vacation pictures #8: trail's end

[ilanarama]

From Escalante we drove back toward Colorado on the Burr Trail, which is the more scenic and slower route. It passes through the dramatic redrock of Long Canyon, where we explored a little side canyon and I photographed some really cool stripey rock; then it descends across the Waterpocket Fold (the south end of Capitol Reef National Park) and joins the north-south Notom-Bullfrog road. We'd taken this road twice before; once we'd gone north to Hanksville and once we'd gone south to the Bullfrog ferry across Lake Powell. This time, armed with a guide to the backways of Utah, we went east, across the Henry Mountains. These granite peaks are weirdly out of place in the sandstone country; volcanic forces uplifted them, and then the sandstone eroded around them. Unfortunately, in 2003 there was a huge fire which absolutely toasted the forests in the Henrys, because otherwise it would have been a lovely and cool oasis in the desert. After routefinding our way across the pass and through the mountains, we headed Coloradoward, stopping at the overlook where Lake Powell backs up into the Colorado River. There were a bazillion places we would have loved to explore, but it was time to go home.






All 111 pictures from the trip (and let me tell you, that's only a fraction of the photos on the hard drive!) are in my Utah/Arizona 2008 set on Flickr.

Comments

[mlyn.livejournal.com]

Your photos have been a gorgeous treat. Thank you so much for the hard work of posting and sharing them.

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank you! And I am still going through your Norway pictures - they are remarkable!

[mlyn.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks!

[starfishchick]

Gorgeous stuff. Looks like a great trip!

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It was way fun.

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

What an excellent trip. I'm totally lobbying for this to be a destination for us one of these days. In addition to being beautiful, your photos are also useful as visual aids to help the road trip-averse spouse contemplate reaching outside his comfort zone. (I don't know if my, "And, and, there's this one trail where you get to cross the river five gazillion, or maybe six times!" is helping or hindering.)

I love the "peekaboo" picture especially, and it's always nice to see that you've gotten another opportunity for an unencumbered frolic in the water. :)

[(Anonymous)]

Try "And, and, there's this one trail where you get to cross the river five gazillion or maybe six times and there's one crossing where if you look close you might see a nekkid hiker in the river!!!!"

Of course, this may help or hinder as well, all things considered :-)

Eric W.

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

I can't believe that Mr. Half Dome is balking at this. It will be fun for the whole family!

[eejitalmuppet.livejournal.com]

Sedimentary, Watson! (sorry, couldn't resist)

Thank you, as always, for posting more wonderful pictures of wonderful places.

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

ba-DOOM!

And I am glad you enjoyed the photos.

[saramwrap.livejournal.com]

I am so incredibly jealous of your adventures! I need to stop visiting every city and see some of the quiet, timeless places.

I just had a long conversation about science and education with your dad. He told me how pretty these photos are, too. :)

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

OMG I love your icon.

I just had a long conversation about science and education with your dad.

I am glad to see you survived the experience! :-) Anyway, if you and internic want to come out and visit, we've got a spare room, a friendly kitty, and two enthusiastic local tour guides with flexible schedules. Especially if you want to go hiking. Deathmarches our specialty.

[saramwrap.livejournal.com]

This is one of the few icons that I yanked from a random Googled image. I usually try to make my own from scratch or screenshots, but I loved it too much.

Your dad is [mostly] harmless. Remember, I also grew up with a NASA scientist. ;)

I really want to visit. I'm currently negotiating my travel plans for the next year (mostly because I will be deathmarching through China in 2009) and I want to do something fun and nature-oriented.