Ed

[Today's Photos] Today's first stop was at the John Wesley Powell River History Museum in Green River, Utah. You may know his name from Lake Powell. Powell organized and led the first expedition to map the Green and Colorado Rivers. Starting with four boats in the summer of 1869, they navigated the river all the way past the Grand Canyon; at the time, the lower part of the Colorado River was called the Grand River.

It sounds like a heck of an expotition. Brent, our tour guide, has on two occasions raved about Powell's writing, so I've added the journey memoirs to my reading pile.

From Green River to Dead Horse Point State Park. There are several stories about how the point got its name. One story has to do with the whitish shape on the valley floor, pictured at right. Other stories have to do with the practice of rounding up wild horses, scaring them toward the point from which there was no exit.

Then to Canyonlands National Park. Canyonlands is a vast and deep expanse of canyons and cliffs. It's an ideal example of the geology we've been seeing: there are lots of layers of rock visible here, from the Navajo Sandstone of Zion (at top), through the Chinle and Moenkope of Capitol Reef, and further below into Rico Formation from the Permian, over 250 MYA.

We had time for a short hike to a natural arch in Canyonlands, then back on the bus for a 45-minute drive to Moab. And that's where I am now, busblogging again. We hope to skip dinner tonight and catch up on sleep: we have some very busy days ahead.

Here are the rest of today's photos.

[Today's Photos] Busblogging a day late: this was a busy day, and we didn't have any time free in the evening. Someone please stop me before I get old -- I don't have the energy! Elderhostel runs a packed, busy schedule, and the only one who's having a hard time with it is me. Everyone else is spry and lively despite the long days and short nights. There's a very consistent pattern in all the retired people I know: they're all busier than anything I can imagine.

Today (and from here on I'll use "Today" to mean "Friday") we visited Capitol Reef National Park. Capitol Reef is named for the dome you see at right. The Reef part of the name is used in the sense of an obstruction to navigation: this would have been hard terrain to cross in the pioneer days, especially since U.S. 24 hadn't been discovered yet.

Capitol Reef is, as one ranger put it, an amalgam of Utah's other parks. It has hoodoos like Bryce; canyons and sandstone like Zion; arches like, well, Arches; petroglyphs; and picnic benches like Picnic Bench National Rest Area. It has more rock strata than I can keep straight, even after five days of geology cramming. Just when I think I'm starting to get a feel for the geology, I realize I don't. It's like yoga: the more you learn, the more you realize how much there is left to learn.

At Capitol Reef we took a short hike to the Hickman Bridge, a spectacular natural arch. The approach to it is delightful: the arch seems to open up with each step. On the way back down we saw two Checkered Partridge, a striking (non-native) bird. We saw petroglyphs and some striking Fremont Cottonwood trees. No photos on this page -- too much to show. I'll link to my pix website as soon as I can get them uploaded.

After our picnic lunch we hiked down Grand Wash. That was an easy hike down a steep dry canyon which I wouldn't want to be in during a thunderstorm. More pictographs, including some good ones of horses (possibly 19th century). Some of our party saw four bighorn sheep, right up close... but alas, we were in the wrong place. Then back to the hotel, where we had just enough time for Ginger's parents to see the last few days' photos. They can't do the hikes, so they're living vicariously through our photos.

Then to dinner. Boy did I want to skip that. There's too much food for too little exercise. This must be what a cruise is like! Breakfast, lunch, and dinner -- that's one more meal than I usually have. Lunch was light, but even so I didn't need dinner. Supreme Authority, though, made it clear that skipping dinner was not an option. And what Supreme Authority says is Law: I have to live with her, after all.

Then at 7:30 a presentation by Brent, our fearless and intrepid tour leader. He grew up on a ranch, and his family still has cattle. He delivered an engaging overview of the ranching year. His "How I Spent Last Summer" is untoppable: herding 1400 head for the summer, in three pastures from six to ten thousand feet high, just him and his borrowed dog Ruby. Brent is in his mid-sixties, so that might have been his last year doing that. He finished off the evening by reciting Cowboy Poetry, and had us all in stitches.