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Phil Konstantin's August 2009 Newsletter #3
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Phil Konstantin
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Aug 24, 2009 18:59 PDT
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Phil Konstantin's August 2009 Newsletter #3
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Greetings,
I finished processing and organizing the photos of the trip
I took earlier this month. The main page is locate here:
http://americanindian.net/utah2009/index.html
I visited Buckskin Gulch, Zion, Coral Pink Sand Dunes,
St. George Petroglyphs, Lehman Caves, Mt. Meadows Massacre,
Cathedral Gorge, and more...
I traveled through all of these areas with my friend
Haylee Nez, and her two children Shandiin and Tristan.
Haylee has lived in, or around, this area all her life.
So, she knows lots of people, great little places to see,
and things to do. Shandiin, 10, is a budding artist,
and Tristan has enough energy to encourage anyone. He
is a great natural climber. It was fun looking at some
of these places through their eyes.
We started by going through the Kolob section of Zion
National Park. While it is just off of Interstate-15,
most visitors to Zion miss this part of the park. The
next day we visited the main part of Zion. Haylee
really wanted to explore some slot canyons (very narrow
& very high), as did I. She knew the Virgin River got
narrow, so she wanted to give it a go. To get to the
really narrow sections of the canyon, you have to
occasionally wade through waist deep water. Well, the
river is cold. Wading through cold water up to your
waist (with small kids) was more than we could handle
at the time, so we just went a short distance upstream.
We tried to access another slot canyon on the east
side of the park, but a special permit was required,
and wasn't available.
So, still seeking some slot canyons, we considered
visiting Antelope Canyon on the Navajo reservation.
Haylee's kids are Navajo. Haylee knew about the area
from when she lived on the reservation. The local
requirement to hire guides and get reservations made
us look elsewhere. I found out about the slot canyons
along the Paria River, north of the Grand Canyon.
Buckskin Gulch is reported to have the longest slot
canyons in the world (12 miles long). We headed there
and were not disappointed. A check with the local BLM
office in Kanab told us the best place to start: Wire
Pass Trailhead. This is also the start of the trail to
"The Wave." As a landscape photographer, I had heard
about The Wave before. It is an amazing sandstone
formation. To help preserve the delicate rocks, the
BLM only allows 20 people a day to hike in that area.
Permits are VERY hard to get. So, we did not try for
the Wave and set out for the slot canyons. We found
several places where logs had gotten stuck between the
narrow canyons walls. It is a great reminder that there
have to be 40 foot (or higher) flash floods for a log
to get stuck 40 foot up the canyon walls. I have photos
of some of these in the pages below. It was an amazing
place.
Coral Pink Sand Dunes state park is a place I had also
wanted to visit for many years. I have seen some pictures.
I had also seen it as I flew from Phoenix to Salt Lake
City on a couple of trips. It was in the area, so we
went by. We were surprised by the temperature of the
sand. It was warm outside. The top of the sand was warm.
However, just an inch below the surface, the sand was
cool. I have never experienced anything like this in
desert sands. The colors were interesting.
Haylee has family in St. George. She had once visited
some unique petroglyphs as a child there. They are
located in the Santa Clara River Reserve, between St.
George and the Shivwits Reservation, (near Ivins, Utah)
on State Route 18. They are unique in that many of the
drawing on done on flat, ground-level rocks. You can
walk on them, if you are not careful. I liked how the
kids were very careful to avoid stepping on all of
these ancient markings. They are also called Anazasi
Ridge and the Tempi'po'op Trail.
While we were traveling from St. George to our next
destination (Lehman Caves), we happened across the
scene of the infamous Mountain Meadows Massacre. I
knew it was somewhere in southwestern Utah, but I did
not realize it was on our path. I have read quite a
few things about this incident. There is LOTS of
information about it on the internet, if you want to
learn more.
Another serendipitous find was Cathedral Gorge in
eastern Nevada. I saw the tops of the rocks from US 93
north of Panaca, Nevada. Haylee suggested we check it
out when we saw the road to Miller's Point. I'm glad
she did. It is a fascinating place, which features
some unusual erosion patters. Like Buckskin Gorge, it
has some very narrow and high passageways between the
rocks. Unlike Buckskin, the material here can crumble
under you hand. We went back from Miller's Point to
the park's main entrance in order to see the rest of
the area from the ground level. I recommend checking
it out if you are ever in the area.
Our next stop was Lehman Caves in Great Basin National
Park. Haylee had been here many years ago. I have
enjoyed spelunking in Texas, Arizona, Utah, California,
New Mexico and 'old' Mexico. Lehman Caves is an
interesting place. It is part of Wheeler Peak (one of
the highest peaks in Nevada (13,000+ feet). It is
known in caving circles for its 'shield' formations.
We all enjoyed our ranger led trip through the cave.
Across the highway from Lehman Caves is Baker
Archeological Village. It is an ancient Fremont
culture site, which has been abandoned for many
centuries. All of the structures which are left are
either foundations, or below ground. So, there is
little to actually see, except for some berms built
up to protect the ancient walls, and the park
interpretive trail markers. I photographed the
entire tour guide which you can carry with you as
you explore the area.
During the rest of our travels, we crossed the
western Utah desert several times; we hunted for
sunstones on Sunstone Knoll, south of Delta, Utah;
and we skirted Sevier Dry Lake & Notch Peak. We saw
some beautiful sunsets, and as astronaut Buzz Aldrin
called it, some 'magnificent desolation.' I put these
unclassified photos into a group called Various
Other Photos.
I also complied the photos I took while Flying from
San Diego to Phoenix to Salt Lake City to Las Vegas
and to San Diego. This section has photos of the
Salton Sea, Phoenix, the Grand Canyon, desert sand
storms, and other parts of the American Southwest
as seen from on high.
It was a great adventure. ENJOY!
Phil
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End of Phil Konstantin's August 2009 Newsletter #3
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Anything below this line is not part of my newsletter
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