Steve & Ellens 50th Anniversary Trip

50^th Anniversary Trip

Chapter 4

We left Price, Utah and planned to stay in Dead Horse Point State Park near Canyonlands N.P. Dead Horse has utilities, elec, & water, but all spaces were full until 3 days later. So to kill some time, we stayed down the road sixty miles at Green River State Park. Great park, huge cottonwood trees turning gold, large spaces and real quiet since there were only a couple of other campers. Spent the day in the sun reclining in our chairs outside. The next day we asked the ranger when we might go, and he suggested some drives to see petroglyphs and other scenic areas. One canyon was about 18 miles long and ended at Nefertiti Rock and some petroglyphs too. The road was up the Green River and they had carved it out of the side of hill. It was one lane wide and 30 feet to the river straight down without any side barriers. Luckily we didn’t meet any other vehicles coming or going. After that little ride, we tried the Tucker Wash road, about 7 miles to more petroglyphs. The road went in and out of the creek bed and finally got really rough and I, against my better judgment, agreed with Ellen, and we turned around. I said we got skunked, my better half said we used common sense.

Nefertiti Rock, Egyptian Queen?

I think I'm addicted to finding these things.

Are we there yet?

Amazing sights of erosion of the land.

The next day, we decided to see the Black Dragon pictograph. The ranger said to go up Interstate 70 and turn off at milepost 179. I said, ”Just turn off the interstate”? He said, “Sure, I do it all the time.” I thought it over a bit and asked, “When I get back on I70, do I have to go west 50 or 60 miles to the next exit?” He said, “No, just use the crossover and head back east.” I did as he suggested and all was OK. I guess that’s what they do it out here. So up I70 we go and stopped at the mouth of Black Dragon Canyon and walked into the canyon. We saw the Black Dragon, which isn’t black and looks like a chicken. While we were there, a couple of young base jumpers climbed the cliff and jumped off with their parachutes. The cliff is about 300 – 400 feet high.

Pictographs, which means painted verses etched.

Base jumpers off the cliff

Next stop Dead Horse Point S.P. with an awesome view overlooking the canyon. While looking at the sights, there were 3 ravens riding the air currents rising up out of the canyon. They would fold their wings in and dive down the side of the cliff like a F15 fighter jet, then they would open their wings and soar back up the side of the cliff. One in particular, would fly inverted on the way back to the top. Canyon Lands N. P. is a lot like the Grand Canyon with the Green River running deep down below the red cliffs.

View from Dead Horse Point State Park.

Soaring in the wild Blue.

Canyon Lands National Park

A selfie.

Looking down into the canyon.

The arch near the visitor center at Canyon Lands N.P.

The sight from under the arch at Canyon Lands.

We moved down to Moab to be closer to Arches N.P. The Arches are also very interesting, with the erosion to the cliffs creating holes in the sandstone. We walked to all the ones near the road, along with the balancing rock. Overall there are over 2000 aches in the park with many in the interior areas. While staying in Moab, we traveled down to the needles section of Canyon Lands N.P. and viewed that area, but we were not impressed except for Newspaper Rock, which contains petroglyphs dating back to 400 to 600 AD.