Leaving Zion

Monday, May 14, 2018 to Wednesday, 16^th May; 

Zion National Park to the Great Basin National Park.

I was going to post on my blog while crossing Nevada, but the library I tried had no Wi-Fi!!!  Well ... it is the loneliest road in the USA, they say.

C1669

“Desert Halo”

Oil Sketch on Centurion Oil primed linen Panel

5” x 7”

Click here to make this Your Own

There was lots of Cactus around my campsite below Eagle Crags, mostly prickly pear, but also this specimen in much fewer numbers.  Some of these blooms came in before those of the Prickly Pear.

Pigments used in the painting:

Imprimatura: W&N Venetian Red;

Drawing: W&N Deep Green mixed from Ultramarine Deep Blue & Cadmium Yellow Pale;

Pigments: W&N Cobalt and Ultramarine Deep Blues, Cadmiums Orange & Yellow Pale, Permanent Rose;

Rublev: Ercolano Red, Purple Ochre, Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Orange Molybdate & Lead White #1.

(Take Note: for those of you who have signed up to be notified by email of new postings to this blog, you have been receiving not just a notification, but an actual copy of the new blog posting as the email.  As this does not show the images of the paintings in the best possible light, you should click on the title of the latest blog posting at the top of the post, and not the title of the painting itself; this will open up the actual blog itself, and you may then enjoy the paintings at their best.)

My evening dinner associate, the little lizard, had been missing for the previous two evenings, but one appeared on my last evening in this camp, but on a different rock slightly further away.  This one looked thinner with folds of skin, whereas my usual dinner guest was fatter.  Still, this one had the little purple spot in the same place, and watched me in the same way, and wasn't at all skittish.  I believe she, yes she, had been fat and gravid, and then gone off to lay her eggs, during the time she had been missing.  I had noticed that she seemed fatter than the other more skittish lizards, and had wondered whether she was in fact a she, and gravid as well … pretty sure this is the scenario.  I wished her and her offspring well, on this my last evening, as she disappeared into the darkening twilight.

Not so fat now, are ya?

My last morning at my lovely campsite below Eagle Crags, I left early to make sure I got a parking spot at the Zion Visitors Center.  I wanted a last taste of Zion, so I boarded the shuttle bus to the Weeping Rock, and headed up the trail towards the Hidden Canyon.  I wanted to get some photos from higher up on the canyon wall, since I had so many from the Canyon floor.  How far I went would be decided on the trail.  After a number of ascending switchback, I fell in with two ladies and a bloke from New Jersey, Dana, Yolanda and Rob.  It was a good thing that I did so, since I would have deemed that I had enough higher altitude photos and so begun my descent, much earlier than I did.  That would have meant missing the trail sliding into a slot canyon, and the beauty to be seen there … so thanks, Dana, for introducing me to that part of the trail!

View from the Hidden Canyon Trail.

The Virgin River below.

Higher …

… and higher …

… until the …

… slot canyon …

… is reached.

Here had lunch.

On the way back down.

Good Grief! Did I walk up that?!!

Shortly after 14:00, I retrieved my car and headed towards the East Entrance road.  Just past the 1.1 mile long tunnel I parked in the small car park and took the half mile long trail to the Canyon Overlook, above Zion Arch.  Along the trail the interbedded layers of the Navajo Sandstone show off their sand dune origins at their best; one can readily visualize those dune fields of long ago.  The views over the Canyon are stunning as well, and worth the effort.

Zion Arch, although it is not yet
really an “arch,” but still an alcove.

View from above the “Arch.

They grow in the darndest places.

Cactus garden on the cliff.

On the trail back to the car.

