Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Alphabet Soup
Hey -- We've made it to the "F's" and we are definitely NOT going to France - nor Fayettville. I thought about French Lick for a minute, but after you have seen one picture of Larry Bird, you've seen them all. No, the "F's" Call for something extraordinary.
"Extraordinary" describes the whole of the Colorado River Plateau better than any other single word I can think of.This huge ribbon of water flows through some of the most aird territory in the US and the result has been spectacular. Mrs. Blogotional and I have spent a lot of time wandering around the Plateau. We are not big hikers, (bum knee) though we do a little, but we take great delight in traveling the roads less traveled and seeing that which is usually reserved for the back-packing/rock-climbing set.
"Fishers Towers" located in a valley off the river near Moab, Utah is one of the those places.
This is the view of the big tower from the highway. Note how much it looks like Monument Valley? Technically, this is the north end of the valley near Arches National Park.The sight is truly spectacular with none of the crowds. We travelled through here at the height of tourist season but were virtually alone. We found it by taking the "little" road to Arches -- you know, the ones you look at on the map and wonder if it's safe. I alwasy like to take those, precisely because of stuff like this.
If you actuall make it up into the valley, you will find that there are bunches of rock towers ther and climbers love them. These next two pics are available on the Internet and I chose them becasue of their detail.Look at the shape of this rock! Cool, huh? This particular rock is spectacular becasue of the "twisted" shape, but rock stands like this are all over 100's of square miles of river plateau.
Here's a shot of the main tower from the other side than we saw it. Still spectacular. This is one of those happy, happy finds that we love to make.Next time, take the "little" road, you never know what you'll find.
