Canyonlands & Arches National Parks
Tuesday we spend the day sightseeing and hiking in Arches but didn't get to finish as some roads were washed away and we were tired from hiking all day. So we decided to give Arches some time to dry out and we hit Canyonlands on Wednesday and then went back to Arches today.
Canyonlands is actually broken up into three "districts".
From Moab you can easily access the Island in the Sky District so that is what we accomplished. Canyonlands is appropriately named, as it is filled with canyons...everywhere you look. There are even canyons inside of canyons! The confluence of the Green & Colorado Rivers shaped Canyonlands into what it is today. Most of the roads, not only in Canyonlands NP but everywhere around us, require 4 wheel drive vehicles. Everyone is towing or driving a Jeep in the campground where we are staying. Or ATV's seem to be very popular as well. Keith and I tried to rent these touring vehicles but many of the roads are washed away that the companies use or their vehicles are in for maintenance...so no luck there. 
They actually call it "rock climbing" not even off-roading! We were going to hike the Needles district of Canyonlands tomorrow but truth be told we're tired of looking at red rock, canyons, spires and all these other great formations. After a week we're ready for some new explorations. Actually that brings to mind that last night K & I went on a night boat tour of the Colorado. There was a light and sound show as well where they choreographed a light show off of the canyon walls...but neither Keith nor I really "got" the light show. Apparently shapes and designs were supposed to coincide with the sound?! It was awesome anyways...really b/c of the stars. There is so little light pollution out here that we saw so many stars, the Milkyway Galaxy and even a passing satellite. It was really neat.
Arches was exactly that...arches everywhere you look.
Big ones, small ones, ones that look like they are going to fall down on you, ones just forming. Arches everywhere. One thing we learnt that was pretty cool is that Arches & Canyonlands sit on a HUGE salt bed. They actually mine salt from here. 
But one really neat thing about the salt bed is that it absorbs shock from any earthquake....so the formations can keep growing year after year and are not exposed to potential earthquake damage.
Well, as I write this we are not sure where we are heading yet tomorrow....stay tuned!
Canyonlands is actually broken up into three "districts".
From Moab you can easily access the Island in the Sky District so that is what we accomplished. Canyonlands is appropriately named, as it is filled with canyons...everywhere you look. There are even canyons inside of canyons! The confluence of the Green & Colorado Rivers shaped Canyonlands into what it is today. Most of the roads, not only in Canyonlands NP but everywhere around us, require 4 wheel drive vehicles. Everyone is towing or driving a Jeep in the campground where we are staying. Or ATV's seem to be very popular as well. Keith and I tried to rent these touring vehicles but many of the roads are washed away that the companies use or their vehicles are in for maintenance...so no luck there. 
They actually call it "rock climbing" not even off-roading! We were going to hike the Needles district of Canyonlands tomorrow but truth be told we're tired of looking at red rock, canyons, spires and all these other great formations. After a week we're ready for some new explorations. Actually that brings to mind that last night K & I went on a night boat tour of the Colorado. There was a light and sound show as well where they choreographed a light show off of the canyon walls...but neither Keith nor I really "got" the light show. Apparently shapes and designs were supposed to coincide with the sound?! It was awesome anyways...really b/c of the stars. There is so little light pollution out here that we saw so many stars, the Milkyway Galaxy and even a passing satellite. It was really neat.Arches was exactly that...arches everywhere you look.
Big ones, small ones, ones that look like they are going to fall down on you, ones just forming. Arches everywhere. One thing we learnt that was pretty cool is that Arches & Canyonlands sit on a HUGE salt bed. They actually mine salt from here. 
But one really neat thing about the salt bed is that it absorbs shock from any earthquake....so the formations can keep growing year after year and are not exposed to potential earthquake damage.Well, as I write this we are not sure where we are heading yet tomorrow....stay tuned!
posted by Baran/Narrow Family | 5:44 PM
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