Blog postings about Debbie Lamb and her handmade life

Arches National Park - Moab, Utah

7/11/2020

This is part thirteen in a series of posts about my visit through parts of Arizona and Utah in September 2019.
(Click words that are bolded for more information.)

Arches National Park is home to over 2,000 sandstone arches

Continuing our tour brought us to the town of Moab, Utah and its prime attraction - Arches National Park. The world's largest concentration of natural arches is located in this National Park. There are over 2,000 arches with openings that range in size from 3 feet to 306 feet. The park receives over a million visitors each year and the wait time to enter the park by car can be lengthy. One advantage of being on a tour bus was quicker entry to the park, but a major disadvantage was the lack of parking. I was disappointed that we were unable to stop at many of the overlooks and viewpoints due to no parking. But we were able to get out and walk around at a few stops, and of course, I took pictures of the stunning scenery.

Besides a myriad of sandstone arches, other unusual red rock formations, hoodoos, spires, and balanced rocks dot the landscape of this National Park's almost 120 square mile area.

Unusual red rock formations in Arches National Park

Balanced Rock

Balanced Rock is a popular landform. Standing 128 feet high, the massive rock perched on top seems to defy gravity. There is a short trail that circles its base. The red rocks are a striking contrast against the deep blue sky.

Along the trail, small man-made balanced stacks of rock called "cairns" have been made by park rangers. They add a harmonious artistic element that complements the towering structures of stone nearby, and they serve a useful purpose - marking the trail. But visitors to the park are prohibited from making their own cairns, which can cause confusion on remote trails and disturb the natural beauty that national parks are meant to preserve.

Rock cairn at Arches National Park Picture

Cairns mark the trail

Cairn charm

From the Balanced Rock trail, the Windows Section of the park with more stone arches, including Turret Arch can be seen in the distance with the La Sal Mountains further beyond. The La Sal Mountains are the second highest mountain range in the state of Utah. With peaks up to 12,000 feet, these "Salt Mountains" were an important landmark on the Old Spanish Trail between Santa Fe, New Mexico and Los Angeles, California. On the return drive to Phoenix a few days later, we saw that the first snow of autumn had "salted" the high peaks of the La Sal Mountains.

Arches National Park view of the La Sal Mountains Picture

The Window Section with the La Sal Mountains beyond in the golden glow of a fall morning

That morning, most of the arches had to be seen from the windows of our moving tour bus, but we were able to stop and take the short walk to a beautiful arch "hidden" in a slot canyon shaded by two sandstone fins - Sand Dune Arch. The easy trail leads through deep rust colored sand and becomes quite narrow until opening up into a cathedral like room with a ceiling of blue sky. Sand Dune Arch stands alone. It was quite beautiful with golden sunlight streaming from above.

Sand Dune Arch

Within the slot canyon leading to Sand Dune Arch

A view of the moon adorning a ceiling of blue sky

Perhaps the most photographed arch in Arches National Park is Delicate Arch. With its opening of 46 feet high and 32 feet wide, this beautiful arch is the iconic symbol of the park and is the largest free-standing arch in the park. We viewed the arch from the lower viewpoint, which is one mile away. To get up close involves a 3 mile roundtrip hike up a steep slope of slickrock and takes 2-3 hours. Hundreds of visitors gather throughout the day from sunrise to sunset to take in the view, and some venture out at night.

Delicate Arch in Arches National Park Picture

Delicate Arch viewed from a mile away

Visitors come to Arches National Park to see Delicate Arch

Some of the nearby rocky hills were covered with a beautiful turquoise green layer of earth, a natural patina produced by minerals in the soil.

Natural turquoise green patina

Here are a few more beautiful stone arches that we saw while driving through Arches National Park that sunny day in September 2019:

Several stages of arch formation

And a closer view of the arch on the left

Another arch in the park

Here is another view of Balanced Rock:

Balanced Rock from afar. See more of the turquoise green soil in the distance on the right.

