Thursday, October 23, 2014

Looking for Skylight Arch Cave

 

One of the highlights of our stay along San Rafael Reef was looking for and finding Skylight Arch also known as Wild Horse Window Arch. We had several  maps showing the location, but there was no marked trail we could find.

This where we were heading.

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We had seen several groups heading up the slick rock  toward  where we thought the cave was, so we packed up and walked up Wild Horse Wash to  look for a trail up. Walking up the slick rock was fun, but it took us a while  to find some cairns that marked the way. The problem with following the cairns is you don’t know who placed them and they were so darn hard to see,  most of them being  the same colour as the rock.

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Skip Taking a break

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We could see our RV and our neighbours across the wash, we are where the little blue x is.

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At  one  point we could hear dogs barking and realized it was our dogs. We looked back at our rig and we could see our neighbour walking around  our site with his dog. Amazing how sound carries across the canyons

 

We could see the cave for quite a ways and finally we were at the narrow path leading up to Skylight  Cave.

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We were told by two hikers we met that the Pictographs  were fake.

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It is a huge cave, Skip looks so small.

We had a fun day looking for  the cave and walking up the slick rock.  The San Rafael Reef area has much to do and see, and we love it here.

 

Jean

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Goblin State Park is Amazing

 

We woke up to a cloudy windy day, so we decided to  go to Goblin State Park for the afternoon. We  ended up going for a six or seven mile hike.

From the web:

The unusual stone shapes in Goblin Valley result from the weathering of Entrada Sandstone. The Entrada consists of debris eroded from former highlands and redeposited on a former tidal flat of alternating layers of sandstone, siltstone and shale. The rocks show evidence of being near the margins of an ancient sea with the ebb and flow of tides, tidal channels that directed currents back to the sea and coastal sand dunes.

Joint or fracture patterns within the Entrada sandstone beds created initial zones of weakness. The unweathered joints intersected to form sharp edges and corners with greater surface-area-to-volume ratios than the faces. As a result, the edges weathered more quickly, producing the spherical-shaped 'goblins'.

The Entrada Sandstone from which the hoodoos developed was deposited in the Jurassic Period around 170 million years ago.

 

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Little Wild Horse Butte

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We paid our $8.00 for a day pass, and drove up to the view point, where the trails began and where you could see lot’s of Goblins. We decided we would hike the short trail to Goblins Lair.

The beginning of the trail down

Trail to Goblins Lair

Path to Goblin Lair

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Strange rocks

And beautiful Vistas

 

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Most of the trail wasn’t very well marked, there were a few cairns to follow as we went farther down the trail to the bottom of the gorge.

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It was very hot by the time we were walking on the flat valley floor. We

passed this sign

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We continued on until we came to what we think is Goblin”s Lair

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There was no sign so we continued across the valley there was barely a path but there were magnificent cliffs with spires and goblins.

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After a couple of hours, we turned and headed back  to the viewpoint. By the time we made our way back across the valleys and climbed back up to the trail head and the car, we were hot and tired,  so we decided we would  come back another day and see the rest of the park

Our Verizon signal  is really, really, slow most times we have a 1X signal showing sometimes 3G for  a few minutes. Too  slow for pictures to load.

BUT we are loving this area and will come back.

Jean

Monday, October 13, 2014

San Rafael Ridge, Utah

 

Saturday October 11th 2014

 

We are in Utah!!!  In the Goblin Valley, we have  a great boon docking spot (thanks Martin).

Lots to do here, and the weather forecast  look fantastic.We are a few miles from Goblin State Park.

We love our site overlooking the San Rafael Ridge

IMG_5070Lots of white slick rock.We’ll be exploring the ridge this week

Our nearest neighbor although we never saw them

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A Pretty Nice first sunset.

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And the big test tonight.

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Would the Shaw Satellite  TV work again this year

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The answer is yes! Even here in UT our signal is 70.

 

Jean

 

This is the third attempt to publish the signal is almost nonexistent

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Anacortes to Memaloose to Stonehenge

 

The Ferry ride from Sidney on Vancouver Island to Anacortes WA  was interesting as we passed through fog banks interspersed with brilliant blue sky.

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Going through US immigration on the Sidney side was easy, the usual questions, Where are you going?, how long will you be away?. On the Anacortes  side US Customs asked about fruits and vegetables, and we were sent on our way.

After a short visit with Skips sister Pam IN Anacortes, we headed down I-5 in the fog,  to Marysville and the Tulalip Casino.The RV lots were full, but we were able to park one lot over close to a big field where we could  walk the dogs.

Tuesday morning we left Marysville early and went down I 405, which was really busy, we ended  up south of Tacoma and drove down  The Columbia River Gorge on highway  84.

What a spectacular drive, the traffic wasn’t too bad, the weather was sunny and quite warm and the views were amazing. Just after, the town of Hood River, we saw a sign for Memaloose State Park, we turned in and got a site for two nights.Full  Hooks ups were $24.00 per night. We like to here, there is road noise and we can hear the trains, but we needed to de- stress and this is a perfect place for that.

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Took a drive across the bridge at the Dales then drove to   Mary Hill on the Washington side of the river.

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There is  a  remarkable replica of Stonehenge, it was built as a memorial to the young men of the County who were killed in the first world war.http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2601

 

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There are plaques with the names of the fallen

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This young man was only 20.

We really like this area and we would stay longer but  we are still headed for Utah  and we will be on our way tomorrow.

Jean

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Getting Ready For Winter Travelling

 

  We hit the road today. We are actually just driving down Island to Victoria, where we will spend the night before catching the ferry that runs between Sidney and Anacortes Washington.

This will be the fifth winter we have headed to the south western US in search of warm temperatures and and sunny skies. We think we are ready, I hope we are. Garden stuff is put away, water taps are wrapped. Motorhome is loaded except for the last minute things we need..It seems that we spent the last couple of weeks getting there.  We have pared down the three or four lists to one of last minute  things. Travelling with three dogs means they have  their  own list…vet appointments, Jakes prescription filled, beds and blankets, dishes, food.

We can take our time getting ready to leave  today as we’re only driving 90 miles or so, we haven’t decided whether we will spend the night at the Sidney Ferry dock or stay in Victoria.

We are hoping to get to Utah before the weather turns cold there. We have never been to South East Utah but it has been on our list for a few years.

Our friends Gay and Martin drove up from Sidney to see us twice this summer, the last time Martin brought us maps he had copied to show us where they had camped. They have spent quite a while exploring the San Rafael Swell. We  met Martin and Gay the first time we went to Borrego Springs, and have seen them every year since, sadly illness prevents them from travelling this year.

It’s always hard to leave family and friends for five months, but we are looking forward to   seeing our RV friends and travelling down new roads.

Jean