Day 9
Moab, Utah
Today we had to wake up early to get a campsite in Arches National Park. These filled up quickly and we really wanted to get one. Once we got a site we would go to two nearby parks and see Arches tomorrow.
We got to the park entrance and the guy gave us information about camping. The campground was on the opposite end of the park which is 18 miles from the entrance. We started driving up the road, passing the Courthouse Towers area, the Tower of Babel, and Park Avenue—some of Arches’ landmarks. We were driving for about 20 minutes when Andy, while reading the park paper, said, “all campers must register at the visitors center.” We weren’t sure if we needed to do this since we talked to the guy at the gate but we turned around and headed back just in case. We drove all the way back to find out what we had was fine. So we were on our way again. The scenery was so beautiful that it was a pleasure but we were worried about getting a site since it was getting late.
The morning had not been going too well thus far. We needed something to eat and I would have liked a shower. We set up the tent and got something to eat at a Subway in Moab which was very good. Our first stop today is in Dead Horse State Park then Canyonlands National Park. These two parks are a bit south of Arches but we had to go north on US 191 to get to them. We were going to the north part of Canyonlands called Island In The Sky. There are three other parts, the Needles, the Maze, and the Horseshoe Canyon Unit. All require a lot of hiking, backcountry camping, and/or a four wheel drive vehicle. Turned in on UT 313 which is a road that makes its way to the top of the mesa that overlooks the canyons from these two parks. Both of these parks are surrounded by cliffs and canyons and the road that was built on this mesa top extends out to the tip of this mesa and all points around the edges.
Dead Horse Point State Park
An overlook at Dead Horse Point in Utah, with the Colorado River 2,000 feet below.
Meander Overlook at Dead Horse Point.
Dead Horse State Park was really a surprise. I had seen pictures of this and always wanted to go but didn’t know where it was. The fee was $3 and it was well worth the price. The view is tremendous into the Meander Canyon, which the Colorado River is responsible for creating. The river is 2,000 feet below the 6,000 foot elevation of the park. The cliffs expose 150 million years of erosion by the river.
A brief geologic history
320 million years ago, Canyonlands was a basin southwest of an ancient mountain range 15,000 feet high named the Uncompahgre Uplift. This basin was repeatedly flooded by an adjacent ocean called the Cretaceous Seaway that extended from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean, resulting in the accumulation of salts. Debris from this ancient uplift added layers of dark shale to the deposited salt in the basin. In the next 100 million years limestone, sandstone, and more shale were deposited. After this, erosion began to overpower the rock layers and deposited sediment. This has continued to the present time, eroding away at least one mile of rock and creating the features we see today in the parks. All of this material was eroded by the powerful Colorado and Green Rivers.
A brief human history
As far as human history, Paleo-Indian cultures inhabited the area as far back as 11,500 BC. By 1000 BC, they grew corn and began to develop into the permanent settlements of the Pueblo culture. By the end of the 1300s and a twenty year drought, Canyonlands had no more inhabitants. Not until the 1800s did Europeans enter the area. Several explorers traversed the area, the most famous being John Wesley Powell who brought back the first detailed account of the area from his 1869 and 1871 expeditions down the Colorado River. In the 1950s and 1960s people were exploring Canyonlands for uranium deposits. For this, roads were created in the canyons for extraction but the yields were not worth the effort and cost of extracting it. Soon after, in 1964, Canyonlands became a national park.
Canyonlands Nat’l Park
Murphy Point overlook at Canyonlands National Park.
Anyway, back to reality… It was an extremely hot day today. We headed for Canyonlands and stopped in the Island in the Sky Visitor Center and poked. Some lady came in and asked if there was a place in the park where the family could have a picnic in some shade. The ranger replied, “Ma’am, welcome to the desert.” There was no shade, all the trees were small and all the leaves were small to conserve water for the plant.
Buck Canyon overlook at Canyonlands National Park.
Murphy Point view of the Green River as it meanders through the park.
Andy at Grand Point Overlook in Canyonlands.
Murphy Point view overlooking the carved out canyons of Canyonlands.
After leaving the visitor center, we went to the many overlooks. The first was the Buck Canyon Overlook. Then the Grand View Point Overlook, Orange Cliffs Overlook, and then we walked out to Murphy Point which overlooks the Soda Springs Basin. Actually, we drove out to a point where there was a sign reading “Four Wheel Drive Vehicles Recommended Beyond This Point.” So we walked the last mile and a half out to the point. This looks west upon the Green River. In the middle of the park the two rivers converge and the Colorado continues on its way to the Gulf of California, 1,400 miles from here. It was starting to look like it might rain, sounded like it too. I was watching a storm in the distance, hoping it would stay away from us. We began walking back, I didn’t want to have to drive on these sandy roads, I've heard it’s impossible to do when they’re wet.
Finally made it back to the car and drove up to the Upheaval Dome, which is actually a huge dome beside a craterlike feature. Basically it’s a large hole surrounded by walls of sandstone. These walls are thought to have been pushed up by slow moving salt layers beneath the surface deposited by the ancient sea. Another theory suggests the huge hole may be the result of a meteor hit. We walked out on the Upheaval Dome trails along one of the walls of this 1,500 feet deep hole. Walked out a bit further then made our way back to the car. The last thing we saw in the park was the Mesa Arch. This is a long, wide arch and is found at the end of this trail on one of the cliffs overlooking Buck Canyon thousands of feet below. This was an amazing feature and I was tempted to climb out on top of it but if a strong wind came along there could be a problem. It was starting to get late so we left.
We went into Moab to get a few groceries. This is like going to the grocery store at the beach. All tourists, mostly German and French, I was beginning to wonder what country I was in. We got back to Arches and our camp around 8:30 p.m., night was not far. Today was hot as hell, the Canyonlands visitor center forecast the day to be 107 degrees. I don’t know if it ever made it to this temperature but it was hot. One effect of this heat and sunshine: crispy skin.
We sat up and watched the dusk sky, there were just enough clouds to make it beautiful. It was perfect: there was this guy playing a harmonica in the distance, old west style. For all I knew he was probably German or French. We had to get to bed early tonight. We signed up for the Fiery Furnace hike tomorrow morning at 10 in the morning. I could not get to sleep. There was a deer munching on the trees outside our tent. I was afraid she would stick her nose in our tent or something. I could still use a shower; actually I really want a shower.