Gemini Bridges Road

 

Gemini Bridges Road

Our last exploration for this trip was down an off-road that is new to us.  It’s called Gemini Bridges Road and that’s exactly where it leads!

The road starts off hugging a tall rock bluff at times.  At first, we found ourselves following another Jeep, but she pulled over after a bit and let us pass her.  We never saw her again, so I sort of felt like she may have turned around.

And more spring wildflowers on this road, too!  Plus, there is this very tall rock formation (totally natural, not man-made) that is named the Gooney Bird Rock.  He sort of looks like he’s watching the land for food…except of course, he doesn’t eat!!  He reminds me of how ravens scope out the landscape, looking for small rodents and snakes to call a meal.

When we got to the point where the short trail to the Gemini Bridges were, I noticed this lovely tree that either hadn’t yet woken up to spring or was yet another dead tree standing.  I loved the shape of the branches.

And here we are at the Gemini Bridges.  If you look closely, you can see the one bridge in the forefront, and off to the left, the second bridge sort of peeking out from the first one.  An interesting note is the difference between a rock bridge and a rock arch.  The explanation is that an arch was eroded from a sort of rock alcove, with wind and sand wearing away until the arch appears.  A bridge, on the other hand, was formed due to water flowing beneath it, at least at the point in time when the bridge was formed.

The image on the left was taken as we walked on one of the bridges and looked at the “twin” bridge, right next to it.  The image on the right is looking at the bridges once we’ve crossed the one bridge and are looking back at the “twin” or Gemini Bridges.  Although the space between the two bridges looks very narrow, people are cautioned NOT to try to jump from one to the other.  Several people have tried, and the results were very sad and not successful.  So, enjoy the view, but no gymnastics.

Enjoy!

Willow Springs Road and Arches National Park

 

 Willow Springs Road and Arches National Park

On our second day at Moab, we decided to explore a road that we’d done before.  I especially like this because we get to walk right up to a piece of earth’s history!!

As we began our drive down Willow Springs Road, spring was certainly showing off once again – green throughout the flat plains type area, dotted with the wildflowers blooming!  Seeing this was such an unexpected gift!

Before too long, we came across some dinosaur tracks – just out in the wild for all to see.  These tracks were made by a species of dinosaur that roamed this area about 165 million years ago.  The human size predators that were in this area walked a shallow sea area that inundated the area around Moab.  When the sea retreated, these tracks were buried and preserved as the sands and muds turned to stone over time.

This is a close-up view of the tract of the dinosaur and an artist’s rendering of what it was thought to look like.  The name of this dinosaur is a sauropod, and although they were thought to be our size, I still wouldn’t have wanted to meet up with one!  To date, more than 2500 tracks have been found both on public land, as these tracks are, and also in Arches National Park.  We’ve not ever seen any that are in Arches.  What we found rather sad was that these tracks seem to be fading, compared to the last time we saw them.  Eventually, they will, most likely, disappear into history.

When I turned my back on the tracks, this was the view of the area where the sauropods once roamed.  Of course, it looked very different at that time, because at least some of this land would have been under water.  As a piece of information, the strip of turquoise colored rock running through one of the bluffs is either copper or uranium.

As we moved on, we began to see the familiar rock formations of Arches National Park in the distance, with the La-Sal Mountains behind them in one of these images.  We are still on what is very much a primitive dirt road at this time, especially when I took the upper photo, but right about now is when we entered Arches National Park formally.  We were fine to enter the park, since we were in a Jeep, but from the point when the road enters the Park, all other vehicles, such as ATV’s, UTV’s and OHV’s, even if they are considered street legal, are not allowed in the Park.  So, to enter the Park via this “back door”, you must be driving a more traditional vehicle.

As we drew closer to the main road running through Arches, more things became visible to us.  The upper photo is of a formation called Balanced Rock, I believe, and if you look closely at the bottom photo, you can see an arch in among the other rock formations.

