The road to Natural Bridges passed through some beautiful desolate country. We didn't see any signs of civilization for over an hour. It's about as far from anything as we've been.
We passed throught this rock cut in the ridge
and saw this view of the cliff wall on the other side.
"Petrified Sand Dunes" on the road to Natural Bridges
The natural bridges were formed when the creeks eroded through an entrenched meander.
Sipapu & Kachina were @ 1/2 mile away as the crow flies and about 500' drop in elevation from the view point.
Sipapu height 220', span 268', width 31', thickness 53' .
Kachina height 210' , span 204', width 44', thickness 93'
Natural Bridges is one of a few places in the world ( all in UT ) that have microbiotic soil, the brown soil in the foreground of Owachomo Bridge.
The soil is alive with some kinds of microbes- a very fragile crust about 1/2 - 1" thick.
Owachomo height 106' span 180, width 27, thickness 9'
This cross-bedded sandstone was along a fairly easy trail down the slick rock. We hiked maybe 1/2 mile & 200' drop in elevation.
It was a very strange sensation to be down below looking up.
This was the view going back along the cliff face through that amazing rock cut.
We stopped at a BLM recreation site to see some more Petroglyphs.
Goosenecks State Park, in southern UT is the longest entrenched meander in North America.
We drove across the flat plateau until suddenly we came to the parking lot and parked 10 feet from the edge & looked straight down over 1,000'.
The San Juan river meanders 6 miles in 1 1/2 miles of linear distance. The width of the rock between the river might be @ 200 yards.
This wild rock is the Raplee Anticline near Goosenecks. The colors & erosion were really intense.
The wall of the mesa continued for about 5 miles with variations of the color banding and amazing erosion.
Mexican Hat, southern Utah on the way to...
Monument Valley Tribal Park UT/AZ
In the movie, this is the spot that Forrest Gump turned around to go home after running across the US.
The Mittens in Monument Valley
The Navaho Indian Reservation Vis. Ctr. gift shop had all the typical Indian crafts, silver & turquoise jewelry, rugs, pottery & the normal souvenirs,
including a whole section of John Wayne movie stuff.
The Valley is right on the state border.
The only thing that would have been better would have been there at sunset when the rocks really glow. This section of the desert was surprisingly green.
Ship Rock in Monument Valley is the lava plug of an ancient volcano.
We got to Grand Canyon just as the sun was setting so we stopped at the first view point.
It was fascinating watching the rocks change color as the sun set
No caption necessary. Tommorrow - Grand Canyon all day
