09-28-2021 Canyonlands Island in the Sky and Dead Horse Point State Park

Photo taken from the Dead Horse Point Overlook at Dead Horse Point State Park

Waking to a morning of mixed clouds and sunshine, I knew that we might not have the right light for taking a photo of the early sun rising in the east and reflecting on the underside of Mesa Arch.  The image of sun on the underside of the arch is used to advertise Canyonlands in many places.

Just for fun, I inserted a screen shot below of only a tiny portion of the photos that show up for a google search of Mesa Arch images.

Located on the east side of the uplift called the Island in the Sky, Mesa Arch was a must see for me on this visit to Canyonlands

We left at 7:30 this morning, an hour later then yesterday, but still early enough to beat the worst of the crowds, I hoped.  Our first destination was the Mesa Arch trail but we planned to view the rest of the easily accessible viewpoints at the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands.

I have been to Mesa Arch a few times in the past, and even 25 years ago the trail could be crowded.  Especially at dawn, there are often hordes of photographers with tripods set up to capture the famous light on the underside of the arch.

My boss and friend, Eva, walking across the arch in 2000 before the park sign said no climbing on the arch 

Chere decided that the steep parts were not fun and waved to us when we reached the arch

The short half mile trail out to the arch is “moderately easy”, but there are some stairs and a few steep areas.  Still, there were many people on the trail walking toward the arch and many more walking back from the arch carrying their tripods.  Who knows if the morning clouds allowed them to get the famous light on the underside of the arch.

This is as good as it got for me on this slightly overcast morning

The fun thing about Mesa Arch is that the drop on the mesa side of the arch is only 20 feet or so, but the drop on the canyon side is more than 1300 feet.  It is a dizzying feeling that triggers some intense vertigo if you are trying to stand anywhere near the top of the arch. 

Thanks to my lack of balance at this point, you can see me holding on to Mo for dear life in this photo. I realized later something I forgot about.  Take off the dang progressive lenses!  I remember this when trying to go down steep trails and steps and should have remembered this when I climbed up to a high point above the arch for the view.

Dan, Mo, and I had fun waiting our turn for photos at the arch, with most people being kind and thoughtful and not dominating the site for others wanting that same photo.

 See the famous “Washer Woman” in the upper part of this photo?

The Island in the Sky is bisected by a paved road that goes to the end of the mesa, with a “grand” view at Grand View Point.  I learned on this trip something I never knew after all my years traveling the Colorado Plateau.  Until 1921, the Colorado River didn’t start in the state that bears the same name. It began in Utah, where the Green River from Wyoming and the Grand River from Colorado met at the infamous confluence of the two rivers that can be seen from space in the google maps image below.

We planned to visit each of the scenic viewpoints that could be reached by car in Canyonlands.  We would then return to Dead Horse Point State Park on the northeast side of the plateau to view the iconic landscape from another perspective.

From our previous day visiting Arches, we knew that it was wise to get to the most important viewpoints first, knowing that the parking lots and trails were likely to be crowded.  When we left the Mesa Arch parking lot, we headed immediately for the most distant spot on paved road to the Grand View Point Overlook.

As expected, the parking lot was already full and one more time the handicap hang tag gave us access to the only open parking space at the overlook. The view from this site is breathtaking. 

A ranger working near the parking lot said that the overcast sky was actually a blessing for viewing the expansive landscape since bright sunshine often wiped out much of the detail in photos.

We returned to the main road and traveled northwest to the Upheaval Dome Overlook parking lot. What I had forgotten is that there is no view from this point.  Instead of hiking the steep, rocky trail to the overlooks, we settled at a nice picnic table to enjoy some snacks for lunch.  Later, we returned to the road toward the Green River Overlook where we were gifted with expansive views toward the west. 

The views from the Green River Overlook were awe-inspiring.  We could see the far northwestern part of the White Rim Trail, a 4-wheel drive road that is the destination of many a mountain biker and 4-wheeler enthusiast.

Yes, that is Mt Ellen in the distance on the left side of the photo below, at the high point of the Henry Mountain Range.  Dan and Chere got a bit tired of me continuously pointing out Mt Ellen and I promised that this was the last time I would do so.

We drove back to the east side of the mesa for a great view toward the La Sals at the Buck Canyon Overlook. We could see virga, “streaks or wisps of precipitation falling from a cloud but evaporating before reaching the ground” in the distance. Rain was predicted on the mesa by noon, but for us, so far so good.  No rain while we were on our explorations of the Island in the Sky.

Dan and Chere at the Buck Canyon Overlook

We continued to the Shafer Trail Overlook.  There are actually two spots with parking where the Shafer Trail is visible.  We chose what appeared to be the less crowded site a bit south of the main overlook.  The Shafer Trail is a narrow dirt road with sharp switchbacks that descends to the White Rim Road that circles around the Island in the Sky on the White Rim Sandstone. 

