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Scenic 12 Byway

Last week, Barbara, Ellie, myself, and our good friend Whitney traveled through central Utah on the Scenic 12 Byway. Our adventure began in Red Canyon near the intersection of highways 89 and 12, just a few miles west of the entrance to Bryce Canyon National Park. At this location we began our adventure at the top of the Grand Staircase. The rocks here are the youngest in the sequence. The rocks in Bryce Canyon range in age from 40 to 100 million years old. Below these rocks are the rocks that make up most of Zion National Park, the Navajo Sandstone. The Navajo Sandstone ranges in age from 180 to 200 million years old. Beneath the Navajo Sandstone are the rocks that make up the Grand Canyon. The sedimentary rocks, at the top of the Grand Canyon, consist of the Kaibab Limestone, along the rim, to the Tapeats Sandstone, which sits unconformably on top of the Vishnu Complex. These sedimentary rocks range in age from 250 million years old, the Kaibab Limestone, to 545 million years old, the Tapeats Sandstone. Between the Tapeats Sandstone and the Vishnu Complex is 1.2 billion years of missing time. These rocks, for the most part, have been eroded away. However, portions of these missing rocks can be found in the eastern portion of the Grand Canyon and are known as the Grand Canyon Super Group. The Vishnu Complex is made up of the Vishnu Schist and the Zoroaster Granite and range in age from 1.7 to 2.0 billion years old.

During our travels on this day, we crossed a portion of the Navajo Sandstone. Geologists believe that at one time the Navajo Sandstone was the largest sand dune complex ever on earth. Today these rocks cover thousands of square miles in southeastern Utah. After crossing these rocks, we made our way over the Hogback, a long narrow section of road. From there we traveled over Boulder Mountain and ended in the town of Torrey. Along the way we passed the Henry Mountains, a 30-mile-long mountain range. The Henry Mountains are a volcano that never happened. Millions of years ago a magma chamber pushed up from below to form the Henry Mountains, however, the magma solidified in the form of a laccolith and never made it to the surface.

If you’re ever in Utah, I recommend that you travel the Scenic 12 Byway. It’s a beautiful drive through several small towns and millions of years of geologic history. We did it in approximately 5 hours, but to really experience the drive it takes up to five days.

The rocks seen here are all Navajo Sandstone.

Barbara and Whitney thought this rock looked like a giant cow pie.

Navajo Sandstone in the distance from the side of Boulder Mountain.

Cathedral Gorge State Park

This past Thursday, Barbara, Ellie, and I along with our good friends Kathy and Shane Flanagan traveled west to the state of Nevada to explore Cathedral Gorge State Park and the surrounding area. Like the rest of Nevada, the area around Cathedral Gorge is home to a lot of mines, some active and others abandoned. I guess this is to be expected as Nevada is known as the Silver State and currently it is the largest producer of gold in the US, outside of Alaska.

Cathedral Gorge is a small area in eastern Nevada that is made up of spires sculpted by erosion of ancient lakebed sediments. The area’s geology features the Panaca Formation, a thick sequence of bentonite clay, siltstone and volcanic ash deposited by a large freshwater lake during the Pliocene Epoch. Approximately 5 million years ago, faulting created a depression known as Meadow Valley. The basin filled with fresh water, creating a lake, where volcanic ash and fine-grained sediments settled into compressed layers of mostly bentonite clay. As the climate changed, the lake drained, exposing the soft, poorly cemented clay and volcanic ash to rapid wind and water erosion. Rainwater and snow melt have carved the amazing and colorful features we see today. Because the bentonite clay is soft and highly erodible, the landscape is constantly changing.

Take a look at my photos below. I believe you will enjoy the colorful formations of Cathedral Gorge and the green grasses of the surrounding valleys. This is one of the greenest places in Nevada I have ever seen.

A few coarse-grained sediments in the formation.

This photo and the photos above were taken down in the gorge. The next three photos were taken on top of the gorges, looking down.

