Canyonlands National Park 6-21-2009

This was our last morning in Buckboard Campground. We planed to leave by way of the "back" of the mountain and visit Canyonlands National Park. First, though, we had to contend with breakfast and a little bathing.

The sun was bright and the sky clear. Perhaps yesterday's rain was the result of fresh weather moving through. We can hope. I took advantage of the clear weather to take a few pics of the campground, flowers, and the town below us. I took multiple strolls that morning and on one I took Ian to the bath room. On the way he saw me photographing some wildflowers and had to pick some for his Mama.

One of the interesting things here are the nice pit toilets. Yes I wrote NICE. Well, nice for a pit toilet. They are essentially a well made outhouse constructed of prefab concrete slabs glued together. Mechanical fasteners were not visible but they could have been hidden from view. Inside was a molded fiberglass toilet that users were expected to close after use. This, of course, helped with the odor. No flush was needed. Combined with the big black vent outside (I imagine it warmed air within causing a chimney like draft) interior odor was nonexistent. Plastic fragrance things had been stickied to the walls and for a moment I felt like I could be home ...almost. The visible hole past the toilet seat was a killer.

One benefit, so far unmentioned, was the dark color of the exterior. It not only looks nice but warms the concrete walls and roof during the day. After darkness falls and the temperature follows, visits are still comfortably warm.

With the morning's duties concluded we hitched the van and camper once again and headed down the back of the mountain. This time down we took a few more pics as we had sunlight to work with. At many points we could see Canyonlands in the distance. Unfortunately there was no roundup.

As we sank into the valley we had seen from the mountain, it began to warm. It never got hot, though. Once again we were weather lucky. Once we entered the park (no park pass was needed as this was a free entry weekend) we went straight for the visitors center. Getting oriented allows us to get the most out of a park. It's construction, which I found pleasing, definitely took the immediate environment into account. ---Hot dry and HOT--- Inside we found there were plenty of hiking and four wheel drive trails. Unfortunately, I never seem to be able to find the minivan trails. Discrimination I say. Heh.

On the way out we passed a group of three park rangers in conversation. I got the attention of one and asked her a few questions about the stratigraphy within the park. I was attempting isolate which layers might contain the fossilized stuff I was interested in. I knew I was looking for layers near Navajo sandstone, but the info I got from her didn't jive with what I already knew. I decided she either didn't know what she was talking about or was BS'ing me. It's not that I wanted to keep anything I found, I just wanted to know if I could find something at all.

We left the rangers and dove into the park. We like checking out the campgrounds offered within the parks we visit so one of the first stops was the Canyonlands campground, Squaw Flat. It was a nice desert campground that I would have enjoyed but there were couple of strikes against it. The first was that it was summer and we avoid midday camping in the desert in the summer, secondly we needed to get a few miles under our tires before we set up camp again.

We headed deeper into the canyon with the hope of seeing the confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers. Unfortunately we didn't. We got as far as Big Spring Canyon Overlook. From there a trail continued along another 4.5 miles of rough ground to the confluence. We didn't take the trail and instead played on the rocks of the overlook. Then we left the park the way we came in.

I had hoped to leave the park a different way than the one we came in on. Our GPS indicated there were other possible routes, but each one appeared to be a long forgotten wagon trail. We avoided these as they were not quite minivan appropriate. Heh. I have begun to wonder if a deer trail would qualify as a road to the GPS mapping folks. It would be dangerous for some people to travel these "roads".

There was a part of the park to the north that we did not visit, Island In the Sky. It boasted a view of Canyonlands from atop a butte and supported a second visitors center for the park. We did not go as it was too far out of our way. We instead drove south through Monticello and Blanding in an effort to get to Bryce Canon in a day or two.

After leaving Blanding, 95 west led us into ....guess....a canyon. This was notable mostly for the shock of seeing the temperature gauge rise while climbing back out. None of the Toyotas I have owned have ever run warm. We crested the western edge of the canyon without needing to stop to allow the engine to cool, but I was left nervous. We were, after all entering what I considered a "no breakdown area". You know.....areas devoid of people and more importantly the infrastructure that supports them.

Not long after that scare we unexpectedly came upon another park. Natural Bridges National Monument. It was one of those "We're here. Lets check it out." things. We were surprised to find it had a campground. Then the park ranger at the visitor's center surprised us yet again when he said they had a site left. A single site. We hurriedly sized it up. It was still available when we got to it and we decided to claim it for the night. It was our home in the desert for the night.

Although it was late, there was still light enough left to check out the park a little closer. Its sights were on a 10 mile loop of minivan friendly road. We learned that natural bridges are different from the arches we had seen the day before due to the way they are formed. Arches form much slower and due to repeated freezing and thawing of condensation or melt. Natural bridges, on the other hand, form as a result of more aggressive river erosion as a meandering river snakes back on itself pinching a hole into the rock.

We saw Sipapu Bridge, accidentally drove past Kachina Bridge and finally hit Owachomo Bridge where there was a sign pointing out two hills in the distance referred to as Bears Ears. And yes, they looked like a pair of bears ears. (Pic of Bears Ears borrowed from Ireed7649 on flickr. We missed our chance.) Along the way I stopped to take a pic of the area's interesting soil by the road. I walked all over it in the process. I found out later that the soil in the park is alive with bacteria and walking on it damages it. Without the bacteria to hold the soil together the soil blows away and vegetation dies."Don't Bust the Crust" they say. Oops.

Back at the site we had a visit from a park ranger. She was walking the campground loop letting folks in the park know she had a presentation after nightfall. We agreed to go as it was educational and new to us. Upon arrival I saw that she had set up a Jeopardy type of question and answer educational game. It was fun, but what caught my attention were the rocks propping the displays up. Petrified wood! Before leaving I spoke to her about the "rockwood" and mentioned I would like to go rock hunting with my kids if an appropriate place to do so could be found. She said that not even the rangers could collect what was in the park but there was BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land nearby that they would visit when some was needed. Individuals can collect rocks on BLM land up to around 25 ponds each per year. I asked her where. She said under Bears Ears.

Hmmmmm.