Alaska – Canada Travels 2014, Moab, UT; Cedar Mesa, October 22nd to October 28th.

From Needles we travel south to Monticello on a paved road over the northeastern shoulder of the Abajo Mountains. At an overlook we get a view looking north to Island in the Sky. A lonely bench, which had seen better days, sits at this vista.

From the slopes of the Abajo Mountains we look across a
vast landscape to Island in the Sky on the far horizon.

Someone wrote "The Disaster of Obesity Bench" on the back of this slumped bench. 

We camped a night at Devils Canyon where we spent our second night on the road when we left home at the end of May. We’ve come full circle on our travels.

At Blanding we turn west on Highway 95 toward Cedar Mesa. A couple we met on our travels told us about Tower House Ruin and how to get there so we take a side trip down a dirt road to search for it. It wasn't hard to find with their directions.

Tower House Ruin.

The two stories look like they were built at different times.

The lower story window.

The upper story window.

Petroglyphs at Tower House Ruin.

On Cedar Mesa we boon dock for a night down a little dirt road on BLM land near Salvation Knoll and enjoyed a glorious sunset.

A peaceful evening under a beautiful sky.

The sunset brings its colors to a grand finale.

We hiked down a nameless canyon on Cedar Mesa working our way around pour-offs as if we really thought we were going to get somewhere. 

We hike down a nameless canyon.

Rocks tumbled from the rim into the canyon.

The canyon deepens and we get to the final big, impassable drop into a bigger, deeper canyon. We had no ropes and no friends to take it further. That’s the way these Cedar Mesa canyons are. All for naught except that we had a fun day. There are multitudes of canyons with exceptional scenery on Cedar Mesa that offer interesting off-trail explorations.

The canyon deepens . . .

. . . and we come to the last big pour off.

Looking over the edge and no ropes or friends to make a descent.
It's the end of the line for these hikes.

As we hike out of this nameless canyon we find a spring that sends a music staff of shimmering liquid strands over the lip of a ledge. The water falls in shining notes to make music on the canyon floor. It’s this quiet passage in an elemental symphony to which our voices bend and echo on the vaulting canyon wall. In the desert a spring is a rare and beautiful thing to find, a sanctuary for life.

A passage to a hidden spring.

Hiking back up canyon to a spring.

The spring pours over the lip of the rock.

A music staff of spring water.

Shining notes of water music, a precious thing in the desert.

We drive across Cedar Mesa on Highway 261, The Trail of the Ancients, heading for the Moki Dugway. We’ll spend a night at Muley Point overlooking the Goose Necks of the San Juan, one of our favorite places to camp on the southern edge of Cedar Mesa.

Muley Point over looking the Goose Necks of the San Juan.

From Muley Point we can look southwest to Monument Valley and west to Navajo Mountain where the sun is setting in a golden glow.

Navajo Mountain, a sacred and powerful place, anchored on the horizon in the after-glow of sunset.

My last picture of our 2014 Travels taken at Muley Point in the gloaming of the evening. 

In a few more days we’ll be home and at the end of our Alaska-Canada Travels. We were on the road for 5 months and traveled almost 15,000 miles. Our Sprinter was so comfortable to live in that we never missed home. Our solar panels performed well and we only plugged into power on two days when we stayed at commercial campgrounds. Every day was an adventure as we traveled for the first time through amazing places in Alberta, Yukon, Alaska and British Columbia, and spent time exploring Montana, Idaho and Utah.

We've visited glaciers, great rivers, rain forests and desert canyons. Every where we went we found beauty. What we've also learned in our travels is that the beauty and wildness we've see is disappearing whether through development or climate change. We hope that you will find, protect and fight for our special places. Do it for the wildlife, for the earth, for yourself.

Thanks for joining us on our travels. This winter we'll visit Big Bend. Next spring we'll be traveling up through California and in the fall we'll go to Washington and Oregon. New places and new faces await us.

See you down the road,
Jackie

Alaska – Canada Travels 2014, Moab, UT; Needles District, Canyonlands, October 19th to 21st.

After leaving Moab we travel south on Highway 191 toward Monticello then take 211 to the Needles District of Canyonlands. Along the way we visit Newspaper Rock. 

It's a long story.

Newspaper Rock is a distinctive landmark. 

October 20^th. Our camp at Squaw Flat Campground in Needles was one of the most beautiful with a view of colorful buttes that turn to brilliant reds and oranges as they catch the setting sun. The temperatures are perfect.

Relaxing at our camp at Squaw Flat in Needles.

It's better than a movie as we enjoy the view from our camp a sunset paints
 the cliffs with warm light and cool, expanding shadows.

Our first hike is an 8-mile loop on the Big Spring Trail. The trail connects two canyons with an interesting climb through a gap in a long, narrow ridge. The hike through these sculptured canyons is easy except for the climb through the gap, which has a little bit of exposure. The canyons have intermittent water and vegetation that offers a home for birds and other wildlife. A very fine hike indeed.

The mid-point in the Big Spring Loop is the climb to the gap in the ridge at
the base of the shadowed cliff in the center of the photo.

I'm in a swell of sandstone and almost up to the gap in the ridge.

A view from the gap.

Sculpted formations along the Big Spring Trail.

October 21^st. On our 2^nd day we take a 6-mile hike to Chesler Park. This trail has lots of variety and takes us into beautiful canyons, through narrow rock fractures and across sandstone terraces with spectacular views of the famous Needles formations. High clouds mask the sun and dull the banded colors making our pictures a little disappointing. All the same the hike was wonderful. If you only have time for one hike this is the one to do.

The Needles formations.

The beginning of the hike to Chesler Park.

The trail contours on a terrace around canyons.The cap rocks look like coins scattered across the landscape.

It's hard to tell where the trail's going to go.

What a magnificent landscape to hike in!

We cross from one canyon to the next between columns of needles.

A regal procession of Needles along the Chesler Park Trail.

Looking back the way we came from the saddle overlooking Chestler Park.

The rocks are interesting from every point of view.

Overlooking Chesler Park.

Looking into Chesler Park from the saddle. You can see the trail in the center left.

Monuments in Chesler Park.

The trail goes through picturesque narrow canyons . . .

. . . and intriguing fractures in the rocks.

A parliament of rocks.

Beauty is everywhere and we are free to wander where ever we wish.

Mushroom Rocks.

October 22^nd. We did a nice 16.5-mile bike, which is how many miles of paved road there is in the park. The terrain is mostly flat with a few small hills and beautiful scenery.

Excellent biking in Needles.

The .6-mile Cave Spring trail passes by an outdoor museum of pioneer artifacts.
This short hike is fun for little kids.

It’s time to leave Needles and travel to Cedar Mesa where we’ll visit the Tower Ruins and take one last hike before heading home.

Until next time.
Jackie