INDEXALBUM 9) Friday, 24 July 2009

Visit Bluff Ford, via VALLEY OF THE GODS and Moki Dugway to NATURAL BRIDGES NATL MONUMENT, then to Castle Valley (Moab)

a) Friday EndMorning 24-July, Check-Out And Visiting Bluff Fort Visitor Center (Museum) Before Leaving Town.JPG
b) Mormons!! - Where They Come From, Who Are They, There Are So Many Of Them, How Come ...JPG
c) Josepth Smiths Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LSD) ~ America, The Holy Land ... .JPG
d) Joseph Smith Murdered in 1844, Brigham Young Led His Followers (Mormon Pioneers) In An Exodus To the West.JPG
e) Mormon Pioneers, Utah - the New Zion, The Ban on Polygamy and Statehood .JPG
f) The Mormon Population in the US is Heavily Concentrated in the West ~ Census Facts Of 21st Century.JPG
g) Okay, Having That All Covered, Back to Bluff Fort ~ Displaying The Hole-in-the-Rock Journey of SanJuan Mission.JPG
h) In 1879-80 Mormon Pioneers Built WagonRoad Between Established Communities in S-Western Utah+4Corners Area.JPG
i) Their Journey Turned into an Ordeal of Unparalleled Difficulty (Broken+Rugged Terrain) ~ It Was Tough ....JPG
j) Upon Their Arrival in the San Juan Area in April 1880, They Established a Small Community Called Bluff.JPG
k) Their First Dwellings Were 1-Room Log Cabins ~ Cabins Were Arranged to Form a Large Square (The Bluff Fort).JPG
l) What About the Real Native Americans (vs Ancient - Book of Mormon), How Did The Mormons Pioneers Treat Them.JPG
m) The Mormons Interaction With Native Americans Remained Friendly Until They Clashed Over Limited Resources ....JPG
n) Back In the Here+Now of Friday 24 July 2009 ~ Leaving Town (Bluff) And Driving (In)to The Valley of the Gods.jpg
o) Back On 163 Direction S-West, Monument Valley (We Drove This Route From Other Direction Couple of Days Ago).JPG
p) The View On Our Right - Amazing Ridges and Canyons.JPG
q) Looking On the Map, That Could be the Canyon Named Barton Range, Adjacent to the Myriad Of Ridges+Buttes.JPG
r) (MOVIE)Approaching Valley of the Gods.jpg
s) Valley of the Gods - A Smaller Scale Version of Monument Valley.JPG
t) A 17-Mile Dirt Road Winds Amongst the Eerie Formations.JPG
u) Entering Dirt Road From East Entrance - PassingBy Car With 2 Friendly Flamish (Belgium) Guys On Their Way Out.JPG
v) They Advised Us The Dirth Road Was Only Durable To Travel Just For Five Miles Orso (For A Normal Vehicle).JPG
w)  Let's Go! ~ Heading Towards Setting Hen Butte + Rooster Butte (Ultra Zoomed In).JPG
x) Our Sturdy Impala Can Take Us Everywhere But ... It Aint a 4-Wheel Drive or a High Clearance, You See.JPG
y) (MOVIE)It Gets Rather A Little Bumpy Here ;-).jpg
z) Tall, Red, Isolated Sandstone Mesas.JPG
za) And Cliffs Standing Above The Level Valley Floor, Remnants of Some Ancient Landscape ....JPG
zb) Spooky!! (Faces in RockFormation - Mirror).JPG
zc) That Could Be The Butte Named Seven Sailers.JPG
zd) As with Monument Valley, The Most Prominent Peaks in the Valley of the Gods Have Received Fanciful Names ;-).JPG
ze) A Little North of Monument Valley ~ Alike Materials Eroded From the Early Rocky Mountains.JPG
zf) Since Hardly Anyone Seems to Pass By Here (Other Than the Flemish Guys At the East Entrance) ....JPG
zg) This area Provides a Much More Relaxing and Isolated Experience ....JPG
zh) Than The Famous Monument Valley 30 miles Southwest (Notice the Dust Devils In Distance).JPG
zi) Notice the Little Pool of Liquid On the Left ;-).JPG
zj) Landscape More Than 25-50 Million Years in the Making Cutting Down To Rocks More Than 200 Million Yrs Old.JPG
zk) We, Humans, Are Evolved Over Period of at Least 5 Mill Yrs (And the History of Automobile Begins as Early as 1769 ;-).JPG
zl) Glad To Be Alive In 21st Century On Our 4-and-a-Half Billion Yrs Old Planet! (Dust Devil Attacking Setting Hen Butte ;-).JPG