We only spent a few morning hours in Arches National Park. Someday I hope to return and enjoy more time in this awe inspiring land of balancing rocks and stone arches.

That afternoon my husband and I took a scenic walk along the part of the Colorado River that winds through Moab on its southward course through the canyons and deserts of Utah and Arizona through the Grand Canyon and beyond. You are welcome to join us in the next post!

~ Debbie

If you missed the earlier stops, follow the links and enjoy the view.

First stop - Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden here.
Second stop - Montezuma's Castle here.
Third stop - Sedona here.
Fourth stop - The Grand Canyon here.
Fifth stop - The Desert Watch Tower here.
Sixth stop - Glen Canyon and Lake Powell here.
Seventh stop - Zion National Park here.
Eighth stop - Between canyons here.
Ninth stop - Bryce Canyon here.
Tenth stop - Utah's Scenic Byway 12 here.
Eleventh stop - Ancient Petroglyphs here.
Twelfth stop - Goblin Valley State Park here.
Thirteenth stop - Arches National Park here.
Fourteenth stop - Moab, Utah here.

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Goblin Valley State Park, Utah

4/19/2020

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This is part twelve in a series of posts about my visit through parts of Arizona and Utah in September 2019.
(Click words that are bolded for more information.)

Goblin Valley State Park, Utah

It's been a while since the last post of this tour, which was about ancient petroglyphs in the Fremont River Valley of Utah. While that post highlighted the strange and fantastic pictures etched into a rock surface bordering a valley, this post is about strange and fantastic rock shapes carved into a valley of red dirt.

Goblin Valley State Park is not as well known as the other canyons that I've written about in previous posts, but it is well worth visiting this remote spot which is located between Capitol Reef National Park and Arches National Park. Unlike the towering spire hoodoos of Bryce Canyon, the hoodoos of Goblin Valley are smaller sandstone formations that resemble mushrooms or the not so nice creatures of fairy tales called goblins. It's interesting that the old German, Norse, and English word for goblin all convey the idea of a hollow or cavity in a cliff, rock, or earth. In J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, three trolls turned to stone at sunrise, and I can imagine that the fantastic shapes that fill Goblin Valley State Park could indeed have been goblins or trolls turned to stone in the baking heat of the San Rafael Desert.

Hoodoos of Goblin Valley State Park

There are thousands of goblins in this small valley that is 2 miles long and a mile wide. Visitors are free to roam the area. Three short trails wind through two narrow slot canyons or atop a ridge overlooking the valley. Apparently there are petroglyphs and pictographs here, but we didn't have much time to explore and missed seeing them. Another reason to visit Goblin Valley again!

An eerie landscape

Except for the blue sky, it looks like this valley could be on Mars. I'd much rather visit here.

Like most deserts, Goblin Valley has extremely high temperatures during the hot summer, over 100 degrees, but the nights are much cooler. Most of the hardy animals that live here are nocturnal, starting their day under twinkling stars in the clear night sky. Goblin Valley State Park is a designated Dark Sky Park with one of the darkest night skies in the world. There are camp sites and even two yurts that can be reserved for those who aren't afraid of goblins.

You never know what kinds of travelers you might meet. Apart from the stone goblins that congregated in that valley, we met a macaw, a colorful bird that, when in the wild, makes its home in lush tropical areas. This particular macaw was traveling with its owners in a specially adapted area in the back of their van. We took a few minutes to admire its beauty before leaving the valley of goblins.

A colorful macaw

Near the entrance of Goblin Valley State Park are three hoodoos known as "The Three Sisters." Our next stop would be Moab and Arches National Park where another "Three Sisters" are located. But that is another post for another day. Until then, thanks for joining me in this tour of Arizona and Utah.

~ Debbie

Three Sisters at Goblin Valley State Park Utah Picture

The Three Sisters at Goblin Valley State Park in Utah

If you missed the earlier stops, follow the links and enjoy the view.

