July 19, 2012 Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park, in southern Utah, was first set aside as a national monument in 1923 to preserve an amphitheater of colorful pinnacles, spires, and walls, all carved by erosive weathering.  This is a canyon that is not a canyon, but an intricately carved edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau and is best known for its hoodoos.  These water carved walls, fins and spires reflect the moving sun with ever changing colors.

Hoodoo - pillar of rock, usually of fantastic shape, left by erosion.  Hoodoo - to cast a spell.  At Bryce Canyon National Park erosion forms an array of fantastic shapes we call hoodoos.  Surrounded by the beauty of southern Utah, hoodoos cast their spell on all who visit.

People have lived in the Colorado Plateau region for about 12,000 years, but only random fragments of worked stone reveal their presence near Bryce Canyon.  Paiutes, who lived here when white settlers came to southern Utah, accounted for the hoodoos as the "Legend People" whom Coyote had turned to stone.


In 1875 Ebenezer Bryce cane to the Paria Valley to live and to harvest timber.   Neighbors called the canyon behind his home Bryce's Canyon.  Soon after 1900 people were coming to see the colorful geologic sights, and the first accommodations were built along the rim above Bryce's Canyon.  By 1920 J.W. Humphrey, U.S. Forest Service, was trying to protect the canyon's scenic wonders.   In 1923 President Warren G. Harding proclaimed part of the area as Bryce Canyon National Monument under the Powell (now the Dixie) National Forest.  In 1924 legislation established the area as Utah's National Park, but the legislation established provisions were not met until 1928.  Legislation passed that year changed the name to Bryce Canyon National Park.

Upon entering the park you pass the visitors center, from there you follow the plateau rim road for about 18 miles.  The park road overlooks offer stunning geological panoramas.  It is suggested that you drive to the end of the road to Rainbow Point and work your way back, that way you do not have to cross traffic turning into the view points as all the pull offs are then on your right.  As traffic in the summer can by
quite heavy there is also a bus that will bring you into the park and make many of the stops.

We arrived at the park early in the morning and we did not have much traffic until later in the day.
Our first stop was at Rainbow/Yovimpa Points. From this vista you can over look much of Bryce Canyon National Park.  Here you can see the snaking rim of the Pink Cliffs, and many of the park's hoodoo-filled amphitheaters.  The view from Yovimpa Point allows visitors to look south and west over Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.  It is one of the best  
places to see the "steps" which give the Grand Staircase its name.

 Black Birch Canyon;  we found the "window" in the canyon wall.


Ponderosa Canyon:  This vista shows off its multicolored hoodoos in Ponderosa Canyon, so named because huge Ponderosa pine trees grow on the canyon floor.  Some of these trees measure more than 5 feet in diameter and exceed heights of 150 feet.  The name is a bit confusing because the viewpoint area is surrounded by a forest of Blue Spruce and Douglas Fir trees.

Agua Canyon:  This viewpoint overlooks two prominent hoodoos.  The taller of the two is known as "The Hunter", the smaller one to the right (shown in photo) is know as "The Backpacker".

Natural Bridge:  This was not formed by a stream like true natural bridges.  More accurately it is an arch, carved by rain and frost erosion acting from the top of the rock.  This "bridge" is very photogenic and from many vantage points you can frame rich green, Ponderosa pine trees through the arch
.
Farview Point: from this viewpoint here are also views of plateaus and mountains, and to the southeast is the Kaibab Plateau.

 Paria View:  This vista looks over hoodoos in an amphitheater carved by Yellow Creek  The Paria River valley and Table Cliff Plateau form its backdrop.

Bruce Point: a view of the huge amphitheater filled with hoodoos with pines growing along the canyon floor.

Inspiration Point; offers the best views of Silent City. 

Fairyland Point: is one mile off the main road between the entrance station and park boundary.
This canyon is smaller, more intimate, than the vast
bowls farther south along the rim.  Though erosion started later here, Fairyland may eventually resemble Bryce Amphitheater. 

