To Natural Bridges and Beyond!

We've gone back in time and lost track of where we are.  woo hoo!!  we arrived in needles section of canyonlands several days back about noon....along the way we stopped at Newspaper Rock-

 

(Below) a photo of Newspaper Rock 

...and conferred with the rangers.  There were only a handful of cars in the park..period. The gatehouse was closed...all buttoned up except for the visitor center.  We discussed some back roads..passed the quiz....do you have a winch, a sand anchor (pull-pal), a pick and shovel?  I thought they were really asking if we had the brains to look after ourselves. Very understated..when they say it's tough..believe me it's tough.  Not at all the usual tourist precautions.  Their

 motto seemd to be "go do it" if you passed the test questions.  We did..and sharon took off down what was described as an easy off road passage of roughly 7 miles to find the colorado river overlook.  Started off easy...why is this a 4X4 road?...and soon we reached the rocks...and the shelves.  We were followed briefly by a new arrival...tacoma with two "kids" behind the wheel.  When got to the first set of dropoffs we left them behind scratching their heads...

(Below) Negotiating a mellow patch of shelf rock

they were not happy to have sharon drive away from them...and they ultimately did make it out to the overlook, kudos to them "cause without a lift they were lucky to come away with an intact oilpan.  

The overlook was almost right across the river from one of our white rim camping areas (bless gps) and it tickled me we had to drive 150 miles plus to wave at ourselves across the colorado.  

We camped two nights in canyonlands..with nearly NO one present..tucked back into slickrock with pinion pines..and watched the setting sun light up the verticals.  

(Below) The author enjoying the view

Hiked and oooohed and aaaahed.  Then...night.  Wow...talk about stars....a full bowl...you could see horizon for nearly 360 degrees and watch the night sky rotate.  stars and stars and stars...good therapy to make your troubles shrink, dry up, and blow away in the infinity of the universe.  i watched satellites cross the sky at high speed...hard to do in an urban nightscape with loads of light pollution.  i was stargazing at seven thirty pm!!  

Reluctantly we headed for natural bridges..another 100 miles down the road and arrived in time to see all three bridges...worn through by river water and camped at 7000 feet. watched another round of night sky viewing...priceless...paid our $5 camping fee..and luxuriated.  morning at seven thousand is cold...fingertips freeze to whatever metal you touch..get that coffee goin..please.    left natural bridges and drove back toward the west, past top of lake powell and, yes captain, we are ready,  reached gobelin state park...scene of galaxy quest.  

captain..can you build a primitive lathe?  whoo, whoo...seems ok to me.  what's wrong?...it's inside out and it blew up (i heard that).  the gobelins are great...lots of photos.  talked extensively to rangers..got maps..compared notes about flash floods.  Believe me..we have the goods on places to go and things to see for next trip. We will never be seen again.  From gobelin we drove up to Capitol Reef State Park..a hundred mile long fault line...and endured blistering winds of 50 plus with sand and ycccch!  now reloading in a best western just outside the park. 

On to escalante!

-Near, Far, and In Between