UTAH ROCKS

UTAH NATIONAL PARKS

On June 3rd I left Tucson and headed north.  Drove up through Monument Valley which has some amazing rock formations that were all formed by weather.

I continued on to Natural Bridges National Monument - there are three "natural bridges" which have been created again by weather.

The next day was on to Canyonlands NP which is large and accessed from the south and the north.  I started with the south one where the most famous "rocks" are called needles.

Found the dead trees fascinating -

Wildflowers were everywhere:

Orange Globe Mallow

Prickly Pear

Common Raven  were everywhere

Bush Senecio

Another type of Prickly Pear

That afternoon I drove to the north visitor center -

Stayed in Moab over night and the next morning was at Arches NP determined to hike to Delicate Arch which is on the Utah license plates.

Delicate Arch - you could see snow on the mountains in the distance

There are 2000+ arches in the National Park

Park Avenue

Two down - off to Capital Reef NP - each one was spectacular in its own way --

I was making good time so decided to go back to Bryce NP - hit it when the light was nearly perfect.

Pronghorn grazing in the field

Hoodos at Red Canyon National Forest

So the last of the big five is Zion NP

There were seven Big Horn Sheep grazing - females and teenagers

All in all, a great trip - am so glad I finally got to do it.

Organ Pipe National Monument

Last week I visited Organ Pipe National Monument for the first time.  It was amazing with organ pipe cacti and saguaros growing up the sides of the Ajo Mountains.  The organ pipe cacti is quite cold sensitive so do not grow naturally further north.  It is one of the four columnar cacti in the Sonoran Desert.   The dark rocks along the mountain ridges absorb heat int he daytime and release it at night which helps keep the cacti warm.

We saw two incredible crested organ pipe cacti and the arch in the rocks.

They only receive about 4" of rain a year and grow to about 15' and they only grow about 3" a year. They can live to be about 100.  The blossoms open early evening and are pollinated by bats.