procession petroglyphs
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Co-adventurer: Kathleen
camera: Panasonic DMC-FZ200
Prologue: This trip was designed to get us out of
the rare air and cold of the Colorado Plateau. Instead, the storms followed us to Moab, where it
snowed for the first time this season. Nevertheless, we enjoyed some good hiking, while avoiding
icy spots as much as possible.
"You've got to be very careful if you don't know where
you are going, because you might not get there." - Yogi Berra
Day 1: Moab : We ended up walking the town after the drive to Moab. It was cool,
so we only walked a few miles.
Day 2: Arches : 5 miles.
The snow thumps off my hat and clatters from the camera as I video
Kathleen walking Park Avenue. It's a mixture of snow and graupel, graupel being a pelletized snow,
hence the thumping and clattering. The sun didn't appear all day, which frustrated the quest for
good photos.
From Park Avenue, we moved over to the Windows section, where we
walked the Windows and Turret Arch Trail. The snow is building up now, making it difficult to determine
where the slick spots are.
Now we're trudging the Broken Arch loop, with a side jaunt to Sand Dune
Arch. There's ice on the slickrock, and sliding is frequent and falling occasional. It's snowing
lightly during most of the hike. The wind cranks up and freezes my face at time, somewhat diminishing
the glory of Arches NP.
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Day 2 photos
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Day 3: Poison Spider Mesa : 5 miles.
Dawn is cold accompanied by a dusting of new snow. Looking for an
outing away from icy slickrock, we drive the Potash Road looking at petroglyphs. The roadside Colorado
slithers along, slush bordering the current. Ick.
Working our way downstream, we note the Poison Spider Mesa sign and
turn in, traveling uphill to a parking area near some dinosaur tracks. Lovely. The tracks were made
by Allosaurus and friends, and now grace a tilting slab of Navajo Sandstone (SS) that has fallen from
a higher layer, now resting fortuitously near the scenic toilet for Poison Spider Mesa.
After visiting the dino tracks, we eat lunch in the solar car - the
sun has peeped out for a few moments - then pack up and walk up the mesa. We're on an old track that
may have been "developed" to erect power poles on this section of the rim. The native Navajo SS is
mutilated black in places from ORVs (off-road vehicles) burning their way up and down the difficult
sections. I can see how come the route is best enjoyed as a hike or mountain bike ride. We hike to
the mounds of Navajo where the route rolls rather than climbs, about 2.5 miles in from the TH (trailhead).
Time to turn around. We've beaten the two ORVs we've seen to this point and find them below, occupants
enjoying lunch on the blackened SS.
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Day 3 photos
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Day 4. Phallic Petro Procession - Behind the Rocks - Hidden Valley : 6.5 miles.
I prowl petro alley basking in the direct sun while taking photos of
the procession of phallic Kokopelli. It's a good thing that the unwilling to think tea-baggers and
conservative "christians" (who do not resemble christians in any meaningful way) crowd mostly rides
motors rather than hikes, or they'd chisel off these delightful images. I'm not very tolerant of this
type of intolerance. There are vandalism inscriptions from 1900 to the present day, yet thankfully most
are from the historic trash era. Too soon, it's back in the cold shadow of the high Wingate SS walls and
down the switchbacks to the TH.
The day starts steeply, hiking up on snowy switchbacks and into Hidden
Valley. A gorgeous flat-bottomed entrenched bench below Wingate SS cliffs. Today, it's face-numbing cold
when a slight breeze starts. Views to the snow-shrouded La Sal Mountains perched atop benches of slickrock
grace the Eastern view. After a mile or so in the hanging valley, there's another pass, leading to petro
alley. Along the wall are pecked numerous rock art panels. I loop around at the bottom, near the Moab Rim
route coming up from the other side, of the inclined wall and up on another ledge, where I find the swing-dick
Kokopelli procession. Delightful. Lunch requires the full regalia of gear - basically all the clothes I
have with me. Yet, it's fairly warm in the sun. Before long, I'm on the route back over the pass into the
breath-freezing zone of Hidden Valley and down the switchbacks without falling on my ass.
"You can observe a lot by just watching." - Yogi Berra
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Day 4 photos
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.
Chomsky: Are We Approaching the End of Human History (article, 2.3 mb)
Maze 2013: Marauding the A-Mazing Marvelous Maze, 9-day backpack, 2013
Triple Flushing The Magnificent Maze: Exploring The South Fork area of THE Maze, 2010
A-Mazing Maze, a Desert Solitaire: Exploring The Fins Area of Canyonlands NP, 2009
Snowfest attempt in THE Maze, 2009
Disraeli Gears: Bicycling The White Rim of Canyonlands N. P., 1999
Jointly To The Needles: Dayhiking in The Needles District of Canyonlands N.P., 1998
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