1982 More Utah National Parks (8/17/1982)

Tuesday, August 17, 1982

Shortly after 7:30 we headed up US 191, then turned west on UT 211. We drove down a country road, passing over cattle guards along the way. A ranch fence comes right up to the road, and instead of having a gate, railroad tracks are laid closely together in line with the fence, and the fence continues on the other side of the road. Cattle cannot walk down the road to escape because their feet get stuck between the railroad tracks.

We wound down into a tree-filled canyon and later saw a sign for a state monument called Newspaper Rock. It was a wall of rock with petroglyphs, pictorial markings.

Petroglyphs

Newspaper Rock

It isn't sure if they are doodles or historic writings, but it is interesting. Near the rock we spotted a Sylvilagus audubonii/Desert Cottontail Rabbit.

Sylvilagus audubonii/Desert Cottontail Rabbit

The canyon widened with some agriculture on one side and rocky cliffs on the other. We startled a covey of birds who ran across the road and hopped up and over the rocks out of sight; they were Alectoris chukar/Chukar Partridges.

The landscape flattened out and dried out. There were fences alongside the road, and we noticed tumbleweeds caught against the fences. Some were pale yellow and others gray; fresh vs. aged?

On the way to Canyonlands National Park

Echinops exaltatus/Russian thistle below rock ledge

We entered Canyonlands National Park, and continued past the visitors center to the road to Elephant Hill. The gravel road turned out to be really sandy and we could not be sure there was a place to turn around. We returned to the ranger’s station and Kathy explained that we were told we could take a car down Elephant Hill Trail. The girl looked incredulous, and remarked that someone must be joking because that is the toughest trail for jeeps. But it turned out that a car could go the first mile to a turnaround for a view of the Needles. The trail was twisting and turning, full of ruts and sand, but we made it.

Canyonlands National Park Needles

Canyonlands National Park Needles

Off in the distance we saw a poor imitation of Bryce Canyon with ridges of less colorful layers. We thought to take photos of the tumbleweed, but the ground was soft and full of holes, and we didn’t want to disturb anything, or any one! We did disturb a cottontail. Heading back out of Canyonlands, we made another stop for a lizard.

Tumbleweed

Opuntia sp/Prickly Pear Cactus

Back out on US 191, we passed through Moab, UT into the mountains. No one was at the entrance gate of Arches National Park. We drove in to the visitors center to use the restrooms, and to see the stuffed animals and pickled snakes. Kathy picked up a booklet about lizards. It was a hot and sunny day.

Arches National Park

We drove up the switchbacks along sheer rock cliffs, where there wasn’t much plant life. We passed a sort of valley that was called Park Avenue, supposedly resembling a street of highrises. We circled around to see a series of stone formations called Sheep Rock, Tower of Babel, The Organ, and the Three Gossips.

The Three Gossips

We passed prows of ships, some needles (called pinnacles here), and a Balanced Rock.

Balanced Rock

We took a side trip to the Garden of Eden to the Windows section, to see the windows and arches, including the fantastic Double Arch.

The South Window

Double Arch on left

Back at the Balanced Rock, we continued to the Fiery Furnace Outlook, but were unable to look down into the labyrinth to see the passages. We could see into Salt Valley with green deposits here and there.

We went up to see the Skyline Arch, then turned around to head out of the park.

Skyline Arch

Although someone was now manning the entrance booth, a sign directed us to pass through, so we saved ourselves a couple dollars.

We took US 191 north to join Interstate 70/US 6, heading west and then stayed with US 191/6 to the north. We saw a big storm to one side, with pouring rain and flashing lightning, and then noticed a storm to our other side. We felt we were being squeezed in, but managed to avoid the worst of the storms, getting only a tiny bit of rain. The radio kept announcing thunderstorm watches and warnings, and we were certainly alert!

We stayed with US 6 and reached Interstate 15, driving north through Provo, UT. Across Utah Lake we could see a lot of smoke, which was dense like industrial smoke, but was not from a concentrated area. We later learned it was from brush fires that threatened an explosives factory.

We saw a sign for a McDonald’s, so exited and found ourselves driving quite a distance on local roads to US 89. We had to run through rain to the McDonald’s where we had a Big Mac attack. In their video game contest, I scratched off the spots to win a medium soft drink without getting zapped!

Next: Salt Lake City.