Exploring the Colorado Plateau

Written by guest author: Randy Rapple

Mariann has allowed me to be a guest columnist for this chapter which means that you will have to put up with me rambling on about geology a bit…

As background, the Colorado Plateau is a huge area than includes parts of SW Colorado, SE Utah, NE Arizona and NW New Mexico. All four states intersect at the “four corners”. We have visited all four states but didn’t find our way to the specific location where they intersect. It is a truly interesting part of the country as it includes all kinds of natural wonders – think of the Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce and Arches National Parks. It also includes vast areas of high desert with buttes and mesas galore. It isn’t uncommon to be able to see 25 miles or more when you are driving along the highway. Most of the plateau has little or no forest so the geology is literally laid right out in front of you – amazing. The area is mostly composed of sedimentary rocks (think banded rocks). The entire region was uplifted ~70 million years ago and then natural forces (erosion, freeze/thaw, etc.) created the extraordinary landscapes we see today.

Arches National Park

So, back to the blog thread… After the great weekend with Ron & Jenn, we headed out of Fraser with the car aimed at Moab. Located in the southeast corner of Utah, Moab (elevation: 4,000 ft) is in the high desert. Arches National Park is just 10 minutes out of town. As the name implies, the park is known for an unusual geologic structure called an arch. In this case, huge deposits of salt (laid down from an inland sea) were pushed upward into the somewhat flexible sandstone above them creating “arches” in the rock formation. Over time, erosion whittled away the softer, more soluble salt in the bottom of the arch. This ultimately became open space, and a true arch of sandstone was left standing. There are hundreds of them in the park. Mariann earned a major “so proud of you” by making the trek to see the Delicate Arch – a 3.1-mile hike, most of it over slip rock and with an elevation gain of ~600 feet. This was her first real hike on the new hip and she absolutely rocked it (pun completely intended). We also hiked into 4 other arches over two days! Look at some of the photos below. Mariann and I particularly like the “Three Gossips”…

Bryce Canyon National Park

After Arches, we made the drive to the Lodge in Bryce. We stopped for lunch along the way at Butch Cassidy’s Hideout Café – a little small roadside restaurant. The soup and sandwiches were delicious, the owners were fun and we had a great time. Butch’s childhood home is down the road just a few miles. Thinking about our brother-in-law Michael during this entire visit!

Bryce is a “small” National Park but punches way above its weight. Walking up to the rim for the first time is absolutely awe inspiring. The canyon is filled with hoodoos (free standing columns) that are colorful, intricate and appear fragile. We got up early the following morning, and Mariann earned another “so proud of you” for hiking the Queens Garden / Navajo Loop. This was a tough hike through rugged terrain with hundreds of feet of vertical down and then back up. This hike included time in woods down near the bottom of the canyon that we both enjoyed. Bryce is an absolute gem and should be on your list of parks to visit.

Zion National Park

Our next stop was Zion. We were lucky enough to get last minute reservations at the Lodge, which is in a restricted area of the park including a gated road that limits traffic to park shuttles and cars with the access code. There is a funny story about me squeaking in under the gate right behind a bus, but we’ll save that for when we see you after our return. Zion, unlike Bryce, was packed. Every parking area, trail, restaurant, etc. was crowded. This doesn’t lessen the extraordinary beauty of the park, but it did make it much harder to enjoy. The geology of this park is another study in sedimentary rock structures. There are no arches, domes or hoodoos but there are amazingly colorful beds of sandstone – many of which are cross-bedded and show the effects of being deposited in an ocean environment. Think about how sand on a beach lays up and then freeze it into rock…

Our next adventure takes us into the Hopi / Navajo region in New Mexico and good for you…Mariann will return to the keyboard… BTW…Randy is for rent for to accompany anyone into for a geologic tour of anyplace! Top Secret…I may have a pink rock sitting in our car destined for our garden!