

Eric, no cliff dwellings that I'm aware of, at least not on the Jeep trail.

I just scoured my clubs pics, but couldn't find one from the overlook at the end of Cliff Hanger.

Looking at your pic again, I believe I was to the far left in your pic, the CO river was between us and the settling ponds.

Plus, there was no vistor center near the trail head area.

I'll have to grab my Moab Jeep trails book, and do some ciphering:ylsmoke:

We go out to run the trails in our Jeeps, and don't get in a lot of sightseeing.

(I go with the flow, the boys want to wheel, we wheel!:coffeedrink

I plan on heading out a week early one of these years, so I can take in more of the sights, before the rest of the club gets there.

Great pics! I love that entire area.