Moab Rim RV Park and Campground- Moab Utah

 Moab Rim RV Park and Campground- Moab, Utah

Thankfully, the trip from Bryce to Moab was uneventful, contrary to the trip to Bryce.  The colors and scenery in the above pictures were taken while making the trip. Our motto is "it is about the journey, not the destination".

Arches National Park is a national park in eastern Utah. The park is adjacent to the Colorado River. More than 2,000 natural sandstone arches are located in the park, including the well-known Delicate Arch, as well as a variety of unique geological resources and formations. The park contains the highest density of natural arches in the world.

The park consists of 76,680 acres; of high desert located on the Colorado Plateau. The highest elevation in the park is 5,653 feet at Elephant Butte, and the lowest elevation is 4,085 feet at the visitor center. The park receives an average of less than 10 inches of rain annually.

As stated in the foundation document in U.S. National Park Service website:

The purpose of Arches National Park is to protect extraordinary examples of geologic features including arches, natural bridges, windows, spires, and balanced rocks, as well as other features of geologic, historic, and scientific interest, and to provide opportunities to experience these resources and their associated values in their majestic natural settings.

All of the arches in the park are made of Entrada Sandstone, however, there are slight differences in how each arch was developed. This allows the Entrada Sandstone to be categorized into 3 groups including Slick rock members, Dewey rock members, and Moab members. Vertical arches can be developed from Slick rock members, a combination of Slick rock members and Moab members, or Slick rock members resting above Dewey rock members. Horizontal arches (also called potholes) are formed when a vertical pothole formation meets a horizontal cave, causing a union into a long arch structure. The erosion process within Arches National Park will continue as time continues to pass. Continued erosion combined with vertical and horizontal stress will eventually cause arches to collapse, but still, new arches will continue to form for thousands of years.

This is an actual bust of Nefertiti. Mark sees her likeness in this rock. We both see many faces and animals in many of the rocks. Sometimes, we see different things or don't see things the other sees.

This section is named Park Avenue.

This formation is called the Three Gossips. 

This is a great example of the constant changes in the rock formations. The changes occur slowly over time, but change is always occurring. 

  There are over 2,000 Arches in the park- some are named, but other ones, like this one, are not identified.

  Balanced Rock is one of the most popular features of Arches National Park. Balanced Rock is located next to the park's main road,  about 9 miles from the park entrance. It is one of only a few prominent features clearly visible from the road.

The total height of Balanced Rock is 128 feet, with the balancing rock rising 55 feet above the base. This rock is the largest of its kind in the park, weighing approximately 3,577 tons. Balanced Rock is composed of the hard Slick Rock Member of the Entrada Sandstone. It sits on a pedestal of the softer Dewey Bridge Member which erodes faster than then the rock above. This will cause the eventual collapse of balanced rock. It seems like we seen  some balanced rocks in every park and many along the roadside, but this is the most well known.

We saw this  hole in the cliffside. If the overall thickness of the cliff was less, it is possible that this could eventually become an arch. To be an arch, the opening must be open all the way through the rock and measure at least 3 feet in any direction. 

Mark saw a child or a woman's face, with a shawl covering the top of her head, in this rock.

This formation is named the Skyline Arch.

We saw an organ grinder Monkey atop this rock.

Lisa was hiking into the Landscape Arch trail.

 Many years ago they allowed visitors to walk under the Landscape arch.  When an estimated 180 ton section fell, they closed the trail underneath the arch to visitors .  There were park visitors under the arch when it fell. Luckily, they heard noise emanating from above them and were able to get to safer ground so no one was injured.  

This one is named Navajo Arch.

This is a side view of the cliff by Navajo Arch.  It appears to have been "eaten" away, giving it the appearance of swiss cheese.

Double O Arch is the second largest arch in Devils Gardens, after Landscape Arch.  As the name implies, there are 2 arches here. The one large with has a span of 71 feet, stacked atop a smaller arch with a 21 foot span.  Both are part of the same sandstone fin.

Lisa was waiting on me.  I got behind on the return trip from Double O Arch. (He gets side tracked easily, especially if there is a sign to read. He reads and processes every word of it.)

This raven was just taking a break and checking things out. There were many ravens all throughout the park.

Lisa  was  in the Sand Dune arch. I use her in many of these pictures to give a perspective of size.

