Back to Earth

Our sightseeing tour by air was a marvelous experience. On Monday we drove 65 miles south to our next campground in Monticello Utah, and on Tuesday toured a very small part of Canyonlands National Park by jeep. We think we recognized some of the formations we saw from above, or at least the areas.

Here are a few of the remarkable rocks we saw in Canyonlands.

While driving through the park we stopped for a short hike at Pothole Point.

The surface was a large continuous dark gray rock with thousands of depressions, large and small. When there is rain, the holes fill with water and it stays long enough to support life such as tadpoles and small shrimp. A few of the now sand-filled depressions can be seen in the foreground of the above picture.

Most of the trail through this area was marked with cairns. It would have been very easy to get lost without them.

It is hard to show how large these rock cliffs are. Massive is a good adjective to use.

This is a detail I noticed. Layers within layers.

To me it is amazing how many different formations can be the result of a few forces: time, wind, water, upheavals and sinks.

On the way to and from Canyonlands we drove through about 30 miles of BLM land. "Newspaper Rock" is right along Utah 211 in the BLM.

 Petroglyphs have always fascinated me. 

These were amazingly well preserved by a huge rock overhang. 

The day itself was quite beautiful with temperatures in the 70s. I really would not want to be there when it is hotter, but I bet it would be beautiful with a dusting of winter snow. 

One last picture: