20 May 2013: Day 6 of 43 – Canyonlands National Park UTAH.
Overnight in Moab UTAH.
Today 550km, Total 1,794km.
Our journey to Canyonlands National Park was
impressive. We experienced three major changes of scenery over the four hour drive
from Tropic ascending and descending valleys and mountain passes. Canyonlands itself comprises the huge Buck Canyon which
was carved out by the Colorado River (river flows at its base) over 15 million
years ago, same as the Grand Canyon. The Colorado flows over 1,450 miles (2,334km)
and Canyonlands covers 527 sq miles (1,365 sq km) about the size of metro
Brisbane! Many locals consider Buck Canyon to be the entrée and Grand Canyon to
be the main meal – I must say when we first laid eyes on Buck we could not
believe how huge and open it was – you can see the Colorado River twisting for
many miles into the horizon. In fact, Canyonlands consists of two main “chunks”
or areas: Island in the Sky and Needles.
We visited the former but before our
arrival there, we turned off and travelled about 12 miles (20km) to a place
called Dead Horse Point State Park. This place is literally an eroded precipice
that is connected to the mainland by a narrow neck about 50m wide. The top of
it is at an elevation of 7,000ft (2,133m) and the Colorado is at 5,500ft (1,676m)
below. So if you accidentally slip you will fall 1,500ft (457m) into the
Colorado below. A bunch of cowboys used Dead Horse Point as a natural corral for Mustang horses – quite
appropriate considering our beloved motor vehicle! These cowboys simply blocked
off the 50m neck. The cowboys wanted to break-in all the horses but some
refused so they left them there to die of thirst hence the name – Dead Horse
Point.
Since that time Dead Horse Point became famous because this is where the
opening scene of Mission Impossible II and the closing scene of Thelma &
Louise was filmed (when they drove their convertible off the cliff). How
fitting. That’s the main reason we went. We decided not to drive our convertible
off this cliff, opting for a photo of our Thelma and Louise (in this
post). After our visit here we proceeded
another 10 miles (16km) down the road to the Island in the Sky which is
actually a much larger precipice sticking out into the Buck Canyon. From here
the view of the canyon is even better and you can walk 1.2 miles (2km) around
the precipice hence the name Grand View Overlook.
By this time the temperature
hit 25C so I decided to run back through the park for 10km. What a run – Canyon
precipices on one side and the distant snow-capped La Sal mountains on the
other. Our stay in Moab was memorable – the town is surrounded by the red
cliffs of Arches National Park (which we visited the next morning) and Gump and
Thelma scoffed down the town’s famous JAX Burger - why? because they are fall of
fresh town-grown ingredients covered in chillies... you should have seen the Queen's throne the very next day....
Hey John, just add water and you have the Norwegian fjords. Awesome pics!
ReplyDeleteJohn, enjoying your adventures as usual. Btw, 'Native American' is preferred over 'Indian'...
ReplyDeleteHi Zorba,
ReplyDeleteI want to dance(Sirtaki)with you, Sahara desert in Africa...
Very cold water in Colorado River.Don´t jumping..Maybe colder than in Anrarctica!
Nurettin
Hey gump, where is the " rip cord" on your chute?
ReplyDeleteActually, I don't think I want to know. The more I look at the pic of you in your speedos, the more I think that you are ready to rip a fart!
ReplyDelete