This morning we pulled out of Escalante Petrified Forest State Park and headed east and then north on Scenic Byway 12 towards Torrey, UT. It had rained pretty steadily all night, so we figured the rain would interfere with our plans to visit the Anasazi State Park Museum in Boulder, UT, but the weather improved. We're glad it did.
The museum is modern, offering attractive displays and interactive multimedia exhibits to tell the story of the Ancestral Puebloan people who lived here from 1160-1235. In addition to the museum, we were able to visit the excavation site, where the foundations for a large group of structures are visible. A reconstruction of one structure helps you to envision what the site might have looked like.
On video talked about the scientific advances in archeology used to help understand the artifacts found at the site. For example, protein residue analysis of a projectile point can reveal what type of blood has been on it, and analysis of potsherds can tell what plant or animal contents the pot may have had.
Driving along Hwy 12 between Boulder and Torrey, we encountered recent snow. The highway was narrow, curvy, steep, and often with sheer dropoffs. One sign informed us that there was a 10% downgrade coming up. So glad we have good brakes! When we got to Torrey, we checked in at Thousand Lakes RV Park and got set up. After lunch we headed to the Capitol Reef National Park Visitor Center.
There we got some information about the park and watched a short video. It turns out that there is no reef at the park. Early explorers thought the imposing line of cliffs resembled a reef.
The scenery everywhere is spectacular and extremely varied. Strata are horizontal in one place and upended in another. Some surfaces are slick, others layered and crumbling. Some are bright red-orange, and others are nearly white. The views are breathtaking.
We decided to hike the Hickman Trail to the Hickman Natural Bridge. It's a one mile out, one mile back hike that took about two hours. We started near the rushing, muddy Fremont River, but soon started to climb the slope. We passed through desert landscape to an area where large black boulders, carried here from a nearby volcano, litter the ground.
Besides saying "Wow!" more times than we could count, one of our strongest impressions was the diversity of the landscape.
Interestingly, most of the hikers we encountered were speaking languages other than English. All were very polite. We did pass one large family that was clearly American--and very loud. Two of the little girls were writing on the rock walls. The boys were jumping and running on the trail. This behavior was quite a contrast with that of our other fellow hikers, and it definitely was incongruous with the awesome place we all were.
We headed home for dinner and to rest up for our explorations tomorrow.
We got an email from Dennis and Cheryl today. They made it home safely. They've decided to drive to Vancouver to be with Dennis's mom and should arrive there Monday.
0 comments:
Post a Comment