Saturday, April 10, 2010.

9:15- We are headed out to see the Arches National Monument. Last night we pulled into the RV site at 9:05. It got pretty cool last night because the heat came on; but today is supposed to be 72 degrees. The mountains here are reddish because they are rich in iron; the black spots interspersed throughout are manganese. Next to us at the entrance gate is a chevy crew cab truck towing 6 ATVs.
In the courtyard of the visitor center are life-sized bronze statues of the animals and reptiles that live in the park. As we start up the switchbacks to the park the rocks we view are carved by the wind, frost and water into unusual shapes. The first to see are the 3 PENQUINS. On one side of the highway are the reddish carved rocks and the other side is light gray-brown-green and rubble looking. It is definitely 2 distinct different geological areas called the Moab Fault.
After 3 switchbacks we arrived at PARK AVENUE, so called because it looks like the New York City skyline. This area used to be under salt water millions of years ago. As the water evaporated, the salt settled to the bottom and left unusually shaped sandstone at the top. The La Sal mountains to our right were named by the Spanish because the snow on the tops looked like salt. It is the second highest range in Utah. At the third stop we see THE 3 GOSSIPS gossiping to the SHEEP ROCK. Just past them are the TOWER OF BABEL, THE ORGAN TOWER, and THE COURTHOUSE. These are all pinnacles. They all started out as a mesa, wore away to a butte and then really wore down to just pinnacles.
COURTHOUSE WASH is a stream that stays dry most of the year. Around it grows Fremont Cottonwood, Utah serviceberry, yucca, juniper and sagebrush. The plants that have the largest leaves, or leaf surface, grow the closest to the water. The smaller the leaf surface, the least amount of evaporation of water in the plant; therefore, the longer it'll survive. This area supports chipmunks, squirrels, kangaroo rats, hawks, ravens, snakes, mule deer and sheep. The majority of the animals wait until dusk or dawn to come out because of the heat. They have told me the snakes wait until dark. OKAY, I'M READY!!!
When the dinosaurs roamed here millions of years ago this area was all sand. Then the sand turned to cement and then it became petrified. The rock is called Navalio sandstone and the area is called PETRIFIED DUNES. Just past this is BALANCED ROCK. It took millions of years for the bottom layer, called Dewey Formation, to wear away leaving just the top, which is a huge hard rock made of Entrada Formation balancing on a much smaller bottom. Beside it is a pile of rocks that used to be "Chip Off the Old Block", which fell in 1969. The potholes on the ground here stay dry most of the year. When it rains, they fill up with tadpoles, fairy shrimp, mosquito larvae from eggs left from months before.
SALT VALLEY is 2 miles wide X 11 miles long. The mountains on the side are the youngest in the park and are yellow from the alluvial silt left here millions of years ago by the lake. The further away reddish mountains are red from the oxidized iron. The greenish-gray rocks are from the non-oxidized iron. The CACHE VALLEY is made of manca shale, which is very slippery when wet. The Anasazi came here to find the chert in the rocks. John Wesley Powell left his wife in Ohio and brought his son in 1899 and built a log cabin. In a flash flood he lost it and had to rebuild in 1906.
DELICATE ARCH is the most famous natural monument here. The very top is made of Moab Tongue Formation. The other 85% is of Entrada. There were some other names for this rock, mainly, Cowboys Chaps and Old Maidens Bloomers. We went offroad onto Cache Valley Road which leaves the Park and enters private land where they graze herds. It is a 4 X 4 vehicle road only. It was all dirt and huge rocks and several different elevations, some of which we couldn't access. We saw some lizards, marmots and chipmunks. On the ground beside our car were huge footprints the size of a softball with a cleft front. There were also lots of cow paddies around. So the herd must have been here recently. In the road ahead of us was a pretty red spidery plant and small bunches of yellow flowers. The last stop was called DEVIL'S GARDEN. The mule deer are frequently seen here; but it isn't dusk yet.
This town of Moab is rather small and wouldn't be here if it weren't for the National Park. There are more RV Parks than there are houses. In the summer it is 115 degrees here. That is pretty brutal. I'm sure glad we're here in April. They have some funny names of restaurants: Eddie McStiffs Plaza and Cafe, Silver Sage Inn, Maveriks Gas. There is a pretty restaurant way up on the hill called Sunset Grill. It was the mansion of the man in charge of the uranium mining. Uranium was found in parts of the Colorado Plateau in the 1940's. There is also a Slickrock Cafe because the rock in the park is slippery when it rains. Most of the houses are the color of sand or dirt so they blend in with the landscape. One house we saw was the color of the reddish rock and done smooth like plaster, but there were huge Indian symbols carved into the walls. Very unique!!!