First stop - Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden here.
Second stop - Montezuma's Castle here.
Third stop - Sedona here.
Fourth stop - The Grand Canyon here.
Fifth stop - The Desert Watch Tower here.
Sixth stop - Glen Canyon and Lake Powell here.
Seventh stop - Zion National Park here.
Eighth stop - Between canyons here.
Ninth stop - Bryce Canyon here.
Tenth stop - Utah's Scenic Byway 12 here.
Eleventh stop - Ancient Petroglyphs here.
Twelfth stop - Goblin Valley State Park here.
Thirteenth stop - Arches National Park here.

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Ancient Petroglyphs in the Fremont River Valley

2/27/2020

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This is the eleventh in a series of posts about my visit through parts of Arizona and Utah.
(Click words that are bolded for more information.)

Utah's Scenic Byway 12 northern junction ends at Scenic Byway 24, which runs through Capitol Reef National Park. We stopped to enjoy a picnic lunch in a peaceful valley beside the Fremont River in the historic district of Fruita. Settled in 1879, this small self-sufficient Mormon community was home to just ten families who planted crops and orchards of fruit trees. Their descendants lived quietly in the sheltered valley until 1959 when Fruita was merged into Capitol Reef National Park. In the spring, visitors can still pick ripe fruit from Fruita orchards.

Soaring red cliffs surround the peaceful valley of Fruita

Oh, that blue, blue sky! Those fantastic rocks!

Here and there, the grassy picnic area was shaded by towering cottonwood trees with gnarled, twisted bark. One of these massive trees was known as the "Mail Tree," for under its branches mail was collected for the community. With a trunk diameter of 2-3 feet, Fremont cottonwood trees grow up to 90 feet tall and can live for 150 years. They grow near streams and rivers.

Cottonwood Mail Tree at Fruita, Utah Picture

Could this cottonwood have been the "Mail Tree?"

Wrinkled bark of a cottonwood tree

Long before the community of Fruita was settled, this lovely valley was home to a native people group now known as the Fremont. Like the Ancestral Puebloans, the Fremont lived in pit houses, hunted, and farmed. They made distinctive tightly woven baskets and wore leather moccasins, unlike the Ancestral Puebloans who wore sandals made from yucca fiber. The Fremont culture disappeared after 1300 AD, but numerous small clay figurines and rock art remain. Several panels of petroglyphs are carved into the sheer rock face in the Fremont river valley.

Fremont Petroglyphs

Petroglyphs are images that are carved or pecked into a rock surface, whereas pictographs are painted. The Fremont petroglyphs depict a variety of human-like figures, animals, abstract designs and geometric shapes. The human-like figures are ornately decorated.

A flock of bighorn sheep are spread across this panel

These sheep are etched into the dark rock varnish

I spy a sheep, a dog, and a bear

Look closely to see these ones. I spy a rabbit. (upper right)

There are dozens of petroglyphs on these rock panels. Some are easier to see than others, but the more I looked, the more I saw. I could imagine Fremont mothers and fathers playing a game of I Spy with their children as they gazed at the pictures etched in stone that decorated their river valley home.

Some have left their own imprint on this bridge over the Fremont River .

Even today many are compelled to leave their own imprints. From a little child's crayon scribble on her bedroom wall, to lovers' initials carved into a tree trunk, to colorful spray-painted graffiti on the side of an inner city building, people through the ages have left their mark. Hopefully these petroglyph panels and other ancient markings will remain unmarred so that visitors can see them and wonder about the people who made them.

"The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him." Lamentations 3:25

The next stop on our tour through Utah would take us to a dusty valley with fantastic rock sculptures that were carved by the mighty hand of One Who uses the forces of nature to leave His mark on His world, so that people can gaze and wonder, and perhaps seek to know Him.

