Monument Valley, UT

Well, we've been in Monument Valley, UT for almost a week now and it's time to move on. But, before we do, we want to share some of our favorite photos with you. First, we met two young men from Korea riding bicycles. Yes, bicycles. We had to ask them some questions since you don't see many people riding bikes way the heck out here in the middle of the desert. They are bicycle messengers and are delivering a message from the Korean people to american veterans from the Korean War. They landed in Los Angeles, CA and are riding to Washington D.C. to deliver a message of thanks to some diplomat at the Korean War Memorial. They said they're trying to ride 100 miles each day. Wow! Here's a photo of them in front of the campground where we are staying.

My buddy Dave and I are still climbing rocks / mountains. Here's a photo of him descending a mountain area. I'm still at the top looking down. He's the little green spot.

Here are several pics of monuments that are here in the valley.

We take our dog, Freddy with us on many of the hikes. Here's a pic of me, Maggie and Freddy on a rock ledge. I know we're hard to see because we're a long way away. Sorry.

You have to look real hard to see us but we're there. Here's another pic of Freddy. He and our friend's dog "Bumpus" are taking a break in a small spot of shade they found.

We also went to a place called Mexican Hat. Here's a photo of it.

It's pretty big. The photo was taken from a long way off. After that, we went to Goose neck State Park. It is a place where the San Juan river winds it's way through the desert. The river flows 6 miles in order to move 1 mile. So many twists and turns. Every depression / area of erosion you see in the photo is the river.

After that we went to an area known as the Valley of the Gods. It's a large valley with lots of interesting rock formations. It's fun to see what you can see in the shapes. Here are two I wanted to share. On the left it looks like Aunt Jemima watching TV. The one on the right looks like a train. You can see the engine, coal car and caboose.

After a long day of off-roading my truck was soo dirty you couldn't believe it. This red dirt/dust gets everywhere. This morning I had to clean it inside and out. Maggie and Dave helped me; thank goodness. Lastly, we took a short hike into the cliffs above our campground. Here's a pic of Maggie, me and our friend Carla standing under a large arch (Dave was taking the photo).

That's it from Monument Valley. Tomorrow morning we're headed to Colorado where it's still below freezing every night. Brrr!

Antelope Canyon, AZ

I'm just going to dump several pictures I took yesterday during a guided tour Maggie and I took outside of Page, AZ. Page is known for it's beautiful slot canyons; slight openings in the ground that hold wondrous beauty underground. Behold what we saw. It was absolutely amazing. The last photo is of Maggie emerging above the surface. You can see the small opening in the earth behind her. All that beauty was hidden beneath the surface of the desert. Hard to believe. We made it to Monument Valley, UT this afternoon so more pics to come. ;-)

Lake Powell; Page, AZ

The next stop was just outside Page, Arizona at Lake Powell. The Bureau of Reclamation dammed up the Colorado river in the mid 1960's and it provides electrical power to a large part of the southwest. Doing so also provided a great lake for people in the area to enjoy. We took a tour of the dam. Here's a couple of pics. Down stream from the dam the Colorado River winds through the desert cutting an erratic path. Here's a pic of a place called Horseshoe Bend.

This next shot is showing how erosion changes the view. You can see the hard rocks / boulders sitting on top of this mesa. As erosion takes place they gradually loosen and end up falling down the hillside and resting on the bottom.

Some rocks end up perched on top of narrow columns. I guess the dirt underneath them gradually washes away leaving what they call Balancing Rocks.

These next pics are near a place called Lee's Ferry. It was the only place to cross the Colorado River for 500 miles. Talk about supply and demand. Mr Lee had a monopoly until the government built a bridge across the river in the mid 50's, some 20 years later.

While there we saw several groups of people preparing for a 21 day trip down the river. Can you imagine living on a raft and floating down the Colorado River for 21 days???

We also saw California Condors flying in the area. They are really big birds. This next pic is from our campsite next to Lake Powell. We're camped at a place called Wahweap about 2.5 miles above the dam. Not a bad scene when you're sitting and eating a meal.

You can see the lake and mountain formations across the water. On Saturday, 11 Mar, we rented a 19 foot ski boat and spent 6 hours exploring the sights and narrow canyons. Some places were so narrow we just barely got the boat through. Check it out.

Yesterday my buddy Dave and I hiked 6.5 miles round trip to the Colorado River down a set of cliffs that dropped about 1200 to the river. We had to use ropes and cables to descend and ascend the cliffs. The surface was too steep and hard rock; not much to grab onto. Most of the time was taken up going down and back up the cliffs. It was a tough climb but the view and sense of accomplishment was terrific. We were both glad when we got back to the truck though. The first pic is of some tourists floating down the river on large rafts. The others show us in progress and the last is the view to the top.

Later today Maggie and I are hiking the antelope slot canyon. More pics to come.

A little more Valley of Fire

We went on one last hike after my last post and ended up taking several more photos. So, I thought I'd share a few more of the better ones with you. This first one is of a couple of different colors of lichen; a moss that grows on rocks here. Check out the color.

Quite a contrast on a pink rock eh? Talk about contrast; check out this rock. It is a large boulder with a red spot right in the middle. It's not painted. For some reason the color of the rock changed in that one area.

Here's another example of a rock formation that looks like something we humans can catagorize / recognize as something else. They call this Duck Rock.

Naturally Maggie and I had to climb it so here's a pic of us on top.

That's it from Valley of Fire. Weather here is great; 40s at night and 70s during the day with low humidity; Ahhh :-)