zm) A Little Closer To Rooster Butte, The Road Became Too Bumpy Here, We Must Have Reached the 5 Miles Orso.JPG
zn) Since We Couldn't Follow the Dirth Road To the 261 (N.), We Decided Going A Little off The Planned Route.JPG
zo) Driving The Dirth Road (242) Back Where We Came From, Back to the 163.JPG
zp) Mexican Hat Rock (LandMark) ~ The Small Settlement Mexican Hat Is Named After This Curious Formation.JPG
zq) Approaching Bridge at Mexican Hat We Passed (Other Direction) Couple of Days Ago (Monument Valley to Bluff).JPG
zr) The Trustworthy San Juan River ~ Tributary of the Colorado River, 400 Miles (644 Km) Long.JPG
zs) 1909 Bridge (Rebuild in 1911), at Mexican Hat - Access to Utah (Southern Utah and Arizona Were Joined).JPG
zt) The Bridge (North) Is Literally Built On the Border of Todays NavajoLand (South).JPG
zu) David Checking Out the Vicinity (Dutch Tourist At Grand Canyon Told Us About Their Stay at Mexican Hat).JPG
zv) Most (International) Tourists Do Stay In The Motels Adjacent the River You See (We Are Glad We Stayed In Bluff ;-).JPG
zw) Village Is Small (Home to Fewer Than 100 People+Offering Few Facilities) But Surrounding Scenery is Exceptional.JPG
zx) Btw, Last Year (January 08) a Chartered Bus (51 People) Crashed A Little North From Here (9 Killed, 20 Injured).JPG
zy) Our Next Destination, Natural Bridges National Monument ~ Heading North Further Into Utah!.JPG
zz) Other Than Some Alertness Warnings On the Maps, Little Did We Know How Interesting The Road Ahead Would Be ....JPG
zza) (MOVIE)The Moki Dugway Is A Steep, Dirt Portion of Utah Hwy 261.jpg
zzb) Series of Tight Switchbacks Climbing Over 1000 Ft Flowing To The Center Of the Plateau Ceder Mesa.JPG
zzc) (MOVIE)The Steep Switchback Came As A Complete, But Exciting Surprise To Us.jpg
zzd) Right ..... Let There Be No Movement Up There !.JPG
zze) View On the Road We Just Came From (Utah Hwy 261).JPG
zzf) (MOVIE)An Adventures Drive ....jpg
zzg) That Must Be The-Valley-Of-The-Gods Dirt Road (We Couldn't Follow All The Way Through Earlier On).JPG
zzh) (MOVIE)Take A Deep Breath ... ;-).jpg
zzi) Beautiful Panoramic View At The Summit Facing Direction North to South East.JPG
zzj) Moki Dugway View At Elevation 6425 Feet.JPG
zzk) This Steep, SwitchBack Portion Of Utah Hwy 261Was Constructed in 1958 by Texas Zinc, Mining Company.JPG
zzl) To Transport Uranium Ore From The HappyJack Mine in Fry Canyon (UT) To The Processing Mill in Mexican Hat.JPG
zzm) The Breathtaking Ride Up The Moki Dugway Was An Amazing Experience !!.JPG
zzn) Descending Moki Dugway Paved (Direction North), Continuing On Hwy 261 ~ Natural Bridges National Monument.JPG
zzo) Apparently First National Monument of Utah (1908 - Signed by President Theodore Roosevelt)).JPG
zzp) Getting Some Info At the Visitor Center and Armed With A Guide-Map Ready To Explore the 3 Natural Bridges.JPG
zzq) Geologic Times Facts ~ Natural Bridges Natl Monument Derived During the Permian Period (286-245 Mill Yrs Ago).JPG
zzr) Permian 286-245 mya (Mill Yrs Ago), Last Period of the Earliest Era (Paleozoic) Of Most Recent Eon (Phanerozoic).JPG
zzs) Consider The World Looked Fully Different In These Days (Plate tectonics - Continental Drift).JPG
zzt) 260 Mill Yrs Ago, This Area Was A Dazzling White Beach Of a Sea - Eastern Utah During Permian Geologic Period.JPG
zzu) Sipapu Bridge Carved From Cross-Bedded, 250 Million Years Old Cedar Mesa Sandstone.JPG
zzv) Sipapu Is The Second Largest Natural Bridge In the World (Only Rainbow Bridge in Glen Canyon Is Bigger).JPG
zzw) So ... How Do Natural Bridges Form, What Or Who Is Carving Them ...JPG
zzx) Okay, Let Me Explain ....JPG
zzy) Natural Brides Are Formed By the Erosive Action Of Moving Water ~ A Natural Bridge is Temporary.JPG