~Debbie

First stop - Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden here.
Second stop - Montezuma's Castle here.
Third stop - Sedona here.
Fourth stop - The Grand Canyon here.
Fifth stop - The Desert Watch Tower here.
Sixth stop - Glen Canyon and Lake Powell here.
Seventh stop - Zion National Park here.
Eighth stop - Between canyons here.
Ninth stop - Bryce Canyon here.
Tenth stop - Utah's Scenic Byway 12 here.
Eleventh stop - Ancient Petroglyphs here.
Twelfth stop - Goblin Valley State Park here.

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Utah's Scenic Byway 12

1/28/2020

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This is the tenth in a series of posts about my visit through parts of Arizona and Utah.
(Click words that are bolded for more information.)

After leaving Bryce Canyon National Park, we ended our day in the remote small town of Escalante, Utah, (population 850) which was settled in 1875 by Mormon pioneers and was named after a Spanish explorer. After a good night's sleep, we would continue traveling northeast along Utah's Scenic Byway 12. With a distance of over 120 miles, Highway 12 transverses through Bryce Canyon, the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, over Boulder Mountain in Dixie National Forest, and ends at Highway 24 near Capitol Reef National Park. Along the way, this scenic highway winds through slickrock canyons, around striking rock formations, along a razorback ridge, through forests of pine and aspen trees, and remote rural towns.

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Picture

View from Head of the Rocks Overlook along Highway 12 in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was designated in 1996 by President Clinton. This area of the country is so rugged and remote that it was the last part of the continental United States to be mapped. Originally covering 1.9 million acres, in 2017 President Trump divided the Monument into three areas and reduced the size to just over 1 million acres, although all areas retain their existing level of federal protection.

Boyton Overlook, Highway 12, Utah Picture

View from Boynton Overlook along Highway 12

The Escalante River flows southeast for about 90 miles before entering Lake Powell and was the last river of its size to be charted in the continental United States. It winds its way through the canyons of Escalante. Cottonwood trees often line its banks, a thread of green through this vast, rugged area, but in some places invasive salt cedar bushes, also know as tamarisk, thrive. This non-native plant, along with river dams, has drastically changed the native habitat in many areas of the western United States.

Escalante River lined with tamarisk

We stopped near the Escalante River Trailhead and took a short walk along the river to see the ruins of two Ancestral Puebloan granaries tucked into a sheer rock face of the Escalante Canyon walls. Tamarisk grows thickly here where the floor of the canyon is sandy and the river is usually a slow and shallow stream. But during spring runoff and summer monsoon season, the Escalante River swells, and hikers must be prepared for flooding.

Granary one

Granary two

It was hard to tell just how large these structures were, since they were in alcoves high up the rock face. Apparently they had been used to store grain, high and dry above the river bed.

Along the Escalante River Trail near the Highway 12 bridge

After our walk near the river, we proceeded along Scenic Byway 12 to the tiny town of Boulder, with a population of just over 200, which was established in 1889. This remote town's claim to fame is that it was the last town in the United States to have mail brought in on a mule train. The extension of Scenic Byway 12 through the town put an end to the mail mule train and made this remote area accessible.

Anasazi State Park Museum is located here. This was the site of one of the largest Ancestral Puebloan, also known as Anasazi, communities in Utah west of the Colorado River. Between 1050 and 1200 AD, up to 200 people lived here. Excavations have been undertaken since 1958, with 97 rooms and 10 pit structures currently uncovered. Only half of the site has been investigated. Just outside the museum is a six room replica of a pueblo, and a short trail from the museum leads to the site ruins.

Pueblo replica at Anasazi State Park Museum in Boulder, Utah

Pit House at Anasazi State Park Museum Picture

A Pit House, the original "Tiny House"

Utah's Scenic Byway 12 passes through two national parks, a national monument, three state parks, and a national forest. Elevations range from 4,000 to 10,000 feet. The incredible geographical diversity of this area is unique to Utah. The sheer magnitude and variety of colors, shapes and beauty of this desolate rock covered country is breathtaking.

