Canyonlands' Island In The Sky, 1

Omnia Gallia in tres partes divisa est. Caesar would have said the same of Canyonlands National Park, identifying its three units as the aptly named Island in the Sky, the Needles, and the Maze. There are three distinct units of the Park because the place is so remote and inaccessible that you can't really get from one to another. There are 4WD roads here and there, and that is how most travel occurs in this place. We spent a couple days sightseeing in Island in the Sky--atop a huge mesa jutting into the Park--the one unit fairly accessible to normal autos and RVs. Oh yes, there is actually a fourth unit of the Park, Horseshoe Canyon, which Caesar didn't know about, and that's where we really got our feet on the ground. I'll post on it in a few days.

From the Green River overlook; yes, that Green River, which
we more often associate with Wyoming and the Wind River
Range

It's out there in the distance, a thousand feet below the White
Rim, which is a thousand or so feet below Island in the Sky
and its overlook; the Green and the Colorado  finally merge
a bit south of here, deep in Canyonlands

Panning around

Thus

Ditto

At Upheaval Dome, now thought to be a meteorite crater; it's
in the mid-40s, I am shivering, and a storm is moving in; and
"Heat Kills"

Need to find higher ground as one of these approaches

From The Neck, Shafer Canyon the other side

Shafer Canyon

Street scene

At length, we camped at the Willow Flat campground, near the
Green River Overlook; note covered picnic table

La Sal Loop

The Manti-La Sal Loop takes you from the Colorado River, east of Moab, through canyonland country and up into the snow-crested La Sal Mountains, a spur of the Colorado Rockies; then back down again to Spanish Valley and Moab. The altitude gain is about 4,000 feet, but the variety of terrain you can see in an hour is pretty neat.

Fisher Towers

Exactly 21 miles up the Colorado River from Moab is the short road to Fisher Towers, a place of spectacular southwestern scenery and also a hub of rock-climbing activity. We hiked the Towers back to The Titan and then drove the Lasal Loop, up into the mountains and then back down to Moab, all on Monday.

Environs, Fisher Valley

Some of the Towers, from the trailhead

Proceeding on

Way up there

At least two parties on this one

Way up there

Posing

Lunch break, with cup-holder

The Titan, the big one we came to see...900 feet above the
valley

Fixed ladder on the trail

Towers all over

And a last look

Arches National Park, V: Fiery Furnace

The Fiery Furnace is one of those clumps of fins, those long up-right rock features that sometimes erode away to become arches. Arches National Park has several such clumps, obviously, the most famous of which is the so-called Fiery Furnace. So-called because of its fiery appearance in certain sunsets, not because of any thermal properties. Anyhow, I signed up for a ranger-led hike in the Fiery Furnace Saturday. Vicki demurred since the hike involved a variety of scrambling moves that might well have over-taxed her artificial knee. I found the hike challenging, not because of any of the moves required, but because of my vestibular disability. But I did it, and I don't think anyone noticed I was doing it on a rocking and rolling vessel.

Google Earth view of the Fiery Furnace, 3 miles up; how do
those little cars get so high?

Ranger Glenn explains fins and arches, and salt domes, using
a sponge model; I've been going on NPS ranger hikes since
1970; scores of them, many scores; this was one of the best

A pot-hole arch, small

Another, larger

Another, small; in order to qualify, according to the NPS, a
span has to be at least 3 feet, admit light, and be natural

Looking up, occasionally

But mostly down, to see where you're going

Ranger-led hikes typically take you places you cannot or should
not go by yourself; and there's generally far more talk than
walk--in 3 and 1/2 hours we walked maybe a mile and 1/2--but
the talk is the great thing, something you'd not get any other
way

Nice double arch; alas, I don't recall many of the arches' names

A pot hole; it rained a few days back; but swimming in this
pot hole and others are tiny Fairy Shrimp; one of those
organisms that seems to survive almost anything; speaking
of which, check out Tardigrades...inter-galactic travelers?

Again, looking up

Executing the "slide on your butt" maneuver; we'd already done
some chimneying

Another medium-sized arch, the Kissing Turtles

Many readers have asked why I don't post more pictures of
coyote scat; OK, so here is some coyote scat

Erosion

More arches

Fin-land

One final arch, the best of them

Thus

Great place, great hike

Arches National Park, IV: Still More Arches

Arches NP has more than 2,000 arches, the world's greatest concentration of these things. Most, I think, are within the various sizeable clumps of fins, like the "Fiery Furnace," (next post), and are thus not particularly accessible. We took a number of hikes in the park and saw a dozen or more of the best known arches, a few of which are below.

Tunnel Arch

Pine Tree Arch

Fins...wherefrom arches come...

Sand Dune Arch, within the fins above

Broken Arch 

Delicate Arch

Skyline Arch

Sunset view from our "campsite" in the desert