CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK

 Today is the fist time in 22 days that the temp did not reach 100* It was overcast and only got to low 90's.  The canyonlands is a huge park where the Green river and the Colorado river comes together.

This is the road down into the canyon, only 4 wheel, high clearance vehicles are allowed and it takes two days to cross.

 A nice easy 1/2 mile hike gets us to this arch.Behind the arch the canyon floor is  2200 feet straight down.

 This is looking down into the canyon at a dome of white rock that rises several hundred feet from the floor. The hike to get to this point was up hill about 5/8 mile.

The Green river on its way to meet the Colorado.   The place where the two rivers meet is at a different part of the park and a long difficult hike so we decided to pass.  Many of the pictures have a blue haze,  it is mostly smoke from the forest fires burning in Colorado and Utah.

A huge crack across the bottom lands, look closely and you can see the road.

ARCHES NATIONAL PARK

 There are over 2500 arches in the park making it the largest number of arches in the world.  Once again it was a brutality hot day so we were up early and at the park by 0700.

 This is Landscape arch, it is 230 feet across and 60 feet high. It 1991 a huge section fell from the inside of the arch. This arch is the farthest accessible  one in the park so we started there with a  4 1/2 mile hike to see it.

 Most of the arches are not accessible without a long back country hike and a whole lot of hiking skills an experience.  In order to be arch there must be an open in any direction of at least 36 inches, so a slit 1 inch by 36 inches is a arch.  There are many of the ones like the one pictured above named Tunnel arch.

 This is Pine Tree arch.  All of the arches we saw today we had to hike to, we probably walked nearly 8 miles. 

 A bit of a tight place, good thing I'm skinny. LOL

 This is Sand Dune Arch, you can see the sand all around, it was the finest sand we had ever remembered seeing.

Delicate Arch.  The most visited and photographed arch in the park.   A favorite picture is at sunset with the sun showing through the arch.  Nope not going back.  Wanted to get a picture with no people but nearly impossible.  

 Another hike  brings is to  Turret Arch. you can see smaller hole in the rock on both sides.

These are the Window Arches

There are also all kinds of other rock formations in the park as well.

We truly enjoyed our day but was sure happy to get back to the campground and get the air on and cool down.

COLORADO NATIONAL MONUMENT

Next up is Colorado National monument between Grand Juntion and Fruita CO   The monument rises up from the Colorado plateau just over 2000 feet making the top at about 10,500 feet above sea level.   For a couple from Ontario where we are about 500 feet and Florida about 50  feet  the air gets a bit thin and breathing gets difficult.

Here is a portion of the road to the top.

There are lots of different rock formations

Diane is getting braver all the time, here she is standing about 5 feet away from a  1500 foot drop off.

This is Independence Monument.   On July 4 every year since 1911  (the year the monument was proclaimed)  a group of climbers  ascent the summit and plant the American flag.  Happy 4th to all our American friends and family.

Independence monument from the side view

 Kissing couple monument.  Look closely at the spire centre right.

The Grand View.   An interesting story about John Otto, the man responsible for bringing the park to a public's attention.  Seem John met a nice girl from back east,  he asked her to move out and marry him and she agreed.  They were married in the park and honey mooned in the park and 3 week later she decided that kind of life was not for her and went back east.  He never saw her again

DEVIL'S GARDEN

 The Grand Escalade-Staircase National Monument  covers a huge part of central east Utah.  We had driven through the southern portion of the park earlier and now at the north end had found a dirt road that took us about 10 miles into the park to a place called Devil's Garden.  All around this area is flat parched brown barren land that flows endlessly into the horizon,, and here is this area of  rock formations covering about 25 acres .

 Reminds me of Easter island. Wonder how come these haven't fallen over.

 A really nice arch, it is about 20 feet high.

And small caves here and there. We found it really interesting and of course very hot.

SUNSET and SUNRISE at BRYCE CANYON

We didn't get a  good sunset while we were at the Grand Canyon so we try again at Bryce.  We climbed the hill to the top of the rim about a 600 foot climb and waited. This is the sun at our back casting the last rays of light across the canyon.

And this is the last rays of the day as the sun disappears beyond the far mountains.

Six hours later I'm back on top to catch the sunrise. The morning colours are just showing but the sky has been bright for 30 minutes.

The sun begins to break over the distance hills and reflects off the clouds.

And finally we see the complete morning sun in all it's golden glory.

The morning clouds dispersed very quickly and another day has begun.  The whole sunrise from first grey hints of dawn until the full sun took about an hour and a half, but once the sun was over the horizon it rose very quickly into the sky.

BRYCE CANYON 2

 MORE HOODOO'S

BRYCE CANYON

After leaving The Grand Canyon we took a weekend R&R at a little campground that was entirely gravel and dust.  In this area of southern Utah nothing grows unless it is irrigated, hence the dust. Next up,  Bryce Canyon.  While the Grand Canyon is impressive because of its size, Bryce is because of the unusually rock formations.

Called Hoodoos, they are freestanding pillars of rock in many difference shapes and sizes.

WE took a hike down into the canyon, when you get closer you realize how big some of these hoodoos are. I know this is beginning to sound like a broken record but it was really hot and dry in  the last few weeks. We are aware that many of you in the east are feeling the heat now as well. hang in there, before long it will be fall.

Some really interesting formations.

And some more.  How does some rock wash away and not other ones. Or maybe it was created like this. HUMM

Waiting for sunset. The sun is setting behind us and bringing out the colours of the far canyon wall.