Stardate 2016.395

Utah's Little Grand Canyon
Following are some pics from the northern San Rafael Swell region. If you've driven I-70 West out of Green River, Utah, you no doubt have been impressed by the upthrust stone that looks impossible to breach. That's the eastern slope of the swell (dome-shaped anticline). North and south regions of the swell are split by I-70.

Snowcatcher and I visited the impressive eroded features of the northern region's Wedge area during a recent trip. If you ever visit this enchanted expanse, I recommend entering the Little Grand Canyon from the south via I-70 because of the enhanced canyon scenic values (although, it's all scenic). The start from the south is on typical ranch and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) access roads.



The northernmost extension of the central route of the historic Old Spanish Trail ran between Green River, Utah and Castle Dale, Utah, skirting the Wedge area to the north. The Old Spanish Trail was a trade route between Santa Fe, New Mexico, and southern California from the early 1800s to approximately 1850. The reason the trail goes so far north is to bypass the intricately complex canyon country of southern Utah and northern Arizona, which at the time was extremely difficult, if not impossible, to navigate.

After to 15 to 20 miles, the Little Grand Canyon came into view.




secluded...




...and stunning




I'm not sure what these flagstone cairns were used for; our navigation was easy and straight-forward.




A blooming barrel cactus.




We enjoyed the erosive features of the Little Grand Canyon by cycling along the edge from the Wedge Overlook.




The San Rafael River flows through the canyon. The other side is Sid's Mountain Wilderness Study Area.




There is no better architect than time.




I'd love to explore the river bottom some time.






The weathered canyon uplands have a wrinkled personality all their own.




The low-light angle of early evening tends to bring the canyon to life.






More to come...

Adios

Stardate 2016.384

39° 07'25'' N 110° 41'37'' W
A New Playground To Explore
Snowcatcher and I just spent some time in the Green River, Utah region. Our travels took us to the Little Grand Canyon, the Wedge and Buckhorn Wash. These areas are relatively new for us, and we'll be back to explore some more. The second half of our trip took us to some of our favorite haunts around the Moab, Utah area. Today's blog post features one of the highlights of our time in Buckhorn Wash.

Petroglyphs
We saw a few faint petroglyphs along the Buckhorn Wash rock art panel. A petroglyph is a figure carved or pecked into the stone. The Buckhorn petroglyphs are estimated to be from the Fremont culture of 1,000 years ago.






Pictographs
A pictograph is painted on a rock surface. The Buckhorn Wash pictographs dominate the artwork found on the panel. They are more than 2,000 years old and were painted by artisans of the Barrier Canyon culture. The red pigment was created with powdered hematite and possibly mixed with other materials such as fat. It's not known if either of these cultures is related to the Ute, Piute, Navajo or Hopi tribes. Buckhorn Wash is part of the Old Santa Fe Trail and has seen many travelers over time. Because of this, some of the panel has been subjected to vandalism — which is very sad.















Thanks for visiting. More to come.

Adios