It was later in the day than I had planned, when I left Zion National Park, after topping up my water supply at the visitors center, and passed through the town of Springdale, but I had said my goodbyes to my Eagle Crags campsite, so I travelled west only about ten miles, to Dalton Wash Road, turned north onto it and after 4.2 miles came to a dispersed camping area, I had wondered about. The road in is comparatively good, a bit wash-boardy in spots, but the last bit gets pretty steep and so I threw her into 4-wheel drive for that bit.  Once the mesa top was reached, I found I was immediately in the camping area, and no one was in the area.  That didn't last long, but long enough for me to get my choice of the dispersed sites, and then one of those Cruise America camper trucks (I heard it grinding up the hill), crested the mesa top and took a site about a hundred yards away.  I had a great view of the west side of the southern part of Zion Cliffs, with the West Temple topping all, as I ate supper, and the light of the setting Sun cast its glowing light on all.  In the morning I found a new cactus, which I can only describe as a cactus bush (see photos).

The Virgin River a few miles west of Zion.

View from my campsite west of Zion,
with the West Temple (highest part of the ridge)
as seen from the west, wouldn’t ya know.

Cactus Bush.

Closer …
don’t think I’d like to fall into that.

Orange flower of some sort.

Before going on my last Zion hikes of the day before, I had enquired about Cedar Breaks National Monument, which I had passed on my way to Zion, from Bryce Canyon National Park.  To my surprise it was still closed and was, in fact, expecting snow showers!  I mulled that over as I gazed at the clear blue skies overhead and thinking of Cedar Breaks less than fifty miles north, as the crow flies … funny old country around here.  Thus here I was heading into Hurricane to resupply before retracing my path of a month ago to Cedar City, instead of leaving Zion by the East Entrance and visiting Cedar Breaks … perhaps another time, should I ever get down here again.

The Wal-Mart in Hurricane was out of camping propane, so I popped into the one at Cedar City, and petrol-ed up at Smith’s, where I get a 3-cent per gallon discount.  I perused my maps and discovered that the route northwest of Cedar City, that I had considered, was an unpaved road, so I headed north on State Hwy 130, intending to pick up Hwy 21 west at Minersville, but a few miles north I reconsidered, thinking that those unpaved roads can be pretty good sometimes, especially if they serve a dispersed populous.  So I took a connecting road (unpaved), over to the unpaved Lund Highway … interesting designation for an unpaved road.  It was as good as I had hoped and so I crossed the Escalante Desert, spotting the odd Pronghorn, and not seeing another vehicle for an out 40 miles.  The I spotted a cloud of dust on a connecting road.  They must not have seen my cloud of dust, for when just after the intersection of the roads as I rounded a bend there was a pickup truck stopped by the side of the road, with its passengers lined up pissing beneath a tree.  I waved and proceeded on, leaving them to muse on what the chances were that, without seeing another vehicle for however many miles, one should happen by just when they decided to take a whiz!  That was the only one of two vehicles I saw in 80 some miles, until I joined State Hwy 21 the next day. 

A few miles farther on from the whizzing truckers, I turned onto Jackson Wash Road and found a quiet camp for the night below the tops of the Indian Peaks Range (on my map, but also called the Needles Range in a geology book I have).  The surface soil here is particularly granular, with not a lot growing on it, but Junipers and Pinyons.  After referring to my Geology tomes, I decided that it was made up of volcanic tuffs probably from the nearby Needles Range, not far to the west; I expect this tuff gets tough during wet weather (har, har!).

I remained in camp the next day until 14:00, topping up my AGM battery with my suitcase solar array, and self inflicting a haircut … it had been six weeks, already, since my last one on Buckskin Mountain, the day before I entered Cottonwood Wash!  Grooming done, I leisurely drove north down the Pine Valley, with the Needles Range to the west, and the Wah Wah Mountains to the east.  I joined the pavement of State Hwy 21 and about 30 miles farther on crossed from Utah into Nevada, and then entered Great Basin National Park, where I took a spot in the Baker Creek Campground, next to a babbling brook.

Indian Peak in the Needles Range.

Those orange flowers again.

Great Basin National Park,
still about 40 miles away.

And I heard on the radio
that cattle rustling does still go on!

Old homestead tucked
into some great Cottonwoods.