The day wasn't over yet, but this blog post has come to an end. More astonishing geological wonders were yet to come as we continued our journey along the scenic highways and byways of awe inspiring Utah.

~Debbie

First stop - Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden here.
Second stop - Montezuma's Castle here.
Third stop - Sedona here.
Fourth stop - The Grand Canyon here.
Fifth stop - The Desert Watch Tower here.
Sixth stop - Glen Canyon and Lake Powell here.
Seventh stop - Zion National Park here.
Eighth stop - Between canyons here.
Ninth stop - Bryce Canyon here.
Tenth stop - Utah's Scenic Byway 12 here.
Eleventh stop - Ancient Petroglyphs here.

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Bryce Canyon - At the Top of the Staircase

1/1/2020

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This is the ninth in a series of posts about my visit through parts of Arizona and Utah.
(Click words that are bolded for more information.)

We spent over a week exploring parts of the Colorado Plateau, visiting many National Parks and Monuments, and seeing a variety of geological wonders that comprise "steps" on The Grand Staircase, a gigantic topographical "stairway" that ascends from the Grand Canyon North Rim to Bryce Canyon. The cliff edge of each colored layer forms a step. The exposed rock layers of the five steps up the staircase are Chocolate/Kaibab limestone, Vermilion near the Glen Canyon Dam, White/Navajo sandstone of Zion National Park, Gray/Cretaceous shale and sandstone, and Pink/Claron Formation. At the top of this vast arrangement of colorful sedimentary rock layers that form The Grand Staircase are the red and pink cliffs of Bryce Canyon National Park.

Bryce Canyon

The showpiece of Bryce Canyon is its natural amphitheater populated with fantastic rock spires called hoodoos. These towering formations are the result of erosion by snow and rain. The canyon is lined with thin walls of rock called fins. This pink Claron Formation rock is composed mostly of soft limestone, which is slowly dissolved through chemical weathering by rain and snow. Through this process of freezing and thawing, cracks form in the fins and enlarge, creating holes or windows in the rock. Slowly the windows grow until their tops collapse, leaving a pillar of rock. With an elevation of 8000-9000 feet, there are over 200 freeze/thaw cycles a year in Bryce Canyon. The average snowfall is 95 inches per year!

Windows forming in the fins

Pink Claron Formation

Hoodoo stone pillars

The eerie towering spires of rock are called hoodoos, fairy chimneys, or goblins. Bryce Canyon has the largest concentration of hoodoos in the world. Each hoodoo is unique. These rocks are sculpted by water into fantastic shapes, some of which seem to defy gravity, at least for a time.

See the boulder perched atop a spire, bottom left

In the 1870s, Ebenezer Bryce, a Mormon pioneer, settled in the valley east of the park. One day he lost some of his cattle and wandered into the canyons to find them. Although he eventually moved to Arizona, the canyon continued to be known as Bryce Canyon. In 1928 Bryce Canyon became a National Park and is now visited by over 2.5 million people annually who come to hike the numerous trails and enjoy the stunning scenery.

One of 15 hiking trails in Bryce Canyon

Well, hello there, little fellow

At the Top of The Grand Staircase

After reaching the top of The Grand Staircase, we would be heading back down, stopping at several more splendid sites. Please join me as we continue on our tour.

~Debbie

First stop - Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden here.
Second stop - Montezuma's Castle here.
Third stop - Sedona here.
Fourth stop - The Grand Canyon here.
Fifth stop - The Desert Watch Tower here.
Sixth stop - Glen Canyon and Lake Powell here.
Seventh stop - Zion National Park here.
Eighth stop - Between canyons here.
Ninth stop - Bryce Canyon here.
Tenth stop - Utah's Scenic Byway 12 here.

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Arches National Park - Moab, Utah

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Ancient Petroglyphs in the Fremont River Valley

Utah's Scenic Byway 12

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