Second Day - Canyonlands Trip:

The next morning we entered the Park from the south entrance which took us through the Abajo mountains and down into the lower canyons and an area known as the Needles.   This entrance is about an hour south of Moab, but as we had stayed south of Monticello that evening, we didn't have to travel far to start our journey.

On the way to the Park entrance we came across a group hunting for cougar below in the valley.  They were using binoculars and GPS equipment as they followed their dogs in pursuit of the courgar.  They said they would be able to tell when the cougar was treed by the change in the GPS readings coming from their dogs.  Some how hunting this way doesn't seem quite right!

Continuing on our way, we stopped by News Paper Rock which was just a short walk from the parking lot.  Researchers are still not sure what most of the pictographs mean, who placed them there, or their purpose.  One can assume they were leaving messages for others, describing good hunting grounds or even
describing successful exploits.

 Entering the Park we were now at the bottom looking up to the  plateaus where we had stood the day before.

There were rock formations such as these throughout the bottom of the canyon.  They are very similar to the "hoodoos" found in Goblin Valley further south.  These have served as great film locations for numerous science fiction movies over the last 60 years or so.

We turned a corner and this valley spread out in front of us.  Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. 

As we left Canyonlands National Park, we needed to decide what direction we would take to head back home.  We decided to turn into the center of the state, and make a loop back up to Price where we could connect with the interstate.  It gave us an opportunity to explore some new areas such as Natural Bridges State Park: above and below.  While you could see the bridges on the nine mile loop through the park, Roger decided to do the hike to the bottom of one.  Considering there were ladders like this one to go down and I had on the wrong shoes, I let Roger do this one on his own.  He came up winded as he had promised he could make it in a half hour.  He made it in 25 minutes! 

Reading the literature, we also learned that bridges are formed by rivers flowing through them and arches are created by the wind.  Good to know.

Before we turned off onto the interstate for a non-stop drive home.  We stopped  to take some photos at the tip of Lake Powell.  Lake Powell, named after the first white explorer of the Grand Canyon, was created as a reservoir and recreational area
40-50 years ago.  The bridge pinpoints where the Colorado River empties into Lake
Powell.