One of the cabins.

Great Basin, at last …
the campground is amongst those Aspens.

It's interesting how the temperatures can vary in just a few miles and a bit of a difference in altitude.  When I re-supplied in Hurricane it was getting to be an onerously hot day, but thirty something miles north at Cedar City, and a couple thousand feet higher, it was a very pleasant day, and now I’m at just over 7000', and it is quite cool in the evening, especially after the Sun dips below the crest of the mountains.  They had snow here a couple of days ago, probably the same snow that was supposed to hit Cedar Breaks National Monument.

Zion National Park, Part 1

Saturday, April 14^th, 2018 to Monday, 14^th May; Zion National Park.

C1667

“Desert Spring Morning”

(near Zion National Park, Utah)

Oil Study on Pannelli Telati fine Cotton Panel

5” x 7”

Sold

This is my view every morning that I have camped north of the Eagle Crags Trailhead.  It has been delightful to watch the changing light as the mornings progressed, and also the cactus blooms coming into their own as the days passed by.  When I arrived I was not sure whether the little knobs on the Prickly Pears were new pads or flower buds … pretty much the latter.  The mountain in the distance is Johnson Mountain, I believe, which is in the southern part of Zion National Park.  Between here and there lies the East Virgin River; just below Springdale it flows into the Virgin River, which is that which flows through the Canyon of Zion proper.

Pigments used in the painting:

Imprimatura: W&N Venetian Red;

Drawing: W&N Cobalt & Ultramarine Deep Blues;

Pigments: W&N Cerulean, Cobalt and Ultramarine Deep Blues, Cadmiums Orange & Yellow Pale, Permanent Rose;

Rublev: Ercolano Red, Purple Ochre, Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Italian Burnt Sienna, Orange Molybdate & Lead White #2, Ceruse.

(Take Note: for those of you who have signed up to be notified by email of new postings to this blog, you have been receiving not just a notification, but an actual copy of the new blog posting as the email.  As this does not show the images of the paintings in the best possible light, you should click on the title of the latest blog posting at the top of the post, and not the title of the painting itself; this will open up the actual blog itself, and you may then enjoy the paintings at their best.)

My camp just south of Zion National Park is at the end of a steep desperate road below Eagle Crags, not far past the trailhead for the Crags; 4-wheel drive and high clearance a necessity.  Here at 4300', several small wildflowers are in bloom, and the prickly pear cacti are showing new growths; whether flower buds or new pads I’m not yet sure.  In Zion all the Cottonwoods are fully clothed in leaves, whereas a week ago in Cottonwood Canyon, they were only just opening their buds, except for those in sheltered spots, but then Cottonwood is 2000' higher.  It’s so interesting to see how these different situations affect the natural world, and even more so to observe the micro-climates that may be found within them. 

Here at Zion the geology is younger than the youngest formations at the top of the Grand Canyon, but older than those at Bryce.  The major rock formation on the canyon walls at Zion, sometimes as much as two thousand feet, is the Navajo Sandstone, first encountered at Arches National Park, in the form of petrified dunes, and which also formed the canyon walls on my second walk through the slot canyon in Cottonwood Wash several days ago.  I would also point out that back in Dinosaur National Monument the Nugget Sandstone there, is equivalent to these Navajo formations.

Take heed.

The western end of Zion National Park.

And there it is … the hanging valley.

Still in Kolob Canyons.

A Big Pondie.

To reach my camp, near the Eagle Crags Trailhead, is a very steep climb, on a very rutted, rocky road.  As one ascends you pass through the chocolate coloured Moenkopi Formation of early Triassic times, then over the ledge of the Shinarump Conglomerate Member of the Chinle Formation, also of Triassic age.  The Triassic was when the Dinosaurs were beginning to establish their hold on the world, but there were still some nasty amphibians about, they had to keep a watchful eye out for.  The Moenkopi Formation is composed of mud and silt sediments along a coastal mudflat environment, being distributed lugubriously by lazy streams and rivers and tidal channels.  Later more continental conditions took over the landscape, and coarse sands and small pebbles were deposited by braided river channels, forming the Shinarump Conglomerate Member of the Chinle Formation.

