Thursday, September 26, 2013

SE Utah - Arches, Canyonlands, Natural Bridges, and Capital Reef

Southeast Utah


After Mesa Verde, we journeyed to Southeastern Utah.  Our first day was big - mountain biking at the Brands in Moab in the morning, a mid-day whirlwind tour of Arches, and more riding on the Slickrock Trail in the evening.

You may ask yourself, what's the difference in a natural arch and a natural bridge?  A natural bridge is a type of natural arch where a current of water is present, or was a major factor in forming the bridge.  It may also have an appearance similar to a man made bridge (level top over an arched opening).

Arches National Park

Landscape Arch, the longest natural arch in the park


Balanced rock

Delicate arch at a distance... Take note California, your license plate is boring... see Utah's.


Canyonlands National Park


We hiked the Confluence Overlook Trail.  The 11 mile hike is through numerous canyons in the hot, hot, hot, Needles district of the park. At the end, you're rewarded with a beautiful view of the  Green and Colorado Rivers merging.

Hot. Dry.



In the distance are the needle formations for which this district of the park is named.

The trail crossed several canyons before reaching the overlook.


The view from the Confluence Overlook



The petroglyphs of Newspaper Rock

Natural Bridges National Monument

Natural Bridges has been named an international "Dark Sky" park due to the lack of light pollution in the area.  We had what was possibly the best stargazing experience of our lives.





Henry Mountains




It doesn't look too scary, but that's only because the rocks we spent an hour piling up in the tracks were submerged in bentonite quick sand. 

Capitol Reef National Park








Cassidy Arch






Here's a link to all of our SE Utah pics:  

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/e28tvrwgd5l57x1/7Xiuy9C576












On the Road Again


After two weeks at home we were ready to pack it up again and head out West.  After many hours in the car and one overnighter in a Wal-Mart parking lot, we made it to our first stop on the trail... Crested Butte, Colorado!


Kansas...

Our campsite near Crested Butte.

We were fortunate enough to time ore trip to coincide with the Smith-Lopez family annual Labor Day camping adventure which happened to be in Ouray, Colorado this year.


Susan, Jimmy, Gabriel, Philip, Philip & Lindsey

Big & Little Philip cranking up the rear jack

Box Canyon Falls


 From Ouray we drove through Silverton and over many beautiful passes to reach the Mesa Verde National Park.






Mesa Verde National Park

The Green Table is home to over 600 cliff dwellings




Copy & paste the link below into your browser for ALL of our Colorado pics

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ox83aha9c476w4i/Ljt4qmve6s