Bryce Canyon is one of the most photogenic national parks in America.  It is not, however, the easiest park to photograph.  Dominated by light-colored highly reflective formations and containing few trees or other familiar scale features this unusual landscape often yields photographs that seem washed out or lacking in scale and depth.
We arrived early in the day and the sky was overcast so the photos had a little more depth than if the full sun had been out.

I will add more photos below.

Until later, love,
Candy and Johnny

Go to older posts to see more photos


Next we go to Cedar Breaks National Monument

Photos from Bryce Canyon July 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2012 Million Dollar Highway Silverton to Ouray

U. S. Route 550 is a spur of U.S. Highway 50 that runs from Bernalillo, New Mexico to Montrose, Colorado.  This Highway runs right by the Alpen Rose RV Campground that we stay at while in Durango.  The section from Silverton to Ouray is frequently called the Million Dollar Highway.
Most of U.S. 500 in Colorado is a two-lane mountainous highway.  It is one of only two north-south U.S. Highways in Colorado which runs west of the Continental Divide, the other route is US 491.  US 550 route travels north through the San Juan Mountains.

The Million Dollar Highway  is part of the San Juan Skyway Scenic Byway.  Though the entire stretch has been called the Million Dollar Highway, it is really the twelve miles south of Ouray through the Uncompahgre Gorge to the summit of Red Mountain Pass which gains the highway its name.  This stretch through the gorge is challenging and potentially hazardous to drive;  it is characterized by steep cliffs, narrow lanes, and a lack of guardrails; the ascent of Red Mountain Pass is marked with a number of hairpin curves used to gain elevation, and again narrow lanes for traffic - many cut directly into the sides of mountains.  Traveling north from Sliverton to Ouray perches drivers on the vertiginous outside edge of the highway.  Large RV's travel in both

directions, which adds a degree of excitement (or danger) to people in cars.  The road is kept open year-round.  The snow season starts in October, and snow will often close the road.  Chains may be required.

The route passes over three mountain passes:
Coal Bank Pass, elevation 10,640 feet
Molas Pass, elevation 10,970 feet
Red Mountain Pass, elevation 11,018 feet

At Molas Pass there is Molas Lake, such a beautiful place!

The origin of the name Million Dollar Highway is disputed.  There are several legends, though, including that it cost a million dollars a mils to build in the 1920's, and that its dirt contains a million dollars of gold ore.

In the early 1920's, the original road was a toll road and was rebuilt at considerable cost and became the present day US 550.  The Million Dollar Highway was completed in 1924.

Along the route there are many waterfalls from the mountain streams and beautiful scenery!!!  Have to admit that the lack of guardrails is a bit daunting!!

We love to drive US 550 to both Silverton and Ouray.  The towns are quaint and fun places to have lunch!  We even found a place in Silverton that serves great BBQ along with fried dill pickles!!

We are finally leving this beautiful part of the county and heading to Monument Valley.  We have had a wonderful time here with our friends Chris and Jan and Sharon and Fred.

More from along the road later.....

Until then,
Candy and Johnny

2012 July 17 Moki Dugway and National Bridges National Park

Tuesday, July 17 was a beautiful day and we headed off to take Utah Highway 261 up the Moki Dugway to Head to Natural Bridges National Monument.
Moki Dugway is a series of sharp switchbacks up a steep gravel road over less than three miles.

No,  I did not take the top photo, but this was the best photo that I could fine to show the steep and narrow road.  I did take the second and third photos.  In the second photo UT 261 seems to just disappear into the side of the mountain!!! Have to admit that I kept my eyes shut for most of the ride up the hill!!!  As you may know, I do not like heights and drop-offs along the road.