My first afternoon …

… & evening views of Zion …

… from my camp.

New Moon & Venus.

So, my present camp lies above that, within later members of the Triassic Chinle Formation.  If I walk north a few yards I can trace these formations (Moenkopi & Shinarump), across the valley towards Zion National Park, dipping slightly down towards the northeast and disappearing beneath the present surface somewhere in Springdale, the town just south of the Park entrance [An aside: the Chinle is what makes up the coloured layers of the Petrified Forest, I passed through back in mid-February].  Above them l can see the slope forming Chinle, the cliffs and slopes of the Jurassic Kayenta Sandstone, and finally the massive cliffs of the Navajo Sandstone (also Jurassic), the latter up to 2000’ in thickness; interesting to think that these Navajo Sandstones were once part of a vast dune field stretching from Arizona into Wyoming.  Here and there are bits of the Temple Cap Formation above the Navajo Sandstone … I can see West Temple, easily, which can also be seen from within the Park itself, from various places.

The foreground slopes are part of the Chinle Formation; beyond that in the left middle distance is a cliff sloping down towards the right … that is the Shinarump Conglomerate Member of the Chinle, above the Moenkopi; the slopes above the Shinarump are of the  Chinle Formation, above which are to be seen the ledgy band of cliffs of the Springdale Sandstone Member of the Kayenta Formation; the slopes above that leading to the high cliffs on the right is the main Kayenta Formation, and those high cliffs on the right are the Navajo Sandstone which once were sand dunes.  This view is on the way to my campsite.

Morning at …

… Zion.

More views of Zion from …

… the Eagle Crags Trail.

The massive Cliffs …

… above the …

… final slopes (Kayenta Formation) …

… are the Navajo Sandstone.

The red formation at the top
 is the Temple Cap Formation.

But here where I am, within the Chinle Formation, I see large slabs and boulders scattered about on the surface, or seemingly erupting out from the earth, at random angles.  My assumption is that the soil surface here is (1) the remnants of eroded Kayenta and Navajo Sandstones, (2) or blown in from elsewhere (3) or probably both, but the slabs and boulders are surely of Kayenta and Navajo origin.  To the southeast are the Eagle Crags, and the shattered spires at the top appear to be the remnants of the Navajo Sandstone layers, the Kayenta being the eroded slopes below that.  It was the slabs and boulders dotted about (I’m sitting in the shade of one as I write), that got me to wondering about why they were there, and so I began to apply my, strictly amateur, geologist eye to the problem.  I have had a crash course in geology over this past Winter, travelling through this geological wonderland that is the Colorado Plateau, centered on the 4-corners (for you British, that’s where Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona meet).  A year ago, I would not have been able to work this out.

Eagle Crags …

… showing the Slabs …

… & Boulders around my campsite.

And there was rain too!

Cloudscape.

Nocturnal clouds.

Cliff Rose.

Much of my campsite area is covered with these bushes, but they don’t all have flowers.



Three and a half months ago, while camped in the Valley of the Gods, I would watch the brightest star in our heavens, Sirius, pop into view over the canyon rim, not long after sunset.  Now I see it lowering into the southwest about the same length of time after sunset and about the same altitude, and soon to be setting.  These stars of Winter do not remain long in our night sky, whereas the stars of Summer seem to last so much longer.  With Sirius it is its more southerly aspect, and also the days are getting longer, in the Springtime, and so Sirius and the other Winter stars have less night to work with, whereas the Summer stars last long into the Autumn, and some even into early Winter, as the nights get longer at that time of the year; of course the opposite is true if you live down under.  So in a short time Sirius will be gone from the evening sky, just as Orion, for the most part, already is.

Cactus blossoms …

… in the ...

  ... desert.