We stayed a bit at this overlook, watching the tiny vehicles negotiation the sharp turns.  There were quite a few rigs traveling up and down the road and it was fun to watch them passing each other and bumping around the steep, sharp switchbacks.  I knew exactly how it felt, because I drove the Shafer Trail in my Dakota pickup back in 1997.  I only drove about 50 miles of the White Rim Road before my friend Shera said she had enough of all that rough driving, and we backtracked up the steep part of the Shafer Trail.  It was an experience I will never forget. The next three photos are grainy scans of photos from that trip in 1997.

We ended our day’s travels with a visit to Dead Horse Point State Park. The legend of Dead Horse Point originates around the turn of the 19th century when cowboys would round up the wild mustangs that roamed the mesa. It is said that a herd was driven down the neck of the peninsula, its sheer cliffs forming a natural corral, and the 30-foot-wide entrance was then fenced off with branches and brush.

This was to be our final shared day in Utah’s red rock country.  A friendly guy at the overlook agreed to take a photo of the four of us.  It was a fitting tribute to what has been a wonderful trip.

09-24-2021 Torrey to Blanding via Highway 95

It was chilly enough Thursday morning that we were happy to wear jeans and sweatshirts to breakfast.  At last the Capitol Reef Inn and Cafe was open for business. 

I have been coming to this restaurant since 1996, and it felt only a little bit tattered.  The beautiful gardens were a bit unkept, but the interior of the restaurant was as charming as ever.  I asked our waiter where the sand was, and he pointed to a closed area of the restaurant where the vials of colored sand from all over Canyon Country languished alone on the wall of an unused room.  No matter, at least they were still there.

 

We ordered breakfast, with eggs benedict for Dan and chicken fried steak for Chere, and a shared chicken fried steak for us.  Yum.  Nothing like country gravy on a cold morning.  I was so tickled to be in the restaurant once again, and bought one more tee shirt that had a petroglyph on the back and the name of the iconic restaurant on the front.  Who knows how much longer it will be in operation.

We were on the road before ten, thinking our day traveling to Blanding, Utah via Highway 95 would be uneventful.  We estimated a 3 PM arrival time.  I knew we would want to stop at the crossing at the Colorado River, and might decide to take a short loop drive around Natural Bridges National Monument along the way.

Traveling east from Capitol Reef on Highway 24 along the Fremont River is an experience in dramatic change.  The red cliffs of Wingate sandstone give way to the huge white domes of Navajo sandstone for which the park is named. 

Within a very few miles the road enters the bleak gray landscape created by the highly eroded gray hills of the Morrison Formation. Formed in volcanic ash deposits that have weathered to bentonite clay, the hills support no vegetation. 

Near Factory Butte we saw several groups of RVs boondocking with their 4-wheelers and trailers.  The Factory Butte area is perfect for ATV’s, with crazy landscapes, fun roads, and no vegetation to get in the way.  To the south, over the hills, I could see the high peak of Mt Ellen once again.  I can only imagine what a great landmark that mountain was to the people living in this part of the world before GPS, or even before paper maps.

Both rigs were well fueled, so we had no need to stop in Hanksville, and we turned south toward Lake Powell and Blanding.  Just as we left Hanksville a large blinking sign warned of a road closure at Milepost 115, at Cottonwood Wash.  Oh No!  Worst thing was that we had no phone signal, no reception to make a call to Dan to try to figure out what to do. 

If the road was closed, the only way to reach Blanding was to return to Hanksville, return to Highway 24 and I-70, and then to Highway 191, going south past Moab to Blanding.  The re routing would take hours, and more than 150 miles of extra travel.  I couldn’t reach Dan, and there was no turn around.   We drove quite a few miles before finding a place big enough for both rigs to pull over.

By the time we did, my offline maps were working, and I could see that while Highway 95 was closed, there was an alternate route at the intersection of Highway 95 and Highway 261 at marker 100 or so.  It looked open.  I knew I had driven 261 but couldn’t remember for sure if the Moki Dugway was on that part of the road or farther south.  We stopped and discussed the options and Dan was happy that he didn’t have to backtrack all the way to I-70 and then travel south from Moab.

We continued southeast on Highway 95, encouraged at our good luck finding an alternate route, but the Highway 261 route was worrying me.  I just couldn’t remember.

After driving through tall canyons of pink and salmon slickrock, we started going down in elevation toward Hite Crossing and the Colorado River.  We drove up to the large scenic viewpoint and the river canyon opened up to us below in a truly breathtaking view.

Lake Powell at Hite 2021

Lake Powell at Hite 2010

I have been reading enough about Lake Powell and how the drought has affected lake levels that I wasn’t horribly surprised to see the empty pool with boat launches high above the narrow channel of the Colorado River. 