Sedona Rocks

On Wednesday, Barbara and I dropped Ellie off at the groomer to get a bath, brush, nails trimmed, and teeth brushed. While Ellie was getting cleaned up, we checked out the rock formations surrounding Sedona. If you have ever been to Sedona Arizona you know about the beautiful rock formations that surround the town. These are the same rock formations seen in the walls of the Grand Canyon. First we drove up on a mesa where the airport is located. From there I took photos to the north, above the town of Sedona. From there, we took a drive along highway 179. There are a lot of rock formations here to see along with numerous hiking trails. However, on this day it was in the 90’s so I limited my hiking to just short hikes. Take a look at the photos below and if you’re ever in the Sedona area, be sure to check things out.

The Grand Canyon

This past Tuesday, Barbara, Ellie, and I travelled north to the Grand Canyon. Even though Barbara and I have been here before, numerous times, we never seem to get tired of it. In fact, I have spent close to 50 days in the Grand Canyon and have studied it a lot. On this trip, we entered through the east gate and visited the south rim. From experience, I have learned, that it is faster and easier to get to the south rim through the east gate because it is usually less crowed and therefore, quicker to get through. The south rim gets a lot more visitors each year than the north rim. This is partially due to the fact that the north rim is only open 6 months out of the year, beginning on May 15th, and the north rim is more remote than the south rim. The south rim is also accessible by train from Williams, AZ. If you haven’t taken the train ride, I highly recommend it.

On this day the weather was prefect for taking photos. The air was cool and crisp, there was just a light breeze, there were no fires in the area, and there were just enough cirrus and cumulus clouds to make for a nice contrast in the sky.

Starting from the top down, the rocks in the Grand Canyon range in age from 250 million years old, the Kaibab Limestone, to the 1.7-billion-year-old, the Vishnu Complex, the inner gorge, at the bottom. The sedimentary rocks, that make up the horizontal layers are visible near the top of the canyon, range in age from 250 million years old to the Tapeats Sandstone, at 500 million years old. The Tapeats Sandstone sits on top of the Great Unconformity. The Great Unconformity, makes up a section of missing time in the rocks. This happens when the rocks are exposed to erosion and over time, they are removed by the forces of nature, wind, water, freeze and thaw, etc. However, in the Grand Canyon, some of these missing sediments survived and are known as the Grand Canyon Super Group. In places these rocks can be seen and make up a small portion of the missing 1.2 billion years of time. Below the Great Unconformity is the Vishnu Complex. It is made up of metamorphic and igneous rocks and are exposed as the black rocks seen in the inner gorge. I have photos of all of these different rocks in my photos below.

It’s likely that most of you have already visited the Grand Canyon, but if you haven’t, I hope my photos encourage you to visit sometime in the near future. After all, the Grand Canyon is listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Enjoy!

The rocks to the right in this photo, are of the base of the Desert View Watchtower.

A small portion of the Grand Canyon Super Group can be seen in this photo. They are the red rocks with white stripes, sloping to the right, just above the river.

The Desert View Watchtower in the distance. This tower is easily visible from the river.

A closeup of the Grand Canyon Super Group rocks.

These guys are blamed for more injuries to tourists each year. People think they are cute, but they have a tendency to bite and scratch. They’re cute, but keep your distance.

This is a photo of the Vishnu Complex in the inner gorge.

Great Blue Heron

In 1976, when I was a senior in high school, I took a wildlife management course. At that time, the Great Blue Heron was on the endangered species list. But today, they’re doing well. In fact, just about every place Barbara and I travel to, I see at least one of these magnificent creatures. This morning I saw three land just a few hundred feet in front of me. I took several photos to add to the ones I took the other day. Take a look!

