Haze, Horses and Hoodoos Our Week August 8-14

 This week we continued our journey westward and landed at Grand Junction, Colorado.  We stayed at the local KOA and it was a really nice place.  Our lot had a private grassy backyard and Smokey loved it.

Randy and Smokey enjoying some down time.

Randy was even able to use his early birthday present to cook up some tasty chicken fajitas that we enjoyed that night and made fajita nachos for lunch the next day.

The next day we headed over to Colorado National Monument where we were treated to some amazing views.  We did encounter a lot of haze due to the California wildfires but that didn’t keep us from enjoying some really incredible views.

                                  Wait how did this picture get in here…Oh I get it….It’s Smokey…

Well we could stay here for weeks exploring this diverse landscape but we needed to move on.

Next we were headed to Dead Horse Point State Park in Utah.  

This is an incredible State Park with views equal to any National Park we have been to.  The name comes from a time when the cowboys would coral the horses they didn’t want to a point and cut off their ability to leave therefore they would die there.  

                 The final scene of the movie Thelma and Louise was filmed in this location.

This park offered a lot to do and see plus it was close to two other National Parks.

Arches National Park is home to over 2000 natural arches and we tried to see every one of them.  We didn’t quite make it to all of them but we did find some very interesting ones

                                                                Delicate Arch

                                           

                                            Another beautiful arch called Sand Dune Arch

There is another National Park close by, Canyonlands.  This also was a wonderful park to visit with may vistas to enjoy along the way.

                                                                                We Hiked.

                                                                          And Hiked

                                                               The beautiful Mesa Arch.

                                                    We hike up to the top of this very large hill.

To see this geological wonder.  It’s call the Upheaval Dome.  One of the theories about this is that its part of an impact crater.  Whatever the reason it was very interesting to see and worth the hike.

Next we left to go to Bryce Canyon and experience the Hoodoos in person.  What's a Hoodoo?

A Hoodoo is a tall, thin spiral of rock that come from the bottom of a basin.  Bryce Canyon of full of Hoodoos.

It was a great week spent hiking and exploring.