Arches National Park Thursday July 10, 2008

Water and ice, extreme temperatures, and underground salt movement are responsible for the sculptured rock scenery of Arches National Park. On clear, blue-sky days it is difficult to imagine such violent forces-or the 100 million years of erosion- that created this land

boasting one of the world's greatest densities of natural arches. Over 2,000 cataloged arches range in size from a three-foot opening, the minimum considered an arch, to the longest, Landscape Arch, measuring 306 feet base to base.
Today new arches are being formed and old ones destroyed. Erosion and weathering work slowly but relentlessly, creating dynamic landforms that gradually change through time.

Delicate Arch (photo left, top), stands on the brink of a canyon, with the dramatic La Sal Mountains as a backdrop.



Sand Dune Arch (middle photo) is exposed to the sun for a short time each day. This arch is surrounded by a very sandy floor. It is a short 5 minute walk from the parking lot but in the sandy soil it is a bit difficult.

The bottom photo is one of the arches in the Double Arch Area. The largest opening is 144 by 112 feet, a scale that is hard to imagine unless you stand underneath the arch. The other opening is smaller, 61 by 86 feet.

There are more photos of arches below this blog. The scenery in Arches National Park was to say the least.....spectacular!!! Each bend in the road brings more and more sights.


I have many more photos but can only put a few here for you to see...


That is all for today.... Candy and Johnny

Arches Natioal Park July 10, 2008

BalancedRock

The Opening at the Double Arch Area

Double Arch Area

LaSal Mountain Loop Trip

On Wednesday, July 9th the temperature was again going to be over 100 we decided to just take a car trip so we headed off on the Colorado River and La Sal Mountain Loop.



The La Sal Mountain Loop tour features a wide variety of canyon country scenery. The 60-mile long route begins by following the Colorado River, then it approaches the La Sal Mountains via Castle Valley.



Before heading up to the mountains we stopped at the Castle Creek Winery which is located on the banks of the Colorado River, 15 miles upstream from Moab. Located in the Red Cliffs Lodge, this winery uses locally grown grapes suitable for producing both red and white wines.



Located in the Red Cliffs Ranch is the Film Museum. If you think that some of the scenery around here looks familiar you may have seen it in the movies or in some commercials . The museum offers highlights from film projects that have taken advantage of the spectacular scenery surrounding Moab. Many of the John Wayne movies have been made around here... you can see by the photo that John Wayne played huge round here. Back to the Future III was also made here along with Thelma and Louise and so
many others.



From here we turned right and headed up to the La Sal Mountains. Tradition has it that the mountains were named by Silvestre Velez de Escalante, the Spanish missionary and explorer who saw the mountains during he expedition through Utah in the summer of 1776. He called then Sierra La Sal, or "Salt Mountains," because he thought it unlikely they could be covered with snow in the summer. Nevertheless, snow is usually visible on the higher summits of the La Sals well into July. There was a small amount of snow in the mountains.



The road winds its way upward through thick aspen and fir forests to above 10,000 feet, where you can look down on Moab and the Spanish Valley. The temperature in the mountains dropped to a cool 74 degrees and when we returned to the valley it was 105.... Hot!



It was a very relaxing day but we are looking forward to Arches National Park tomorrow.



Until then,



Candy and Johnny

Canyonlands National Park

We left Durango on Tuesday, July 8th and headed to Moab, Utah. The drive over was pretty easy as we only had to travel 160 miles. We got settled into our RV Park, Spanish Trail and decided to go out to do some sight seeing.

We found ourselves at Canyonlands National Park, just thirty five miles west of Moab, the largest national park in the state of Utah. We found ourselves headed to the part of the park known at Island in the Sky. Views from Island in the Sky reach from the depths of the Green and Colorado rivers to the mountaintops and above., They stretch across canyon after canyon to the horizon 100 miles distant, Island in the Sky - a broad mesa wedged between the Green and Colorado - serves as Canyonland's observation tower. From here you can see vistas of almost incomprehensible dimensions, Closest to the mesa another 1,00 feet beneath White Rim are the rivers, shadowed by sheer canyon cliffs; beyond them lie the Maze and the Needles.

