On this trip we encountered a lot of road work on the state highways. Most of it involves adding lanes, which is good. As the word gets out as to how scenic this area is, tourism will continue to steadily increase. The face of Moab has totally changed since Grandma and I last visited. The only thing we recognized was Charlie Steen's house, which is now a restaurant.
Anyway, we moved north out of Monticello past Peter's Point down into Dry Valley. We call the following formation, Church Rock. It is nothing but eroded Navajo Sandstone. Notice the door opening at the base. Lasal Mountain is in the background.
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| Church Rock |
Just past Church Rock is what we call Turtle Rock, another Navajo Sandstone structure.
You can see the turtle's neck and head protruding out of it's shell.
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| Turtle rock |
The next structure on the road is Wilson Arch. This is massive. Look closely and you can see a couple of people standing on the bottom left under the rock covering.
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| Wilson Arch |
A good friend of ours, Lee, had recently moved to Castle Valley. I had some books and papers of his to deliver. The valley is located 20 miles east of Moab, just south of the Colorado River.
As we entered the valley we were greeted by a priest and his nuns.
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| Priest and Nuns They were located right next to Castle Tower. |
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| Castle Tower |
This whole area is infested with lizards and bikers, ants and four wheelers, scorpions and motorcycles, rattle snakes and river runners etc.
You get the picture, right? It is a wild place - a giant scenic adult playground. The more adult toys you have the more fun you have.
Rock hounds have fun too, so in my next posting, I will explain some of the geology of Castle Valley.
1 comment:
The lizards are friendly, the ants stay on their hills, the priest and the nuns love to pose for movies and stills. I don’t think they have moved since John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara filmed “The Rio Grand” in 1950 here in Castle Valley, maybe even longer than that. The adults who come with their jeeps, Harleys, Hondas and Indians; their mountain bikes, their Winabagos and Airstreams, their kayaks and rafts; or just the rich and famous who have all those toys provided by places like The Sorrel Ranch Resort and Winer - they are the ones who are wooed by the promoters in Moab to have our artists, musicians, tour guides, wranglers and rafters fulfill their needs for instant gratification with the thrills of dangerous trails and rapids or just to have dessert first at the Moab Diner. The residents mostly tolerate them as they block the river road while taking selfies or terrorize our animals taking wheelies on their Hogs. But here in Castle Valley there is no commerce allowed, only neighbor to neighbor trading services and sharing talents. We are a family and take care of and watch out for each other.
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