Hiking to See the Rock Formations

The landscapes and geology of Utah are spectacular.  We first discovered that in 2003 on our first long RV trip after retirement.  We have returned this summer for another extensive look.  Many people take  in the views from a jeep.  We are doing our sightseeing by hiking.

 

 This is the view driving up to the office at our RV park in Moab.

This grass is used for landscaping some of the RV sites.

 

Our first hike was through Park Avenue in Arches National Park. The cliffs on either side dwarf human hikers. The rock colors range from yellow to dark red.

The pinnacle at the far end gave us something to aim for.

These figures have been named the three gossips.

 Another day we hiked to Dead Horse Point State Park in Canyon Lands National Park.  This old tree trunk sure is an interesting shape.

We came across this huge cairn--a stack of rocks used to indicate the trail location.  Not to be confused with the currently popular term "Karen" for an entitled or demanding beyond the scope of what is appropriate.

This is a window in the rock wall.  Given a few decades more, the rock above may break away and this will become an arch.  It is the only place we have seen an arch.

Another day we drove to Canyon Lands National Park and hike to Dead Horse Point State Park.This very old tree trunk sure has an interesting shape.

Look at the slanted layers of rock in this cliff.

Forest fires in California and Nevada have filled the air here with smoke.  Any view of distant hills is very limited.

Here we could finally see the Colorado River--responsible for much of the erosion that created all these beautiful canyons.

This horseshoe bend in the Colorado is the best view of the river and is the reason we hiked to Dead Horse Point to see it.  Legend says cowboys herded wild horses across the narrow space on the mesa before the point and blocked their escape with a fence of brush.  They then chose the horses they wanted to keep and train to be good ranch horses.  For some reason, one time they left the horses they didn't want fenced on the point.  The horses eventually died.

Sometime the plants and rocks almost look like a bonsai planting.

This might be the kind of fence built to pen in the horses.

Here is another arch beginning to form.

Another smoky view of the canyon.

We found another interesting piece of drift wood.  I would have liked to take it home and cover it with polyurethane to decorate our yard.  (That isn't allowed.)

If you are brave, you can walk out to the edge and look down into the canyon.  We didn't.

Yes, it really is called Dead Horse Point State Park.  In 2003 we stayed in the campground there.

The evidence of extensive drilling and dynamite needed to open a roadway through this rock.

This is balanced rock at one end of Park Place.