Lake Conroe

Well the rain finally stopped. For the past two days we have had to stay inside because Mother Nature was unhappy and she was dumping a lot of water on us. This morning, I grabbed my camera and Ellie and I took a walk down to the lake. We found a Great Blue Heron, an Egret, and a song bird along with a few flowers and a shot of Lake Conroe. I wasn’t able to get a photo of the Egret because it wouldn’t allow me to get close enough. Maybe I’ll try again tomorrow. I hope you like them.

Mount Lemmon

A few weeks ago, Barbara, Ellie and I wanted to escape the heat of Tucson, so we took a drive, northeast of town, up the Catalina Highway to the highest point in the Santa Catalina Mountains, Mount Lemmon at an elevation of 9,171 feet mean sea level (MSL). Due to the elevation change from the valley floor to the top of Mount Lemmon, the temperature at the summit is generally 20 to 30 degrees cooler. This was a welcome change for us.

In the valley, we were surrounded by mostly Saguaro and Barrel Cactus. About half way up the mountain, the cactus gave way to small oaks and at the top of Mount Lemmon mostly conifers were found. This is a very well-maintained road, which made for an enjoyable and scenic drive. On our adventure, we used an app that Barbara downloaded to her phone that guided us along the Catalina Highway, telling us about the history of the area, places to stop, and about the geology and vegetation seen along our way. There are a lot of cyclists on this road so be sure to keep a sharp eye out for them.

The drive is approximately 30 miles, round trip, and took us about three hours to complete. So, if you are ever in the Tucson area and would like to escape the heat, you might think about a drive-up Mount Lemmon. It’s definitely worth the time.

The remains of an old prison that was built here.

Looking down into the valley from the Santo Catalina Mountains.

Arizona Museum of Natural History

A few months ago, Barbara and I traveled from Cottonwood, AZ to Mesa to visit the Arizona Museum of Natural History. This place contains a lot of dinosaur fossils, so it is right up my alley. Something to keep in mind when you see these skeletons. Due to the age of these skeletons, it is extremely rare to find a complete skeleton. So most, if not all, of the skeletons shown here are incomplete and some of the bones seen were man made. The curators here do a wonderful job of creating the missing bones. All of the dinosaurs are between 65 million and 230 million years old, living during the Mesozoic Era, while the Wooly Mammoth and the Saber-tooth Tiger, lived during the Pleistocene Epoch, AKA The Ice Ages, which began 2.6 million years ago and ended approximately 15,000 years ago. Based on geologic history, the earth will likely begin another Ice Age in approximately 85,000 years. But not to worry, as most of us likely won’t be around at that time. Dodged a Bullet!

Dinosaur teeth. Due to the fact that these teeth are flat and not sharp, these teeth came from a herbivore, plant eater.

Radiator Springs

This past Saturday, Barbara, Ellie, and I traveled to Seligman, Arizona. Seligman is advertised as the birthplace of famous Route 66 and Radiator Springs, from the movie Cars. While there we saw The Roadkill Café and some of the Cars movie characters. There isn’t much else there, but it was fun to see. We would have stayed longer, but it was extremely windy on Saturday so we cut our visit short. On the way back to our trailer I asked Barbara if she would like to visit the south rim of the Grand Canyon? We were only 60 miles away. She said, “I’d love to, but with the wind, we’d likely get blown over the edge.” So, we continued on back to our trailer. It was a fun day, with a lot of beautiful scenery.

A terrible likeness of Lightning McQueen.

Red Rock State Park

A few weeks ago, Barbara, Ellie, and I traveled to Red Rock State Park near Sedona, Arizona. We enjoyed the view of the red rocks that surround the park, Owl Creek, that flows through the park, and some wildlife, deer. A few days later, we drove through Owl Creek Canyon where Owl Creek originates. A couple of days later, I showed Barbara a photo of highway 89A, from the air, which goes through Owl Creek Canyon. Barbara said, “Hell no,” because the highway has a lot of switchbacks. I then pointed out that we drove that road just a few days ago. It’s a beautiful area, so if you’re ever in the Sedona area, take some time to take a look around.