Lisa and Mark were both under Sand Dune Arch thanks to a friendly hiker. We have 

That is Delicate Arch behind her.

We saw this green lizard with a golden head scurrying near the green rocks. His coloring was very unique.

We thought this looked like a viper posed to strike or an alien, maybe a T Rex..... The more I look at it, the more I see a T Rex.

This formation was huge. You get an idea of its size with Lisa is underneath it.

This shrub was growing out of a crevice of solid rock.  Interestingly, as wind blows the sand around, it collects around the base of the plant.

We were happy campers enjoying the sun and the sights while logging several miles hiking.

A squirrel head was looking to the left and a cobra with his hood blown up appeared to be looking at us.

This one is a horse with a thick mane standing facing to the right.

This  is  a small arch, but it is larger than it appears.

They call this one the Christmas Tree Arch.

This is Bicep Arch. It took me a bit to see it though.

This is named Seagull Arch, even though I do not see it.

The North Window Arch still allows visitors to walk underneath it. 

Lisa was underneath the North Window Arch. The arch is so large, that it is above her yet it is not visible in this shot. 

This one is Turret Arch.

The exhausted pair was at the South Window Arch.  It was lunchtime and we  had already logged over 20,000 steps for the day. We had hiked all over and under these rocks. 

This is called Pothole Arch.

Lisa was sitting with a desert bighorn mountain goat.

A Butte we saw on the way to Monument valley.  Both of these pictures are of the same Butte, first one from the side the second straight on.

Monument Valley is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of sandstone buttes, the largest reaching 1,000 ft above the valley floor. It is located on the Utah–Arizona state line, near the Four Corners area. The valley is a sacred area that lies within the territory of the Navajo Nation Reservation, the Native American people of the area.

Monument Valley has been featured in many forms of media since the 1930s. Director John Ford used the location for a number of his Westerns; critic Keith Phipps wrote that "its five square miles have defined what decades of moviegoers think of when they imagine the American West".

The area is part of the Colorado Plateau. The elevation of the valley floor ranges from 5,000 to 6,000 feet above sea level. The floor is largely siltstone of the Cutler Group, or sand derived from it, deposited by the meandering rivers that carved the valley. The valley's vivid red color comes from iron oxide exposed in the weathered siltstone. The darker, blue-gray rocks in the valley get their color from manganese oxide.

The buttes are clearly stratified, with three principal layers. The lowest layer is the Organ Rock Shale, the middle is de Chelly Sandstone, and the top layer is the Moenkopi Formation capped by Shinarump Conglomerate.

Bear and Rabbit Summit

Eagle Mesa

West Mitten Butte/ East Mitten Butte/ Merrick Butte

West Mitten Butte

East Mitten Butte

Merrick Butte

Lisa and Karma in front of West Mitten.

Merrick

Elephant

Three Sisters

Camel Butte

Camel Butte from other side

The Hub

John Ford Point, named after famous director, he used this location for many of his western movies.

Custom Bronze statue of a historic Native American Navajo Family. This custom bronze monument statue was commissioned by the Navajo Nation and is located at the entrance of the Monument Valley Tribal Park in northern Arizona. 

Gray Whiskers

Big Indian

Mexican Hat

Wilson Arch was on the side of the road on our way south for several excursions.  Very similar to some of the arches in Arches National Park.  We saw canyoneering people on their way out when we arrived.  Not sure where they were climbing but somewhere on the backside of the arch.

Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument is a Utah state monument featuring a rock panel carved with one of the largest known collections of petroglyphs

The 200-square-foot (19 m²) rock is a part of the vertical Wingate sandstone cliffs that enclose the upper end of Indian Creek Canyon, and is covered by hundreds of petroglyphs—one of the largest, best preserved and easily accessed groups in the Southwest. The petroglyphs feature a mixture of human, animal, material and abstract forms.

The first carvings at the Newspaper Rock site were made around 2,000 years ago, left by people from the Archaic, Anasazi, Fremont, Navajo, Anglo, and Pueblo cultures.

In Navajo, the rock is called "Tse' Hone'" which translates to a rock that tells a story.

