Part 7, November 2008 Land Cruise News

Part 6 left us in Dead Horse Point State Park in Utah and just prior to that Canyonlands, Island in the Sky entrance. We enjoyed that so much, we decided to go around to the east entrance (Needles) to see what that had to offer. We had to drive over 100 miles just to end up only 23 miles from where we were in the Needles area, only on the other side of the canyon.

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Here again, the drive to the Needles entrance of the Park was fascinating. This national historical site was very interesting.

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Etchings on the Newspaper Rock date from B.C. time to A.D. 1300. Of course, there are a few much newer etchings as well.

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Then there was stuff like this tacky sign advertising a "Disneyland" type RV park (or something like that) just around the bend from the real hole in the rock.

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We drove on a two lane road most of the way through all different kinds of terrain.

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A small lake appeared. Quite a surprise.

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We arrived in Canyonlands at the Needles entrance and camped at Squaw Flats campground for a few days.

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In Canyonlands, we decided to go for a "walk". My heel had been giving me problems but I wanted to see the country. Being in lots of slickrock, we had to follow the cairns marking the trail.

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We left the campgrounds after lunch with a light jacket and no water since we weren't going to be gone that long. Huh!!!

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There were exquisite colors and different rock formations around every corner.

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As you can see, the walk turned into a heavy-duty hike with ladders and steep climbs up and down slickrock. We got involved in our walk and continued through the afternoon. The slickrock pass between Big Spring Canyon and Squaw Canyon was steep

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and exposed. It was quite a way down. Lottsa butt scootching! The view from up at the top was something to behold however, and worthwhile.

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This was the entrance to the last passage on our "walk".

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When we went through, we could see the end of our "walk" which ended up being 7.5 miles. Because of this incident, we decided to buy a small pack to carry our photography equipment, and a couple of water bottles. We won't start a "walk" in the afternoon again, it comes too close to cutting into our "happy hour". We do have our priorities.

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From Canyonlands, we drove to Durango, Colorado to visit my brother Steve and his wife, Betsy. After staying with them for a few days, we set off for the Natural Bridges National Park back in Utah.

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During our trip, we drove through a lot of free range.

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Just outside Natural Bridges National Park in Utah, we stopped at the Mule Canyon Ruin. See above.

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The interior of the round Kiva. The Kiva was used mostly for ceremonials. To the left, above the bench, is one of the tunnels leading from the residences.

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The residences and storehouse in the background.

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In the background is part of what was a two story tower. A tunnel leads to it. The tower is believed to have been used for defense as well as signalling to another community tower a little over a mile away.

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From the Mule Canyon Ruin, we drove to Natural Bridges National Park and saw this cliff dwelling from afar. By this time, I found out I have a bone spur on the back of each heel so my hiking came to a screeching halt for awhile.

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We arrived at Natural Bridges in the morning so unfortunately most of the photos of the 3 bridges had some sort of shadow adversely affecting our photos. But, you get the idea.

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