At Natural Bridges National Monument Visitor Center, there is a brief description of the Moki Dugway:

The Moki Dugway is located on Utah Route 261 just north of Mexican Hat, UT.  It was constructed in 1958 by Texas Zinc, a mining company, to transport ore from the "Happy Jack" mine in Fry Canyon, UT. to the processing mill in Mexican Hat.  The three miles of unpaved, but well graded, switchbacks descend 1100 feet from the top of Cedar Mesa (which is where Natural Bridges National Monument is located).  The State of Utah recommends that only vehicles less than 28 feet in length and 10,000 pounds in weight attempt to negotiate this steep (10% grade), narrow and winding road.

The term "moki" is derived from the Spanish word

moqui, which was a general term used by the 18th century Spanish explorers and settlers in this region to describe the Pueblo Indians they encountered and the vanished culture which had left behind the numerous ruins they discovered during their travels.  This term continued to be used by the Anglo pioneers, who moved into southern Utah during the 1800's, and their descendants.
Today the standard term used to describe these prehistoric Native Americans, who lived in this region more than 1000 years ago, is "ancestral Puebloans".  It is based on  present day Puebloan tribes' and archaeologist's beliefs that these people were the ancestors of the today's Hopi, Zuni, Acoma and Rio Grande region cultures.  You may also see then commonly referred to as the "Anasazi", a Navajo word meaning "enemy ancestors".
Have to admit that it was a road that really should be experienced at least once!!!  We did not take the Moki Dugway back to our campground.


Natural Bridges was discovered in 1883 when prospector Cass Hite wandered up White Canyon from his base camp along the Colorado River.  In search of gold, he found instead three magnificent bridges water had sculpted from stone.  In 1904 The National Geographic Magazine publicized the bridges, and in 1908 President Theodore Roosevelt established Natural Bridges National Monument, creating Utah's first National Park System area.

(You may have noticed that some places are called National Parks and some are called National Monuments;  the difference is that National Monuments are proclaimed by the President and to become a National Park takes an act of Congress)

Several names have been applies to the bridges.  First named President, Senator, and Congressman in order of height, the bridges were renamed Augusta, Caroline, and Edwin by later explorer groups.  As the park was expanded to protect nearby Puebloan structures, the General Land Office assigned the Hopi names Sipapu, Kachina and Owachomo in 1909. 

Sipapu means "the place of emergence", an entryway by which the Hopi believe their ancestors came into this world. Sipapu Bridge is the second largest natural bridge in the world (only Rainbow Bridge in Glan Canyon is bigger).  The height is 220 feet, span is 268 feet, width is 31 feet and thickness is 53 feet.

 Kachina is named for rock art symbols on the bridge that resemble symbols commonly used on kachina dolls. Kachina is a massive bridge and is considered the "youngest" of the three because of the thickness of its span.  The relatively small size of its opening make it difficult to see from the overlook.  The height is 210 feet, span is 204 feet, width is 44 feet and thickness is 93 feet.

  Owachomo means "rock mound," a feature atop the bridge's east abutment.  Owachomo is the thinnest of the three natural bridges and commonly thought to be the oldest.   It may never be known for certain, as each of the bridges have eroded at different rates.  Regardless of its relative age, it is certainly the most fragile and elegant of the three spans, and an awe inspiring feature of erosion.  The height of the opening is 106 feet and the span is 180 feet its width is 27 feet and thickness is 9 feet.

We have visited places that have "arches" and places that have "natural bridges".  The difference between the two:  Natural bridges are formed by the erosive action of moving water.  Arches are formed by other erosional forces, mainly frost action and seeping moisture.  Those same forces also work to enlarge natural bridges once stream erosion forms them.  Owachomo Bridge now looks more like an arch than a bridge because it no longer straddles the streams which carved it.

There is a trail that led down under the Owachomo bridge, if you closely on the last two photo's you can see John standing below the bridge.

Another wonderful place to visit!!!!

More on the journey back to our campground later.
Until then,  love to all,
Candy and Johnny