Lake Powell north of Hite in 1993 first view of Mt Ellen from Cataract Canyon

When I rafted the river in 1993 the water level was very close to the bottom of Hite Bridge.  Not so now.  The lake is emptying much more quickly than it can refill in this extended western drought.  What was once under water was barren and exposed in the hot sun.  I walked out as far as I could for a more expansive view and knew I was seeing climate change up front and close.

We entered the highway once again, traveling  across the Dirty Devil River and then down to Hite Crossing and the Colorado.  Hite used to be the main take-out for raft trips through Cataract Canyon.  I am not sure how far downstream rafters must travel to exit the river now.

After crossing the Colorado we rose in elevation gently as we continued east toward Natural Bridges and our alternate route at Highway 261.  The landscape is expansive, so immense it defies description and photos cannot begin to capture the sheer expanse of red rock and wild canyons.

Along the route we entered the shifting boundary of the Bears Ears National Monument.  There is a rock formation called Jacob’s Chair, which I remembered from recent trips.  Another formation that I remembered showed up in the distance and I laughed with Mo and tried to remember if it was the Coffeepot or the Teapot.  I laughed a lot when I saw the sign pointing to the Cheesebox.  Good thing I wouldn’t have to remember the man made name to navigate the landscape by the location of this formation. 

In the distance, the Bears Ears mark the northern edge of the monument and Cedar Mesa, riddled with complex canyon systems and the location of the most concentrated occurrence of ancient dwellings, including kivas, lodges, and granaries.  Many are named and mapped and many more are waiting to be discovered in nooks and crannies of the mesa by adventurous hikers.  The one time I hiked a Cedar Mesa canyon I was rewarded with amazing dwellings, still containing pottery shards and dried corn cobs, and no sign of human disturbance.

We skipped an earlier plan to possibly visit Natural Bridges because we knew our detour would add time and miles to the journey.  When we arrived at the intersection, sure enough there were big barriers across the road, closed at Cottonwood Creek, just 15 miles distant.  We turned south and within minutes a large sign warned us that vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds were prohibited.

We were trapped.  I got sick to my stomach and my heart was pounding.  I had no clue how this was going to turn out.  I knew that Mo and I could do the cliff in our motorhome because we had done it before, even though we weigh about 14,000 pounds. I had no idea how Dan would manage the infamous narrow road that descends more than 1,000 feet from Cedar Mesa to the Valley of the Gods in just four miles.

There are few pullouts along Cedar Mesa that have enough room for both rigs, but after a few miles we found a spot and pulled over.  Dan said his GPS unit was screaming at him….turn around…turn around….not for rv’s…no more than 5 tons….turn around!.  We talked a bit about our options and once again Dan decided that he would go for it.  I couldn’t remember for sure if there was a place to move over and unhook at the top of the dugway.  I was wrong.  We had to stop right in the middle of the road, put on our flashers, and unhook both cars to prepare for our descent.  Lucky for us, only one car passed us.  Pretty sure it was a government vehicle from the Department of the Interior, but he just slowed and went past us.  We decided he probably didn’t want to deal with the whole thing with Highway 95 being closed.

Mo went first in the MoHo and I followed next in the Tracker.  As Dan came along behind me I moved over so I wouldn’t interfere with whatever speed he needed to go to manage his gears and brakes to the best advantage.  Chere followed me in their tow car.  I tried to take some photos and got a couple of shots with the phone, but it wasn’t a particularly great thing to be doing while negotiatiating the road.

Moki Dugway in Utah Travel Guide This website about the Dugway is interesting, with lots of photographs and discussions about driving it.  In reality it isn’t that bad, and the website says that it can be easily negotiated by truck campers and small RV’s.  At 36 feet, Dan’s rig was not a small RV.  Check out the website for some great history, great photos, and best of all a video of the trip down the hill.

Once Dan rounded the first couple of switchbacks I could see that his 36 foot rig could easily make the turns and I finally relaxed. 

I even tried to enjoy the view a bit in between trying to see how far down Mo was and take photos.  When we reached the bottom there was a wide place to pull over and hook up the tow cars.  We all breathed a huge sigh of relief, and when Chere got out of the car she said some words I have never heard her say before.

We were all elated and grateful that we had managed to negotiate the scary switchbacks and had avoided backtracking hundreds of miles because of the closed Highway.

Our route along 261 intercepted route 163 going north toward Bluff, Utah.  There were some gorgeous bluffs surrounding the small town and a few things to see but none of us were thinking of dawdling. 

Our campground in Blanding was just another hour north and we landed in the warm afternoon sun in time to settle in and have a relaxing glass of wine before we put supper on the table.  I pulled out a meat loaf from home, some broccoli to steam with melted cheese, and Chere made some garlic mashed potatoes and toasted garlic bread.  We have certainly been eating well on this entire trip and this evening was no exception after our exciting day.