Germar's Monthly Updater

Utah 2002 Day 2 When the second day dawned, we still were 250 miles away from our first destination: Canyonland National Park. Distances in the American West are just huge! At least it was less than half the mileage of the first leg. We started the day relaxed and were excited of the challenges to come. Lois, Janet, Tom, Mike, Kathy, John, and Dave Driving east on I-70, we soon saw the first rock formations Utah is famous for: sheer cliffs made of red sandstone, solitary buttes overlooking vast plains, and deep canyons. Several vista points along the freeway provided awe inspiring views of the magnificent landscape. John Between milepost 144 and 145 we pulled off the freeway and followed a dirt road for several miles into Black Dragon Canyon. Here we saw the first of many pictographs that we would encounter on our trip. Those in Dragon Canyon were created by Indians of the Fremont Culture between 700 and 1250 AD They were painted on the huge overhanging wall (shown further below), and have withstood the ravages of time almost undamaged. Sadly, the most prevalent threat today is vandalism rather than weather: many places showed signs of more modern graffiti. Here is the "canvas" of Black Dragon Canyon's pictographs. This wall is huge! Note our tiny trucks at the bottom right corner of the picture. Left of the rocks in the foreground was the entrance to a cave. It went down into the mountain for about 50 yards. There were no signs of ancient settlements inside, but the low ceiling and darkness felt rather creepy. After the side trip we continued to the town of Green River and then followed a dirt road for 30 miles trough the San Rafael Desert. We set up camp at the rim of Horseshoe Canyon, and enjoyed the rise of the full moon over the magnificent scenery of Canyonland.

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