The middle photo was taken at the Mesa Arch. It is perched at the top of a cliff at the edge of the mesa. What an incredible sight!

After we left Canyonlands we stopped at Dead Horse Point State Park. This phenomenal park sits on a sandstone promontory towering 2,000ft directly above the Colorado River. The views from the edge are sspectacular! Below you, the Colorado River makes a sharp bend through a landscape broken into a series of eroded terraces, pinnacles and buttes of the Canyonlands National Park. (See bottom photo)
Why Dead Horse? The name of the park comes from the legend that cowboys chased wild horses onto the peninsula and corralled them by building a fence across the narrowest part. The animals were left too long without water and all died of thirst.


I was amazed to learn about the mighty Colorado River...it begins as a trickle of snow melt high in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. It starts its 1,440 mile journey through mountain canyons and flows through the middle of three major deserts on the way to the Sea of Cortez. The river and the use of its water, through the Colorado River Compact, has shaped the history of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, California, Nevada and New Mexico, which all depend on the Colorado River and its tributaries. In these states, the Colorado River has transformed 3.4 million acres of desert land into cities, farms and recreational playgrounds., From Colorado to California, the water flows through 33 reservoirs, 990 miles of pipes, 230 miles of tunnels, 188 pumping plants, 345 diversion dams, 50 power plants and 14,590 miles of canals. All from a trickle of melting snow.

That is all for the day. tomorrow we are off again...

Until later,

Candy and Johnny

Lake Vallecito, Colorado

On July 2, we drove up to Vallecito Lake or "Lake of the Little Valley". It is sheltered in a

secluded mountain valley 8,000 above sea level. Lake Vallecito is one of the most beautiful bodies of water in all of Colorado (according to the brochure) . It is located 22 miles northeast of Durango in a steep and pristine valley by the millions of acres of unspoiled San Juan Forest.



In 2002 this area was devastated by the Missionary Ridge Fire. Between June 9th and July 28th, over 70,000 acres were burned costing $48.8 million and using 4000+ fire related personnel from all over the country. Vallecito Lake is home to thousands of Ponderosa Pine trees with many over 200 years old and standing up to 175 feet tall.



After the fire a resident was concerned about what was to become of all the damaged trees. When he was told that it would probably be milled into lumber, he suggested carving them into firefighters and animals impacted by the fire. This would pay tribute to all concerned. After a winter of carving by local artist Chad Haspels, the tour of carvings is on display. The carvings can be found all over the lake area. Each one stands 18 feet tall and weighs around 3000 - 4000 pounds. (I am afraid that my photo of the one that we came across is not very good but you get an idea of the carvings.)



The lake was excellent for fresh water salmon prior to the fire. With the land so damaged, when the rains came they washed so much silt into the lake that the salmon were dying due to the lack of oxygen in the water. They moved up to shallower water and did not survive as the water was too warm .
We went back to Lake Vallecito on Saturday July 5th as they were having an arts and craft fair. They had lots of things, but not anything that we couldn't live without!!

On Tuesday, July 8th we are off to Moab, Utah. It will be much hotter there than the mountains of Colorado. Until then, take care.

Love, Candy and Johnny

Durango,Telluride,Ouray,Silverton,Durango

On Saturday, June 28 we decided to drive the San Juan
Sky way. This is a 36-mile Loop through the mountains. It was a glorious day! Bright blue sky and warm weather. We put the top down on the car and enjoyed the ride.

