“This is the Place” ~ The Great Salt Lake Valley
Salt Lake City was on our route to Nevada and California and this time through we had no time schedule so it was an opportunity to stop and really visit this area. The weather has been a mixed bag. Typical Spring; Rain, Wind, Sunny and Repeat. The highlights of this 14 day long visit are the Family History Center, Temple Square, Heritage Park, Alta Ski area, Park City, The Natural History Museum of Utah, Antelope Island and of course the Great Salt Lake.
Capitol Reef National Park
WATERPOCKET FOLD, that’s a new term I learned about when we visited Capital Reef National Park.
This is how the National Park Services describes this phenomenon:
A nearly 100-mile long warp in the Earth’s crust, the Waterpocket Fold is a classic monocline: a regional fold with one very steep side in an area of otherwise nearly horizontal layers. A monocline is a “step-up” in the rock layers. The rock layers on the west side of the Waterpocket Fold have been lifted more than 7,000 feet (2,134 m) higher than the layers on the east. Major folds are almost always associated with underlying faults. The Waterpocket Fold formed between 50 and 70 million years ago when a major mountain building event in western North America, the Laramide Orogeny, reactivated an ancient buried fault. When the fault moved, the overlying rock layers were draped above the fault and formed a monocline.
Delicate Arch Close-up
In Search of the Golden Arches
Golden Arches, not what you might be thinking… but rather some of this country’s most unique landscape I have ever seen. It’s in Arches National Park. Impossible for me to capture the beauty of this place in a photograph, but I do have the memories that I won’t soon forget. It turns out we visited at a very good time. We were in between events in Moab, (The Easter Jeep Safari and the April Action Car Show) so not too many visitors and the cool temperatures meant parking was available at the trail heads and comfortable hiking weather. The weather here was overcast a couple days and then the bright blue skies appeared with light breezes.. Perfect!
Owachomo Natural Bridge
Natural Bridges National Monument