From Monticello, it was a short drive to the Needles section of Canyonlands National Park. We had not planned any long hikes, so we asked Sam to ride along - that got his tail waggin'.
First stop was Newspaper Rock, 200 square feet of Native American petroglyphs, just 25 miles outside the park. Obviously, a lot of early people spent time in this area. The petroglyphs were carved into the desert varnish on a Wingate Sandstone cliff. They were created by several ancient cultures beginning as much as 1,500 years ago.
No one seems to know why the feet have 6 toes.
Both sides of the road into the park were lined with awesome exposed rock layers. It was a good thing there was not much traffic because we had to pull over for another shot around every curve and over every hill.
Once we entered the park, the scenery was even more spectacular. In the picture below, just to the right of center, was the aptly named Wooden Shoe Arch.
Although they are very realistic, I think the high dynamic range (HDR) processed shots are almost distracting, showing so much detail in the rock. They excel at bringing out the subtle shades in the clouds, so a few are included here. HDR has so much promise, I really should find better software and spend more time learning more about the process.
Looking for higher ground, we stopped at Pothole Point and hiked around a large sandstone plateau about 20 feet above everything in the area. I noticed a notch in the rock where we were able to climb up. The view, the solitude and the quiet were inspiring. It was like we had our own personal national park.
Just over another rise in the road, we did a little bit of hiking. We were very careful, of course, not to disturb any biologic crust!
The Grand View Point Overlook, in the Island in the Sky district, was at the end of the distant mesa to the right in the picture below. According to the map, it was only about 8 miles away as the crow flies, but it was more than a hundred mile drive from our current location.
As we headed out of the park, the sun was sinking into the west turning all of the clouds into pink cotton candy and lighting the rock escarpments on fire.
By the time I stopped for the picture below, it was nearly dark (I think it was after official sunset). The shot required more than a half second exposure and I was not using a tripod, so it's a little blurry. We loved the color, even though it did not technically represent what we saw.
We still had a long drive across open range to get home. The cows out on the road just added a little more excitement to the drive. I think our lights were attracting the herd towards the road and these guys were in no hurry to move so, I finally just weaved through them.
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