We left Durango and headed west to Mancos, then over to Dolores, around to Stoner and Rico until we came to Telluride. Just to the south
of Telluride is the new development of Mountain Village. This development looks very much like Deer Valley in Utah. Lots of new condos, spas, hotels and restaurants. Mountain Village is 9,500 feet above sea level and overlooks some of Colorado's most magnificent peaks. Mountain Village is connected to Telluride by a gondola ride that takes about 15 minutes over the mountains and is free to all. Telluride is a National Historic Landmark District with Victorian-era architecture. Telluride rests at 8,750 feet at the base of the Telluride ski resort and is surrounded by peaks that rise up to 14,000 feet. The town is about 10 blocks long and five blocks wide. It reminded me a great deal of Park City, Utah.
During Tellurides Mining heyday the town's fortune and notoriety attracted all sorts. Robert Leroy Parker, Tom McCarthy and Matt Warner were particularly intent on cashing in on the town's growing prosperity when on June 24, 1889, the gang "withdrew" close to $24,000 from the San Miguel Valley Bank. The robbery was the first of many lead by Parker, who later became famous as Butch Cassidy. Contrary to popular film legend, the Sundance Kid didn't participate in this heist.

We continued our drive around the loop to Sawpit, Placerville, Ridgeway and on to Ouray. Ouray has hot springs and vapor caves. There is a 50x150-foot public pool that contains just under a million gallons of hot-springs water. Three different soaking sections vary in temperature from 60 to 106 degrees. As we did not have our swim suites we settled for lunch in the Irish Pub. From Ouray we continued on our drive on to Silverton. We had been there before as we had taken the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad up the mountains earlier during our stay here in Durango. I did discover that these trains once carried over $300 million is gold and silver ore from Silverton to Durango.

It was another fantastic day on our summer tour. John is talking about renting a jeep and doing some of the "real" mountain driving....we shall see... stay tuned.

That is all for now... hope all is well with everyone and that you are enjoying your summer.

Love,
Candy and Johnny

Mesa Verde National Park

On Wednesday, June 25, 2008 we drove out to the Mesa Verde National Park.
Mesa Verde National Park was created in 1906 to preserve the archeological hertiage of the Ancestral Puebloans, both atop the mesas and in the cliff dwellings below. The park includes over 4,500 archeological sites; only 600 are cliff dwellings.

Mesa Verde National Park preserves a spectacular reminder of a group of people that chose this area for their home. For more than 700 years they and their decendants lived and flourished here, eventually building elaborate stone communities if the sheltered alcoves of the canyon walls. Then, in the late 1200's. in the span of a generation or two, they left their homes and moved away.
Mesa Verde National Park preserves a spectacular reminder of this ancient culture. Archeologists have called these people Anasazi , from the Navajo word sometimes translated as "the ancient foreigners." They are now called Ancestral Puebloans, reflecting their modern descendants.

Local cowboys discovered the cliff dwellings in the 1880's, when they were out looking for stray cattle. Many have sought to understand these people's lives but with no written record and with much of what was important in their lives has perished, we will never know the whole story. Yet for all their silence, these structures speak with a certain eloquence. They were experienced builders, as the construction testifies. Walls are tall and straight and have withstood the tests of time and elements. Smoke-blackened walls and ceilings are reminders of the biting cold these people lived with for several months each year. It is also known that these people raised crops, and hunted. They also made pottery and wove beautifully decorated baskets.

The first photo is of Spruce Tree House, the third largest cliff dwelling in the park. It was constructed between A.D. 1200 and 1276 by the Anasazi. The dwelling contained about 114 rooms and eight kivas (kee-vahs), or ceremonial chambers, built into a natural cave measuring 216 feet at greatest width and 89 feet at its greatest depth. It is thought to have been home to about 100 people.

The second photo is of the Cliff Palace, which is the largest of the cliff dwellings in the park. We did not get up close to this dwelling as you need to go with a park guide and climb down steep ladders.

As we drove through the park we noticed that there were many areas that had been destroyed by forest fires at one time or another. I asked one of the rangers how long it would take for the forest to regrow and I was told that it would take about 100 years for the forest to be as lush as it had once been. These fires had been started by lightening. Some of the fires went out by themselves and some were fought by local fire-fighters

We drove around and found a wonderful picnic area and had our lunch then we took the tram that takes you around the Wetherill Mesa, about a 45 minute ride that makes several stops that you can get out and view several other cliff dwellings.

It was a very interesting day and the scenery was spectacular! The mountain here are so different from the ones that we rode through on the train.

Well, that is all for today. Not sure where we will venture next Until later, take care.

Candy and Johnny