Canyon Lands National Park

Roger and I decided to head down to Moab again this past weekend and explore some old familiar territory as well as some new locations.  It takes about 4 1/2 hours to get there from our home in Farmington, so starting out about 7:00 a.m. gets us there by noon, given a break or two.  Beautiful weather and over the two days temperatures ranged between low 60's to low 80's.  We couldn't have asked for anything better. 

 Friday afternoon we headed out to the north end of Canyonlands National Park to explore "Island in the Sky", a broad mesa formed over centuries by the  meandering of the Green and Colorado Rivers.  To get there, you cross a narrow section of road at "The Neck" that early ranchers could close off and secure their cattle on the "Island". 

As you look down from the
plateau, the landscape at times
seems surreal.

 From Shafer Canyon Overlook you can see  a
portion of  White Rim Road
as it winds through the bottom and hugs the edges of the plateau.  Plans are that in the fall we will be returning to drive the dirt road in Roger's
FJ Cruiser.  My Venza couldn't make it!   

 Above, is what is known as the White Rim Canyon due to the color of the rock forming it's boundary.  Pollution coming from the area's coal burning plants as well as from Arizona and New Mexico maintains a backdrop of haze most of the time.       



  Boy, trying to use different photo sizes as well as the left-right position keys are causing me a bit of trouble today.  I also lost my last photo of the cabin we stayed in just outside of Monticello, Utah.  Cute cabin.  Sorry you missed it.  Anyway, we had to stay about an hour's drive from Moab because there were absolutely no rooms available for this past weekend.   Talking to the waitress who served us dinner that night, we found out the reason, or reasons I should say.  First, the eclipse of the Sun is on Sunday and one of the best views available is around Moab and Southern Utah.  Second, there are two movies filming in Moab this summer, one staring Johnny Depp.  She became rather excited as she told us that open auditions were being held the next day and she was trying out for one of the parts being offered to the locals.  We wished her luck and went home to our cabin in the woods.