The Boondocks of Utah
From Monument Valley we headed north into the netherregions of Utah.
"Are we there yet?"
Our first stop was at a Utah state park called Goosenecks of the San Juan River. This formation is called an entrenched meander. The river made lazy meanders a million years ago, and then the whole of the Colorado Plateau rose up beneath it, allowing the river to continually cut its way through the plateau. The Goosenecks are about a mile wide, but the river travels six miles through it.
Near the Goosenecks is a set of switchbacks, called a dugway, cut into the cliffs.
Like I said, we were in the boondocks.
Jessica stands beneath one of three natural rock spans found at Natural Bridges National Monument. A natural bridge differs from an arch in that the bridge is formed by water flowing beneath it.
Two forms of life found in Natural Bridges. On the left is cryptobiotic soil, a fragile, crusty black formation of cyanobacteria, lichen and moss. On the right is a typical little brown lizard.
We crossed the Colorado River again. Everything seen in green here is usually under Lake Powell.
Another stitched panoramic, taken from an overlook above what used to be Lake Powell.
On to Capitol Reef National Park!
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