We spoiled ourselves Saturday evening by taking a sunset cruise, followed by a “Cowboy dinner” and then a sound and light show on the Colorado River.

Slowing going down river on the sunset cruise

The sunset cruise took us down river from Moab in a covered jetboat.  We saw arches and petroglyphs, observed rock-climbers and listened to the stories and tall tales of our guide.

Poison spider arch

Jug handle arch

Sun going down over the Colorado River

Woman rock-climber (the majority are women)

Petroglyphs (Indian writing) a bit hard to see on the picture

The cruise was then followed by a delicious Cowboy-Style dinner entirely cooked in Dutch Oven.

After dinner, we boarded a theater boat, which took us up river this time, and after dark, we watched the walls of the canyon come to life  with 40, 000 watts of illumination.  The lights were choreographed with stories about the creation and history of the area.  After the lights were turned off, we were treated to one of the clearest sky I have ever seen, showcasing millions of stars. Pictures were not allowed during the light show, so the company provides professional pictures on their website.

Lights on the canyon walls

Shadows playing on the canyon walls

Much better picture than anything I could have done

The company is called Canyonlands by Night and Day and we highly recommend them.

Sunday we headed for Dead Horse Point and the north part of Canyonlands called the “Island in the sky”.

DEAD HORSE POINT STATE PARK towers 2, 000 feet above the Colorado River and offers a breathtaking view of Canyonlands’ buttes and sculptured pinnacles.  The story of Dead Horse Point is very sad.  According to it, the point was once used as a corral for wild mustangs.  Cowboys would round up the horses, herd them across the narrow neck of land and onto the point.  The neck, which is only 30 yards wide, was then fenced off with branches and brush, creating a natural corral surrounded by precipitous cliffs.  The cowboys would then choose the horses they wanted and leave the others to go.  One time though, by mistake, the unwanted horses were left corralled on the waterless point and they died of thirst within view of the Colorado River 2, 000 feet below.

View from Dead Horse Point

It is situated atop a high plateau at an elevation of approximately 6, 000 feet.  From the point, the view reveals layers of geologic time 300 million years old.

Potassium chloride evaporation fields in the background

The area sits on a 5, 000 to 8, 000 feet deep layer of salt (Sodium chloride) and  Potash (Potassium Chloride) from an ancient sea 3, 000 feet below the surface..  It is mined by dissolving it with water from the Colorado River and then pumping the resulting brine and piping it into shallow evaporation fields.  Colored with cobalt to accelerate evaporation, when dry, the salts are then scooped by giant scraper loaders. The Potash is then separated from the salt by flotation method.

This layer of salt is also the reason why this area does not feel earthquakes.  If they occur, the salt turns into gel and absorbs the vibrations which are not felt at the surface.

CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK

Canyonlands preserves a wilderness of rock at the heart of the Colorado Plateau.  The prime architects of this land have been water and gravity who cut into flat layers of sedimentary rock and produced hundreds of canyons, mesas, buttes, fins, arches and spires. Centerstage are two canyons carved by the Green and Colorado Rivers.

View of the Green river canyon from Island in the Sky

An other view from Island in the Sky

Chicken thought all of this looked like an alien landscape

This place is a giant playground.  For fans of the outdoors, it is hard to beat.  It is very popular with bikers, hikers, rock-climbers, kayakers and a paradise for fans of ATV’s.  There are good opportunities for shopping and dining in and around town.  Many places offer tours either by jeep, ATV, bus, boat, horseback or air.  The choice is yours.

We arrived early afternoon on Friday and decided to go ride on scenic road 128 for a little while.  The road follows the curves of the Colorado River and offers fantastic canyon views.  Many movies and commercials were filmed in this area.

View from scenic highway 128 with the La Sal mountains in the background

Another fantastic view.

We found a very nice place to have dinner called the “Sorrel River Ranch”.  This resort sits right on the side of the Colorado River and offers dinner by the river.

Terrace where we had dinner.

The food was delicious but a bit pricey.

Sorrel River Ranch

ARCHES NATIONAL PARK

Chicken wanted a proof that he had been there....

The second day, we spent some time in the very famous Arches national Park.   It contains the world’s largest concentration of natural sandstone arches.  2, 000 arches are located within the 76, 518 acres of the park.  It also contains a variety of other geological formations like colossal sandstone fins , huge balanced rocks, pinnacles and spires.  Trails for hikers of all abilities are offered.  Of course, our hiking skills being pretty basic, we only did the easy trails.

The 3 Gossips

If you watch the movie Thelma and Louise again, you will recognize this formation.

Standing in front of the balanced rock.

There was a man playing the bag-pipe at the foot of the balanced rock that day.  It was so cooll

Chicken's impression of balanced rock.

Delicate Arch

Delicate Arch, the most famous arch formation in the park.  It is 52 feet tall.  Since my picture of it was so bad, I am actually using a downloaded picture (with permission).  The arch is portrayed on Utah’s license plate and on Utah’s centennial postage stamp (1996).

Landscape Arch

Landscape arch is the longest of the many natural arches located in the park .  It is considered to be the longest natural arch in the world with a span of approximately 290 feet.  Since 1991 though, 3 large slabs of sandstone fell from the thinnest section of the arch (measuring 30, 47 and 70 feet) which forced the closing of the trail that used to pass beneath it.  It is believed that the arch is slowly falling apart and while there is no way to estimate it,   on how long it will remain for visitors to see is questionable.

Doug resting on the trail to Landscape Arch

Pretty rangers lead hikes in the more dangerous parts of the park.

Chicken really liked this ranger….