The quick story: Boulder to Natural Bridges National Monument to Canyonlands National Park to Arches National Park to Colorado National Monument.
Some of the stories along the way
Food Pleasures on Utah 24
I passed through Capitol Reef National Park (still my favorite) on the way to Natural Bridges. Capitol Reef has historic orchards along the Fremont River that flows through the park. It is a corridor of deep green set against the red rock. The orchards are open to the public when the fruit is ripe. For the first time in my few trips through Capitol Reef this and last summer, one of the orchards was open. I picked apples and pears from the Jackson historic orchard in Capitol Reef! Just 30 or so miles further on Utah 24 in the middle of dry desert, I got peaches, stone oven baked bread and homemade chevre at the Mesa Market in Caineville. It is just about the only thing, and possibly the only resident, in Caineville.
Water
One of the stories of the Colorado Plateau is the story of water. Utah 95 to Natural Bridges passes over one of the big features of the Colorado Plateau water story: Glenn Canyon, otherwise known as Lake Powell. Utah 95 out of Hanksville starts as high rolling desert but grows into a descent into canyon reminiscent of the descent into the Grand Canyon, and I got that western canyon country charge. Then around a bend is my first glimpse of Lake Powell in many years, and there is the point where the Colorado River enters the lake at the end of Cataract Canyon.
Natural Bridges
Three of the top five largest bridges in the world all within a couple miles of each other on the
White Canyon system. This is a very remote area of Utah. I got a spot of only 13 spots at the much touted campground in the monument, but those might have been the only other people I saw there. Very quiet and peaceful hike from the mesa to the base of Sipapu Bridge.
Blanding and Monticello
On the road from Natural Bridges to Canyonlands. Big volcanic mountains to the west and east, Abajo and LaSals respectively. Otherwise, the towns were, shall we say, uninspiring and geologically flat and I was motivated to get to the canyons again.
Canyonlands
The first day I visited the southern district of Canyonlands, known as the Needles. Canyonlands is huge and divided into three districts. The Needles is so named because, well, some of the rock formations look like needles. In the Needles you are actually down in the canyons and among the structures.
The second day I visited the northern district, north of Moab, called Island in the Sky. Island in the Sky is a very tall and large mesa that is connected to the “main land” by only a neck of land. Otherwise it is like an island above a sea of canyons. You look down from the mesa onto a large “plain” on which there are giant monuments and spires and other mesas and into which giant canyons are cut by the Green and Colorado Rivers. The confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers is in Canyonlands. I was lucky a second time to get one of the 10 campsites in the Canyonlands campground. I was excited about this because it allowed me to get up before dawn to catch sunrise at Mesa Arch.
Arches
Whoa, a crowded park, the first very crowded national park I’ve visited this summer. It seems that the overwhelming majority of the park visitors are European. I am happy that this is a piece of America that is being visited; I think it is one of the parts of America of which I am proud, that we have this natural beauty and that we managed to conserve it. I am a bit sad that more Americans are not enjoying their national parks. Last summer we ran into lots of Italians on our travels in the parks. This summer there seems to be lots of French visitors. Anyway, I hiked in Devil’s Garden to the Double O Arch. It is incredible the trails that the park service allows any person to follow. The trail took us up onto the fins where one wrong step really could result in serious injury. It was a really amazing hike, but unbelievably (well, believable for southeastern Utah) hot.
Colorado National Monument
I am lying a bit about visiting the Colorado National Monument. I drove through the monument and am currently on top of the monument. You see, my dear friend Karyn Bechtel lives in Glade Park, the unincorporated community on the mesa that is the top of the Colorado National Monument. My travels before my trip home conclude with a peaceful stay with Karyn, Carmen and Annabelle.
Community, natural beauty, kinship with people and land – sense of place.
No comments:
Post a Comment