Once inside the Park, there were several sights to see.  The image on the left is the entrance to what’s called Devils Garden Trail.  We didn’t walk it this time, as we had Max in the Jeep with us, and dogs are not allowed outside vehicles in the National Park.  This path, leads to Landscape Arch, which is a very long, narrow arch.  The trail, which used to run right under that arch, is no longer open to the public, because pieces of Landscape Arch have broken off and crashed to the ground over the years.  Also along this trail is the place where another arch, Wall Arch, once stood.  That arch collapsed in 2008.  The middle image is of what I think of as Twin Arches.  From the angle of this image, if you look closely, you can see that you are actually looking through two arches right next to one another to see the sky beyond them.  The third image, on the right, is of an interesting rock formation.  Sometimes separate rocks seem to have formed butting right up to each other.  There were many rocks like that in this area, but there was an opening where we could see a smaller version of the famous Balanced Rock.

Another arch close to the road and easy to access is one called Skyline Arch.  The upper image is of the view from the parking area near the arch.  The lower image, though, is from the side.  In this image, if you look closely, you can see a smaller arch close to Skyline Arch.  It’s a bit more difficult to see because you are only looking at more rock formations when you look through it, and not the sky.

As we were driving out of Arches, we passed a rock formation that I like – Three Sisters – it always reminds me of my three nieces, all sisters.  Although we’ve visited Arches National Park several times over the years, I generally welcome the opportunity to visit it again, simply because of its relatively temporary nature.  Since all the formations and arches are made of sandstone, over time, they will all collapse, just like Wall Arch that I mentioned above, and how Landscape Arch is slowly breaking apart.  So, let’s enjoy this National Park while we can!!

Enjoy!!

 

Potash Road and Shafer Trail

 

Potash Road and Shafer Trail

In May, we visited Moab, UT, and had fun off-roading, Jeep style!  On our first day out on the “off” road, we took a trail we’d been down many times – it’s a favorite!!

As we drove down the main highway to get to Potash Road, I looked at the red rock bluffs and wondered how many people would look at these towering rock formations and not realize what fun lay behind them!!  So many adventures!

The start of Potash Road is very smooth.  The Colorado River is on our left, and sheet rock walls on our right.  There is a stretch of the road, about a mile in length, that is prime rock climbing territory!  Although you can’t see it in the photo on the left, there are several cars parked along this stretch of the road and people are in various stages of preparing for or climbing up and down the wall.  I can safely say this isn’t an activity Jeff and I will ever try!!

We had never been in Moab this early in the season, and one of the very pleasant surprises was how green the landscape was!!  I especially loved the red rocks in contrast to the greenery on the ground.  A different flavor of traditional Christmas colors!

Since we’d been down this trail many times, I did look for some different perspectives of sights that are now familiar to us.  This view of the Colorado River, up high on the red rock bluffs, was taken in a place where only a sliver of the river can be seen between the rocks.  It wasn’t a place I could ever remember being and the view felt like a secret pleasure.

It seemed like almost everywhere we drove, there were spring blooms – this was a vibrant red bloom.  It reminds me of a bloom I saw once called a bottle brush bloom – perhaps this is a variation that bloom, as the original bottle brush I saw was down in Australia or New Zealand!!

We turned the corner and came across a sight I never grow tired of – the Shafer Trail!  This road looks like it will run right into the sheer rock walls – and it does…sort of.  Instead of stopping, though, we will drive up that sheer wall!

How will we make that climb?  Switchbacks!!  Here are a couple of views I took looking down as we climbed up the wall – and how the trail looked in our GPS!!  Pretty twisty!!

And, here are the views from the top!  By the way, at this point, we’ve entered Canyonlands National Park, via a back route, so to speak!!  Here are a couple of views from the top, including one looking out over the off-roads, Moab and to the La-Sal Mountains beyond Moab.  This is also the first time we’ve seen the La-Sal Mountains with snow caps.

I’ll leave you with some different forms of beauty, all in this one image – green among the red rocks, the dramatic beauty of dead trees, still standing, wonderful open canyons and the mountains in the distance.  Choose your favorite or just enjoy them all!

Enjoy!