Bday Party, SLC, and Today -- Island in the Sky, Canyonlands NP

 

Grand View at Island of the Sky, Canyonlands NP.  But before we got here...

 

...Granddaughter Addie had her third birthday party on Saturday.  About 20 adults, perhaps a few more, and ten kids, along with two babies, enjoyed a morning in the park behind my son's house.  People there, besides the parents,  included my daughter Stephanie, Grandma (known as GG to Addie) and her husband Brian, GG's sister Cindy, who lives in Sacramento, a couple of my kid's cousins, Anna's (son's wife and mother of Addie) mother and her sister, and a bunch of friends of Michael and Anna with all of their kids.  Above Addie is kicking her new soccer ball into the new net, both of which "we" gave her (at the request of Michael who said..."She is wanting to kick things now".  Good time by all....

 

So we left Monday for Salt Lake City (SLC), and arrived at "GG's" older sister Debbie's house on Tuesday.  We stayed for two nights, and we visited a Dog Park twice, I helped her with a few things, and enjoyed my visit with a former Sister-in-Law that I have known for 42 or 43 years...however we had lost touch with each other for the much of these past 20 years (my fault, divorce does silly things to you sometimes...)  This year we visited Debbie three times as we went through SLC, and camped in front of her house with our Camper Van.  Above are her two Golden Retrievers...Tucker on the left (5 years old) and Rookie on the right (9 years old).  These two dogs are so loving, and well trained.  I think over the years Debbie has owned five Goldens.

Thursday we left SLC around 1 pm, and drove to a rest area about 35 miles from Moab.  First thing to do in Moab was to go to the Maverik Gas Station on the south side of town to empty our grey and black tanks, get gas, buy some bottled water and get two coffees.  That done, and after a couple of phone calls, we headed to Island in the Sky, the northern portion of Canyonlands National Park. It is a pretty 45 miles drive which, with all the stops to get pictures and such, took us most of the rest of the day. 

 

 

There are SO MANY canyon areas, rock formations, and general landscape shots, that here are just a few.

  

As you can see...the effects of the California and Oregon fires have put smoke into the pictures too.

   

The rocks that have a reddish color are on the south side of "Island", the lighter tan colors on the north side.

If only the smoke was not part of the picture.  I guess you have to wait for a good rain storm, with a good wind, to blow all the crap out of the air to get the real "GOOD" shots. 

   

A few more views from the "Grand View" area.

 

Indy always keep an eye on me when I walk to an overlook to get pictures.  So very happy when daddy gets back.

 Panoramic view of the Green River overlook. 

I did not know there was a mini "Half Dome" like the original in Yosemite NP 

 

This area reminded us of a smaller Monument Valley...

We visited this area of Canyonlands National Park back in 2014.  We visited the southern area between then and now...and I am glad we revisited this area today.  There were no crowds, but the temps were hot...up to 98 degrees in some areas.   Tomorrow we will be in Arches National Park, which we have driven through about six or seven times already...just can't get enough of them Arches!  And Indy even got to visit a Dog Park in Moab, although there were no other dogs there...too hot!

 

Canyonlands Crush

Canyonlands is what it says it is…a land of lots of canyons.  This shot was taken at Buck Canyon Overlook on the way to the Grandview Point in the Island in the Sky area of Canyonlands National Park. It was the nicest overlook we had today, and Marcia even road her GoGo to the fence area to see it for herself.

    

In the three pictures above, the upper left is the original shot, the one on the right is a blow up of a section of it, and the last picture is a blow up of a section of the second picture.  It is amazing all of the intricate details within each and every shot you take.

  

And besides canyons within the big canyon, there are many monument looking mesas or butts, never could figure out what the official name would be. 

 

A real find in this area is the Mesa Arch.

    

It is a little over a half mile hike, and there are stairs to go up and down, and when there are no stairs, there is smooth rock face to walk up or down, like the one in the upper right picture.

It isn’t long before you can see the arch, and why it got the name it did.  At this point, you are about half way to the arch.

The walk back to the car gives you views on the other side of the canyon.

  

You see, soon after you pass by the Visitor’s Center, the road comes to what they call “The Neck”, which is the first picture above.  The next two pictures are each side of the “The Neck”, so you really are driving over a thin neck of land.

At the end of the road you come to the Grand View Point.  Out there somewhere the Colorado River and the Green River converge into the Colorado River.  Eventually the Colorado will travel below through the Glen Canyon Dam, unite with the San Juan River, and eventually go through the Grand Canyon…and to many faucets throughout the Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and other communities down stream.  Due to the depth of the canyons below, you cannot see either rivers, unless you go out there in a jeep….and the answer is yes, people do that.

Maybe next time we will stay longer and take a jeep tour.  This guy is on the White Rim Road, which requires four-wheel drive.  There are much harder roads out there…allowing people to get close and personal with Canyonlands.