On a clear day, you can see San Francisco

For a while now, actually since we arrived in the awesome red canyon country, I've been wondering how to show the immensity and sheer.....  spectacularness of it all. And, just like the computer in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I've come to the conclusion that the answer is...... 42. 


No way to do it, really. So here are a few views and snippets of information. To get the full meal deal, well, you'll have to make a little pilgrimage here yourself.


To put this into a bit of context, the Colorado Plateau covers an area of approximately 337,000 square kilometres in the Four Corners area of the American southwest. It includes the Grand Canyon NP as well as Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce Canyon, Zion.... The list goes on. Yep, it's definitely a biggie.


Arches National Park


This park has the greatest concentration of arches (over 1,500) of all the parks in the area. A few are pretty famous, like Delicate Arch, but most live anonymously off the beaten path as it were.

This is the view from Park Avenue towards the Manti La Sal mountains to the east. 

Double Arch. If you really work at it, you can just pick out a teeny tiny person wending his way to the bottom of the smaller arch.

Pine Tree arch.

The Three Gossips. As one of the displays in the visitor centre explained, "people called 'em like they saw 'em." Whatever.

Landscape arch. They say this one's on its last legs, so to speak. See the really skinny part on the right? People used to be able to walk right in under this one. But in 1991, while a group of hikers was sitting under the arch, a large chunk o' rock (approximately 180 tons) detached itself and fell to the ground below. It could have been a crushing experience, but fortunately there was a lot of noise preceding the fall and everyone scrammed before the reckoning could take place.


Canyonlands National Park

Lookout point to the Manti La Sal mountains. The altitude is around 6000' so there is some snow there this time of year. But like everywhere else in the western half of the continent this year there's a lot less than normal.

Mesa Arch looking east to the Manti La Sal mountains. That's the Colorado River down there, 2000' below.

Heckle and Jeckle checking out our picnic lunch. A lot of birds have been spotted at Canyonlands, but mostly they're an anomaly as there's no source of water other than small potholes in the rocks which are often dry.


Dead Horse Point State Park


This park sits side by each with Canyonlands and overlooks the Colorado River. Its name derives from an unsubstantiated story: there were at one time a lot of wild horses in the area and some enterprising cowboys figured out pretty quickly that a particular point of land made a fabulous natural corral when they blocked it off. They rounded up a herd of said horses, took the ones they wanted and left the rest. Behind the barrier. There being no water and very limited food, the remaining horses died. 

Colorado River (2000' down). It's very reminiscent of the Grand Canyon -- pretty mind-boggling and virtually impossible to capture in a photo.

Another view of the many layers. The water below is actually settling ponds for potash production.


And did I mention that Thelma and Louise did their final drive in DHP park? 


Petrified Forest / Painted Desert National Park


We hadn't planned to visit this park but on the way down to Arizona we drove by it around 4:00 p.m. and, since it closes at 4:30, had to leave it for the return trip.

Yes, it really looks like that. Nobody could really explain the petrification process as it's not all that well understood. But trust me, you wouldn't be making campfires with these babies.

There's a lot of petrified wood around and more keeps appearing each year (see that little log end peeking out of the soil?) so you might be forgiven for thinking it's ok to maybe slip a little, just a wee wee bit into your pocket. In fact, on average 1 TON goes MIA every month of every year. There are serious penalties for doing that (fines, imprisonment, no-cheese pizza....) and they check you on the way out. We opted for safety and bought a piece in the souvenir shop.


And here's where the San Francisco part comes in.

If you have really, really good eyesight (and a decent imagination) you can see the San Francisco peaks in this photo. Top right, a couple of little lumps. Yeah, it's a stretch, but they're there.


And tho' there's much more and many more photos, that's it for this post. Tomorrow we head out for home, a little glad to be going home and a little sad to be leaving this amazing place. And anticipating a really good cup of coffee soon.