Catch-Up Time

It's been three days since I could post anything. So here is what we've been up to.

SATURDAY... Saturday morning, after staying in Cortez, CO, we went to Mesa Verde National Park. We saw remains of some very impressive architecture, both on the mesa tops and in the numerous cliff dwellings, all built by early Pueblo people from around 550 up until about 1300. The last couple photos below were taken from Sun Point View, where we could see about a dozen structures of various sizes, including Cliff Palace––the largest.

In short, Mesa Verde was impressive. After eating some lunch near the Visitor's Center we headed to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. On the way in we stopped at Newspaper Rock, which has petroglyphs that span about 2,000 years. Some of us were content to drive around and look at the Needles, while others hiked the Slickrock Trail––a 2.4 mile loop hike that gives a taste of what hiking is like in that sandstone-dominated terrane.

We then headed back to US 191 and then north to Moab, which was crazy busy! We stocked up on needed groceries and then drove to our campsite, the Moonflower Canyon Group Site. We got there as it was getting dark. We lost what little light there would have been because we had to get rid of a pickup-driving beer-drinking electric guitar-playing would-be campsite poacher. He was hoping we wouldn't show up. Things almost got ugly, but fortunately he eventually went away. It was (eventually) a great campsite. We burned some of the firewood we bought at Grand Canyon but didn't have the energy to use that night after the big hike.

SUNDAY... We got an early start in the morning so we could get to Arches National Park just outside Moab before risking closed gates. It gets so busy that often they shut the gates as early as 9:00 am. We got in just fine, and we hung out at the Visitor's Center until they opened at 8:00.

Then we drove into the park, making a few stops such as Petrified Dunes and Balanced Rock.

Then it was a short ways to the Windows area, where we saw the Double Arch, and three other arches. The Double Arch is the most impressive.

The Delicate Arch was next, down in Salt Valley. Some viewed from below; some walked up to an upper view point. From there we headed all the way back to the Devils Garden area where the campground is located. We found our reserved site, had some lunch, set up tents, and then some did a 2-mile in the Devils Garden area to see some more arches. We enjoyed a dinner in the light this time, then burned almost all of our remaining firewood. The campsite was great!

until it wasn't!

We had rain from about 1 am until 3 am, and then obviously it turned to snow at some point––made for a messy morning.

TODAY... Today we got another early start, despite the mess. We had a long morning of driving up to Dinosaur National Monument. The road, and road conditions, we not so great going up over Douglas Pass––but we made it safely to Dinosaur by about lunch time. We went to the Visitor's Center and then ate lunch. The highlight was the Quarry Exhibit building––a long wall of a tilted sandstone bed with many dinosaur bones left in place.

Before leaving the park, we went a few miles to an overlook at the Split Mountain Campground, where the Green River has cut through a thick sequence of tilted (folded) rocks. Then we headed west through Vernal, UT, and then north to Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. We stopped at the dam, along the Green River; the Visitor's Center was closed.

From Flaming Gorge, driving was not so fun up to Rock Springs. Some more snow/ice and very windy. Things were better after getting on I-80 and driving east to Rawlins, WY, where we are staying tonight.

Time to rest up for a long last day of driving tomorrow.