zzz) How Bridges and Arches Differ.JPG
zzza) (MOVIE)Three of the Worlds 5 Largest Natural Stone Bridges Are Found Here.jpg
zzzb) Kachina Bridge - Possibly The Youngest Bridge.JPG
zzzc) Kachina Is A Massive Bridge and Is Considered the Youngest of the 3 Because Of The Thickness of Its Span.JPG
zzzd) The Pile of Boulders Under the Far Side of the Bridge Resulted From A Rock Fall in 1992 ...JPG
zzze) ... When Approximately 4000 Tons of Rock Broke Off The Bridge.JPG
zzzf) Kachina Bridge Is The Place in the Monument To Observe The Making Of A Natural Bridge.JPG
zzzg) Kachina Bridge is Still Being Enlarged By the Streams.JPG
zzzh) Flash Floods Wear Away at The Abutments and Gravity Pulls at Loose Rocks.JPG
zzzi) All 3 Bridges Seen From LoopDrive But Far Better Views By Walking the Short Trails (We did With Owachomo Bridge).JPG
zzzj) Owachomo Bridge, The Smallest+Oldest, Is A Narrow Strip of Rock Only 9 Ft Thick In the Center and 27 Ft Wide.JPG
zzzk) Because Owachomo No Longer Straddles All The Streams Which Carved It, It Appears To Be An Arch.JPG
zzzl) Owachomo Bridge Is The Easiest To Hike To (Path Into The Canyon Underneath The Bridge Is Only a Few 100 Yards).JPG
zzzm) (MOVIE)RoundTrip 0.4 Miles ~ Elevation Change 180 Ft.jpg
zzzn) A Little Break Half-Way.JPG
zzzo) Let's Give It A Touch ;-).JPG
zzzp) Piece of Cake, It Ain't That Heavy! ;-).JPG
zzzq) Closer By ... Apart From 2 Guys Down At the Canyon, We Are The Only Ones Walking This Trail.JPG
zzzr) View SideWays Owachomo Bridge ~ Waiting For Our Turn To Be One With the Canyon (Very Peaceful Here).JPG
zzzs) Btw Needless to say, Walking On Top of the Bridges is Not Allowed.JPG
zzzt) Owachomo Is In A Late Stage Of Erosion Approaching The Day When It Will Be Crashing Down to the Canyon Floor.JPG
zzzu) Better Not Be Today!!! (At The Bottom Of Armstrong Canyon).JPG
zzzv) Although The Canyons Are Usually Dry In The Summer, At Other Times The Trail Passes Small Waterfalls+Deep Pools.JPG
zzzw) Cross-Bedded Sandstone May Have Been Formed As Waterborne Sand Was Deposited On Submerged Bars ...JPG
zzzx) ... Along An Ancient Sea Shallow Shores - Over Million of Years, These Cross-Bedded Sands Became Compressed ...JPG
zzzy) ... And Chemically Bonded, Forming the Cedar Mesa Sandstone From Which The Natural Bridges Were Cut.JPG
zzzz) (MOVIE)Natural Bridges Sits High On Cedar Mesa 6,500 Feet Above Sea Level.jpg
zzzza) Making Our Way Back To The Car.JPG
zzzzb) Nice Cooling Down Now (It Was Extremely Hot Earlier On).JPG
zzzzc) Overlooking The Trail (We Just Walked) Into The Canyon Underneath the Owachomo Bridge.JPG
zzzzd) Btw, Natural Bridges Has The Darkest Night Sky Documented In The National Park System.JPG
zzzze) But We Are Not Waiting For Night To Set In - Still A Good 3 Hours To Drive! (Natural Bridges to Castle Valley, Moab).JPG
zzzzf) Going Through Blanding Again! (Alternative Route Of Night Before, Hovenweep Natl Monument - Bluff).JPG
zzzzg) (MOVIE)Journal Chit-Chatter, Logging and Reminiscing Our Adventures ;-).jpg
zzzzh) Heading Further North - Approaching Church Rock.JPG
zzzzi) Church Rock Is A Solitary Column of Sandstone Along the Eastern side of US Route 191.JPG
zzzzj) The Manti-La Sal Mountains Are In The Background.JPG
zzzzk) Sunset With the Edge Of Manti-La Sal National Forest On Our Right.JPG
zzzzl) Nice RockFormations!.JPG
zzzzm) 12 Miles South of Moab Passing By An Historic 5,000 Square Foot Home, Gift Shop+Trading Post (Landmark).JPG
zzzzn) From Moab Take Route 128 (East) Along the Colorado River Canyon For 15.5 Miles.jpg
zzzzo) (MOVIE)Driving Scenic Hwy 128 ~ Late Check-In Castle Valley Inn, A Bed+Breakfast ~ Crackers For Dinner ;-).jpg

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