US South West Road Trip

I have always loved rocks and stone and hence longed to travel to the US south west. Towards the end of April 2011 I headed south on a 3 week (solo) road trip. I had been researching my trip for at least 6 months, and had a very long wish list of sites to see. My primary destination was S Utah, and my first stay was Arches National Park in the SE where I camped for three days. The scenery was absolutely stunning!

These towers of sandstone are really impressive and are commonly in long rows. Sometimes with pathways between them! 

One of the many sandstone arches for which Arches NP was named.

 This photo was taken from my camp site before sunset. The shadows from the trees were so cool.

 This is a portion of the area in Arches named "Wall Street".

 The gigantic "Double Arches".

Nearby was my next destination for one night of camping on the high mesa of Dead Horse Point State Park with spectacular views of the Green and Colorado Rivers below.

A short drive away was the "Island in the Sky" area of Canyon Lands NP. It truly is! I came here thinking I would linger for 3-4 days, but only spent 2. The views are to die for...but there is little variety as far as hiking and exploring. 

Next stop was a one-nighter in a motel in Moab Utah. SHOWER! YES! Moab is a really neat small town. I would say it is the extreme 4WD/off-roading center of the universe. The hub where all of the back-country activities emanate. After gorging on fast-food and stocking up on groceries I proceeded south to "The Needles" area of Canyon Lands NP. In hindsight the favorite spot of my journey!

 I was lucky to get a great camping site for 3 days here. The hiking here in this landscape is incredible! The photo above was taken from the apex of an 8 mile hike. It was probably about a 400 foot climb up to the "saddle" where the trail crossed over from one valley to another. I truly fell in love with my surroundings, and would love to return here.

 In the background are a stand of "needles" and in the foreground are "mushrooms".

Next time I am going to hike through here.

I felt empathy for the remains of this little tree. It obviously struggled to survive in the desert for many many years and never became much. Yet here it lays..a thing of beauty still.