First flowers of 2009 in Grand Wash, CRNP

Once the mandatory Easter egg hunt lost its attractive luster and our blood sugar spiked from the Jelly Bellies, we sat down to breakfast and planned our day: Hiking in Capitol Reef's Grand Wash.





For sustenance we ate my homemade ginger preserves on fresh-baked oatmeal ginger bread and Bob's hi-test coffee. Who says life in Utah's Outback has to be hardscrabble and bereft of pleasure?



We set off for the park armed with Clif Bars, water, cameras and shorts (just in case). The Grand Wash section of the park was was nearly 70 degrees -- which after a long, cold winter, felt like 100 degrees. We were too disorganized to put on our shorts which was probably a good thing because the ubiquitous holly bushes would have left a mark on our legs. Who would have guessed so much holly would grow in the desert?

Soon we stumbled across this graffiti carved into the stone canyon walls. Or is it cultural history? Who gets to decide?



The side canyon we chose to hike was steep. Because Bob takes more photos (and much better quality) than me, he is always behind and below me. I would never mention that I'm in better shape.

I wish the giant Ponderosa pine (pictured below) could tell some of the stories it has seen. Flash floods, crazy tourists who get lost, meandering mountain sheep and other wildlife, and the futility of all those human worries passing beneath its branches. I like the tower to its left, too.



Here we are at the top of the side canyon. Bob contemplates the hike down, scrambling over boulders and along the steep side slope. Above us huge slabs of sandstone are poised to come crashing down. They seem to be attached to the canyon wall by a tiny thread. Stupidly, we are not concerned, despite the enormous broken chunks of canyon wall lying all around us. I mean, how much worrying is useful in a place like this?

Here is one of the many holly bushes, by far the most dangerous part of the hike. Although they never drew serious blood, they are sharp little buggers for such an innocuous little green leaf. Much like the "killer bunny" in one of the Monty Python movies. Name the movie...




About a half mile down Grand Wash I wandered up a sandstone outcrop to explore. First, I spied these petroglyphs. I haven't read whether these are considered "original" artwork or if they were designed by non-natives... but they're interesting. There is even an upside-down mountain sheep -- what that signifies I have no idea.

Here is the first mallow of the season. Three of these plants were growing on top of the sandstone ledge, spaced about 20 feet apart.



Intrepid hikers, we were totally worn out after only about 4 miles of hiking. And most of it was nearly flat. Bob blamed the heat and I blamed, well, I still can't think of anything to blame. Maybe our Clif bars were just not the right flavor.


We arrived back in Torrey dragging ourselves around as if we'd just run a marathon. Smart people would have called it a day. But that whirlwind of a gardener, Bob, revived at the thought of digging some holes in the dirt. We planted a row of sugar snap peas, snow peas, purple cabbage and kale.


Such a hard day... thank goodness for an ice cold G+T on the front porch. Nothing surpasses the taste of a much-earned drink.

Today's quest is to find some dinosaur tracks I read about online, so I set off for a short hike in Capitol Reef National Park.

Torrey was windy and 40 degrees, but down in Capitol Reef National Park it was 65 degrees and wind-free. After about a week of wind I finally found some shelter .

I liked how the cloud layer permitted the sun to highlight this cliff. It looked like nature was making a peephole.


The Sulpher Creek trailhead is across Highway 24 from "The Chimney" parking area in the park. I hiked about 1/2 mile down the dry wash through the Moenkopi layers of fossilized mud ripples that can look fake because the ripples are so well-defined and perfect.

Within the Moenkopi layer is the yellow/orange colored Sinbad Limestone layer. This is where I thought the fossilized tracks would be.

When I reached a small area of the limestone, I looked all over for tracks. All I could see was fuzzy impressions of what might be tracks from very small reptiles. I was underwhelmed, but it was fun to look for the tracks. For someone who had never seen dino tracks before, these would be a disappointment. Most people want to see the giant, three-toed tracks.

Here is the photo of a trackway. Look for a couple round-ish ripply patterns in the rock.
























The exciting part of this hike wasn't, of course, what I came looking for. The unexpected treasure was this fossil, perched partway up a layer of sandstone.




According to Wikipedia, some of the fossils found in this layer include, "the

brachiopod genus Lingula and the ammonite genus Meekoceras." This, I am guessing, is an ammonite. It measures 4" in diameter and was the only thing like in in the hundreds of rock areas I sampled. Amazing.






Another interesting find was an area of rocks covered in what I think are dendrites. These look like tiny, dark, spidery, lacy fossilized ferns, but are really a crystallized oxide of something, like manganese.




















I'm glad I went on this hike today. I'm going to ask the park ranger about the fossilized tracks and the ammonite to find out where else I can see stuff like this. On the way I'll find something else unexpected. Mostly, I want to learn to recognize the various rock layers, what era they're from and what I can find embedded in them.

But it's not as if I have an obsession with old, dead stuff.