From
Moab to Lake Powell through Cataract Canyon
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
The
first day was mostly spent watching these beetle larve
chomp on
tamarisk. Hopefully this biological control method
doesn't have a
crappy ending.
|
Cool
bird tracks preserved in the dried mud. Some call
these monster
puzzles.
|
Our
first camp. A comfortable sandbar in the middle of
the
river. Was very nice, excepting the mosquitos.
|
Ben,
our fearless captain. Aside from navagating the
rapids, he kept
us well fed and entertained with some great stories.
|
Here
I am hanging out on the overhang overlooking the boat, "El
Shweezo". Ben, a
Colorado river guide, built this boat himself, with a
little help from
his dad.
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|
A
bit of a swim down the Colorado. Utilizing a nice
polo kick to
get out of the water.
|
Very
intact granary right off the bank of the river.
|
Very
cool petrified log preserved in the "mud bank" of the
sandstone.
|
A
great picture of Dad.
|
Ah,
to relax on the slickrock. Is there anything better?
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
This
tamarisk forest reminded me of Fangorn forest or something
from Lord of
the Rings.
|
"3
faces"
|
A
couple others we called "2 faces"
|
The
"rainbow". We were there around the summer equinox
and
hypothesized that this was used as a solar type calandar,
utilizing the
spots on either side as a way to mark certain times.
|
Look,
we were right! The light lines up exactly with the
dot on the
summer equinox!
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
Well,
our theory did not quite pan out.
|
A
far off shot of the "3 faces"
|
Nice
valley. Seems the native americans who lived in this
valley knew
what they were doing.
|
I
love sleeping on the slickrock. This was a very cool
camp.
|
Can
you see the granary. Man, they really had to go a
long way to the
pantry.
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
A
little closer up of the granary
|
Our
loyal steed among the first rapids. Not many
pictures of the
rapids, as dad didn't want to ruin his camera (go figure)
|
On
the way to the dolls house. We had to hike a very
steep trail to
the top of the plateu.
|
Here
is a view from the top. No one died on the hike up
(even the old
guys)
|
Can
you see the granary in this shot?
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
A
littel closer up picture of this well-preserved granary
|
Very
cool balancing rock in the dolls house.
|
There
are a bunch of cool narrow canyons in the dolls house.
|
More
hoodoos in the dolls house.
|
A
bit of flowers in the valley of the dolls house.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Very
bold collored lizard. Put on a nice display.
We saw his
female higher on the trail, who also posed for some
photos.
|
Saw
a nice large bobcat track on the trail up to hidden
valley.
Didn't see the actual cat though.
|
Nice
beach camp. Can't beat a game of botchi (spelling?)
ball game on
the shores of the Colorado.
|
Nice
cascading pools in this deep dark canyon.
|
I
love the Canyon treefrogs. They have to be the
enigmatic amphib
of the desert. There were lots of tadpoles in the
pools to the
left.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nice
tiny red-spotted toad
|
Nice
looking male tree lizard
|
Last
breakfast of the trip
|
We
were almost underneath this rock slide. We saw the
dust and heard
the noise, but were just a little far away
(thankfully) You can
see the scar on the cliff face.
|
End
of the trip. The calm waters of Lake Powell,
|
|
