Another day of wonder...

The weather struggles seem to be generated by the 10,000-foot mountains. Early in the morning it tends to be sunny, the middle of the day is a horror, and the late afternoon clears. This is from yesterday, today only had rain and 40 mph wind.

I spent some time on the Sheep Creek Geologic Loop, a road through a museum of sandstone types. The pictures can't do justice to this place--the formations are huge!

When I first heard of this drive, I scoffed--but it was huge and impressive:

When the sun came out strongly, I raced back to Red Canyon to get another view:

This time, I happened to glance over at the next led just like the one I was on. Uh-oh.

When I mentioned the danger to a ranger, he shrugged philosophically and said, "We do tell people not to go outside the fence."

Oh, good.

To wrap up the day, a bit of contemplation on the banks of the 90-mile long reservoir.

Tomorrow, a trip to the completely remote Gates of Lodore.  can't wait!!!

Little Wild Horse Canyon-only for the slender...

Little Wild Horse Canyon is a slot canyon somewhat like those in Page, Arizona and Kanab in Utah. Right off--if you are not slender, don't come here. These are REALLY narrow slots!

I protected my cameras and tripod at all costs, and staggered out with blood leaking from both arms and legs. I haven't gotten this beaten up since Havasupai! Still, it was worth every ding--I'm going to love processing hundreds of these subtly-hued pictures!

Eventually, one emerges from the slots into beautiful wide portions of the canyon: The Sun pours down and the rocky walls soar up into the sky above you.

Little Wild Horse Canyon is only five miles from Goblin Valley, so I went back to photograph a few formations, such as these giant chess men near the entrance:

This entire area is filled with large formations, some like these right by the side of the road near Hanksville.

.The long drive home is tomorrow. The pictures I've put on the blog these past few days are just a few I grabbed on first scanning through 40 gigabytes of material. Now I can sit happily in the airco during the Vegas Summer and play for hours and hours with goblins and ethereally-colored slots.

Escalante is everything it claims to be...

It is an amazing place, and I have only started. this morning I took a 25-mile drive on a washboard road through the Dixie National forest. Anybody tells you America doesn't have a lot of trees, they're lying. My car is now 20 years old and hates washboard roads,

The target was Hell's backbone, site of this bridge and some colossal views. Worth every rattle and dislodged filling it took to reach it.

Came back down the nost Beautiful Road, which has countless overlooks like this one which is the site of the Escalante river trailhead. No, I'm not going to hike it, I still can't feel my legs from yesterday.

Speaking of yesterday's unspeakable hike, this picture is too small, but the trail runs along the bottom of that red wall across the way. I don't see any bodies on the trail. It creates them.

But, as always. the target is worth it. This is a shot of the falls from the left, and before all the families who were there jumped in. they told me it was icy cold. Everybody knows I don't dive in cold water.

Tomorrow is a big one, a 4-wheel drive to the famed Hole in the Rock Trail, where in 1879 Mormon settlers took 80 wagons down a 1200-foot sheer precipice to get down to Lake Mead. I've read what they did, but still can hardly believe it.

May be a late day. If so, I may not get a blog out for a day or two. I'm off to Capitol Reef National Park Thursday, by way of driving the Burr Trail, which plows about 30 miles of passable road South out of Boulder.

And, of course, on the way to Boulder I drive Hogback, the little road with the thousand-foot dropoffs on both sides.

No rest for those who always want to do too much!...