My good luck with the weather has finally run out. We’re camped at 8,500 feet above sea level just outside Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. It’s been raining steadily ever since we got here, it’s freezing cold and snow is forecast overnight. I’ve just bought a fleece sleeping bag at the camp shop for $20 so hope it does the job. I’d go to bed now but it would mean huddling in my tent for at least ten hours.
None of this seemed likely first thing this morning. I rose at 6.30 and it is already noticeably darker at that time so I had breakfast first whilst the light improved. We left on time with blue sky above and the rising sun painting the walls of the canyon to the west an orange glow. The road northwards took us up onto a tableland where inclined bands of harder strata provided some relief. Colours ranged from purple, mauves and greys in some places to the more familiar reds and yellows depending on which rocks lay beneath.
We headed down into the valley of the Dirty Devil River where flat ground supported horses cattle and the occasional crop where irrigation rigs had been set up. Back through some Badland country and we reached Hanksville where put more fuel in the wagon. The station shop was built right back into the hillside and the walls were bare rock. Rather incongruously at such an altitude there was also a parking lot for houseboats.
From here we headed towards the Capitol Reef National Park. The geology was clearly changing with grey and buff colours predominating. These were much younger Cretaceous rocks, as I later found out at the Visitor Centre. Capitol Reef is unique as it surrounds the Waterpocket Fold, where the geology contributes water to the narrow valley in what is otherwise a pretty arid area.
The valley was settled in the 1880s by Mormons who recognised that the fertile valley floor could yield good crops of soft fruit. They named the town Fruita! We took a short hike to view the Hickman Bridge, yet another rock arch. I’m sure that if I had been born in this area I’d have become a geologist.
Much of what I see puzzles me and here I found another puzzle. Throughout the area were lots of basaltic boulders. Numerous vesicles suggest that they were lava bombs rather than lava flows. So had they been erupted comparatively recently and left behind as the softer rocks beneath eroded or is there another explanation? Although there was a layer of concentration the boulders occurred both above and below this layer. If the layer was lava I’d expect to find evidence of columnar jointing. I must have been pondering this for some time as the others were all waiting for me when I got back to the van.
The valley was settled in the 1880s by Mormons who recognised that the fertile valley floor could yield good crops of soft fruit. They named the town Fruita! We took a short hike to view the Hickman Bridge, yet another rock arch. I’m sure that if I had been born in this area I’d have become a geologist.
Much of what I see puzzles me and here I found another puzzle. Throughout the area were lots of basaltic boulders. Numerous vesicles suggest that they were lava bombs rather than lava flows. So had they been erupted comparatively recently and left behind as the softer rocks beneath eroded or is there another explanation? Although there was a layer of concentration the boulders occurred both above and below this layer. If the layer was lava I’d expect to find evidence of columnar jointing. I must have been pondering this for some time as the others were all waiting for me when I got back to the van.
Heading south from here the land began to rise steeply and we soon were over 9,000 feet above sea level. Trees such a birches were interspersed with pines as well as poplar like trees that I now think are either aspens or cottonwoods. There was plenty of autumn colour so some photo stops were called for.
My memory of the rest of the journey is somewhat hazy as I feel asleep; perhaps yesterday’s exertions were catching up. Nearing Bryce the colours became distinctly Tuscan in nature but the rain changed from drizzle to a downpour. The Visitor Centre; these are so good in the States, provided shelter and an informative video which gave the rain time to relent sufficient to dash to a viewpoint and capture a few photos. Camp was set up in the drizzle and I’m currently pondering whether to go to bed. There is a heated pool and hot spa bath but the problem there is that, welcome as it might be, you would ultimately have to get out! I think bed is a better option.
My memory of the rest of the journey is somewhat hazy as I feel asleep; perhaps yesterday’s exertions were catching up. Nearing Bryce the colours became distinctly Tuscan in nature but the rain changed from drizzle to a downpour. The Visitor Centre; these are so good in the States, provided shelter and an informative video which gave the rain time to relent sufficient to dash to a viewpoint and capture a few photos. Camp was set up in the drizzle and I’m currently pondering whether to go to bed. There is a heated pool and hot spa bath but the problem there is that, welcome as it might be, you would ultimately have to get out! I think bed is a better option.
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