The petroglyphs were carved by Native Americans during both the prehistoric and historic periods. There are over 650 rock art designs. The drawings on the rock are of different animals, human figures, and symbols. These carvings include pictures of deer, buffalo, and pronghorn antelope. Some glyphs depict riders on horses, while other images depict past events like in a newspaper. While precisely dating the rock carvings has been difficult, repatination of surface minerals reveals their relative ages. The reason for the large concentration of the petroglyphs is unclear. One suggested explanation is that the rock was used as a place for communication through the petroglyphs between travelers.

The pictures at Newspaper Rock were inscribed into the dark coating on the rock, called desert varnish. Desert varnish is mainly made up (~70%) by clay materials, but gets its blackish color from iron and manganese oxide deposits that gradually form on exposed sandstone cliff faces owing to the action of rainfall and bacteria. The ancient artists produced the many types of figures and patterns by carefully chipping the coated rock surfaces with sharpened tools to remove the desert varnish and expose the lighter rock beneath. The older figures are themselves becoming darker in color as new varnish slowly develops.

There are a couple of very impressive things about the petroglyphs at News Paper Rock.  Some of these are 10-12 feet off the ground.  We know they could build ladders but why would they do it to draw there Petroglyphs.  This was obviously a very important location for them that they continued their story here for years.  The other amazing thing to us was we attempted to chip some of the coating off a rock sample we found on one of our hikes.  It is in know way easily done even with metal tools. 

This is on the the upper left side of the rock approximately 14-16 feet off the ground.  We found it interesting that it was the same last name and that it was chipped into the rock 52 years apart.  When we were there, there was a hand rail preventing you from getting close to it.  The last of these markings were chipped into the rock 7 years before it became a State Historic Monument.

Canyonlands National Park is an American national park located in southeastern Utah near the town of Moab. The park preserves a colorful landscape eroded into numerous canyons, mesas, and buttes by the Colorado River, the Green River, and their respective tributaries.

The park is divided into four districts: the Island in the Sky, the Needles, the Maze, and the combined rivers—the Green and Colorado—which carved two large canyons into the Colorado Plateau. While these areas share a primitive desert atmosphere, each retains its own character.  Author Edward Abbey, a frequent visitor, described the Canyonlands as "the most weird, wonderful, magical place on earth—there is nothing else like it anywhere."

In the early 1950s, Bates Wilson, then superintendent of Arches National Monument, began exploring the area to the south and west of Moab, Utah. After seeing what is now known as the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, Wilson began advocating for the establishment of a new national park that would include the Needles. Additional explorations by Wilson and others expanded the areas proposed for inclusion into the new national park to include the confluence of Green and Colorado rivers, the Maze District, and Horseshoe Canyon.

In 1961, Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall was scheduled to address a conference at Grand Canyon National Park. On his flight to the conference, he flew over the Confluence (where the Colorado and Green rivers meet). The view apparently sparked Udall's interest in Wilson's proposal for a new national park in that area and Udall began promoting the establishment of Canyonlands National Park.

In September, 1964, after several years of debate, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Pub. L. 88–590, which established Canyonlands National Park as a new national park. Bates Wilson became the first superintendent of the new park and is often referred to as the "Father of Canyonlands."

Anazasi Grainery

These photo's are from the Needles section of Canyonlands.  Canyonlands is over 330,000 acres.  To see all of Canyonlands would have requited moving Ethel several times due to the access.  We will be back in the area in the future and hopefully plan better to see all of the park.

Lisa has picked up a couple of new hobbies since we have started our travels.  They all seem to involve rocks.  She has collected these for her latest which is rock etching in Sandstone.

Dead Horse Point State Park is a state park in San Juan County, Utah in the United States, featuring a dramatic overlook of the Colorado River and Canyonlands National Park.  According to legend, the park is so named because of its use as a natural corral by cowboys in the 19th century, where horses often died of exposure. Dead Horse Point has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names.

The river at the bottom of the Canyon is the Colorado River as it flows to Lake Powell.

Lisa on the way to the Overlook.

Lisa and Karma posing at the overlook of the Canyon.  

Lisa peeking through an hole in the rocks.

Dead Horse State Park allowed us to hike the rim of Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands National  Park.  We decided to view the canyon from Dead Horse 1.) It saved us about 40 miles one way of driving. 2.) We also were allowed to bring Karma along for our hike on the Rim.

 

And that wraps up Moab. It was time to pack up and head to our next adventure in Mesa Verde.