Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Once again, we stole Gloria and Ivan for the day. Every time they have a day off we grab them. LOL

We left the RV Park around 11am and headed North to a trail call 7 Mile Rim. The off-road book stated it was difficult to moderate. Ivan drove his jeep and we the Polaris.

45 minutes into the trail the battery went dead on the camera so I missed alot of good shots. It was a great day of adventure. We were on the trails for  over 4 1/2 hours. On top of the rim we parked and walked around. It makes you feel as though you are on Mars. There is red sand, craters, lots of huge rocks and you can almost touch the sky. I laid down in one of the holes to show how big they were. Unfortunately, they did not come out well enough to post.

The first point of interest we came upon was the Uranium Arch.  This arch is a result of water eroding rock in 2 different ways.The 1st being, ground water flowing down through the porous sandstone above, (the layer of the arch). However, it can not permeate the the finger-grained rock below, (the layer beneath the arch). So the water flows along the contact point almost horizontally. Its reaches the surface of this ledge to form a seep. Overtime, the seep carves a cave. (Where I am standing). The 2nd part to this amazing, naturally formed sculptor is the water trapped in the vertical joint freezes and thaws every winter. Consequently, expansion and contraction erodes the joint. This creates a fin that is isolated from the remaining rock. And an arch is born. Essentially, groundwater works horizontally while the freeze and thaw process has worked vertically to create this.

Enough science, although Mr Lucks, my 7th grade science teacher would be extremely proud that I actually did pay attention. LOL.

We came across several deeply drilled holes where Uranium was mined. Tommy dropped a rock and we all counted in 1-100's to see how far down it fell. 4/100s was the conclusion.

Because of the recent rains and winds the rocks were more exposed and made the trail a bit challenging. At one point we were at a 45 degree angle traveling along a rock. It was not fun.

After a while the trail got easier and turned into pink sand. That is the best part, when you can just cruise along looking all around you. Every turn is different. Every turn is beautiful.

Once again, after a day on the trail, we hit our favorite watering hole. The Moab Brewery. $.15 wings is a big draw!

Tomorrow is our last full day in Moab, UT until next year.  Once the terms and contracts are finalized, and agreed upon with the Travel Channel, Tommy and I have comprised a list of some of the places we want to film. Moab is 1st on our list.

Thanks so much for reading and have a wonderful day.

Ken's Lake

Monday, June 13, 2011

Today we drove up to Ken's Lake. It is only 6.5 miles away from our RV camp. Once there we opted to keep on driving up the trail to a place called Steel Bender Trail. Not a friendly 4x4 trail.

Ken's lake is made up of 2610 acres of an open water reservoir. The diverted water falls over rock ledges, and  down stream to channel into the lake, which is used for water storage.

Moab's Spanish Valley, where Ken's lake is located,  is 10 miles long. It is a collapsed salt anticline, which is the result of several geologic forces. Geologist state that this entire area was under water at-least 7 times. The rocks are made up of sand mixed with minerals from the sea...hence, sandstone.

We parked the truck and hiked the rest of the trail. We were so excited because Gloria and Ivan, our daily trail guides, have not been here before. At least that's what we thought while we were exploring.

The first thing we came upon was two holes in the rocks. Tommy and I separated on the paths and Sire and I went one way to explore and he the other. What Sire and I found was a cave. He found it first. He was inside it by the time I reached it. Oh, before I go any further, let me clue you in alittle....Tommy said we were going to Ken's Lake with Sire today.  A nice, relaxing, sitting around on the beach, watching him fetch - all afternoon. I had on white shorts and flip flops! NOT exactly hiking attire. I had taken off my flip flops and walked barefoot the entire time. It wasn't really that bad except for all the little spurs that are hidden in the sand that decided to attach themselves to my feet - constantly!

modern day petroglyphs

 

 

La Sal Mountains

very, very, very cooolllldddd water!! 100% snow melt.

can you see Sire? I was trying to get prospective.

So Sire and  I walk around this cave and around the rock and are having a great time. I am really happy he came with me as opposed to Tommy because if there was a wild animal around he would sense it and I would know to run. On the way back down the trail we hear Tommy calling us. We look UP! He is inside this cave about 80 feet  up in the rock. How he got there was a mystery.

Ken Lake

Can you see our truck and how very small it looks?

He told me how to negotiate my way up, and Sire and I joined him. The coolest thing about his cave was that it was an old movie set. The cave was covered in chicken wire and stucco to re create a natural cave. There were still lighting apparatus hanging from the ceilings. They had air brushed petroglyphs on the inside walls. I wonder what move was filmed here. It was awesome!  There were 10 different rooms to explore and each one was different.

When we got back to the truck we decided to walk up the really bad jeep trail. We only went about 1/2 mile because my feet were starting to get really sore. We found an arch on our travels and thought about Gloria and Ivan, once again, who did not see this place before. We were so excited to go home and tell them all about it. They seem to know every nook and cranny here in Moab. They have been coming here for over 20 years. Us -  2 years! Hopefully, many, many more!

 

 

Tommy and Sire walking down to the waterfall.

doesn't this look like a Chevy Commercial?

We did stop at the lake on the way down. AFTER Tommy decided to walk down the waterfall with Sire. 250  feet down, nothing but rock. I drove the truck down to the bottom to meet back up with them. They were successful. I was happy they made it. The water is all snow melt and is extremely cold and is running extremely fast! I was really worried about the boys but they did good.

Who knows whats on the schedule for tomorrow, but Thursday is another day with Gloria and Ivan. We plan on going jeeping.... stay tuned. Thanks for reading.