October, 2017

Saturday, October 7th

Other articles: Cisco Road at RR Xing Utah Highway 128 at Cisco Rd

Locations: Cisco.
East end of Cisco siding, near Cisco, Grand County, Utah.  

Other articles: Utah Highway 128 near Dewey Bridge

Locations: Dewey.
Point of rocks along the Colorado River.  

Other articles: Utah Highway 128 near Richardson Amphitheater near Fisher Towers at Rocky Rapid

Locations: Fisher Towers. Rocky Rapids.
La Sal Mountains from the side of Highway 128  

Other articles: US Highway 191 near Crescent Junction

Locations: Book Cliffs. La Sal Mountains.
Book Cliffs near Crescent Junction.  

Sunday, October 8th

Other articles: Utah Highway 24 near The Notch Utah Highway 95 in Hanksville

Locations: Hanksville. The Notch.
Hollow Mountain Gas Station  

Other articles: Utah Highway 24 bet. Hanksville & Cainville
Capitol Reef with Boulder Mountain in the background  

Other articles: Utah Highway 24 in Capitol Reef NP
Canyon in Capitol Reef National Park along Utah Highway 24
Canyon in Capitol Reef National Park along Utah Highway 24  

Other articles: Utah Highway 24 at Capitol Reef Nat'l Pk

Locations: Capitol Reef National Park.
Near Park Headquarters.  

Other articles: Utah Highway 24 at Capitol Reef Nat'l Pk
Cliffs at Panorama Point
Small mesa near Panorama point.  

Literature Cited:
- Smith, Beatrice Scheer, 1994.

Other articles: Utah Highway 12 at Larb Hollow Olook
Interpretive panel at Larb Hollow Overlook.  

Larb Hollow Overlook

Turning aspens at Larb Hollow Overlook	View across Waterpocket Fold to San Rafael Desert

Early Explorers: Filling in the Blanks

Ellen Thompson, Expedition Botanist Ellen Thompson, wife of A. H. Thompson and sister of John Wesley Powell, served as botanist on the sedond Powell Expedition. She collected hundreds of plants, many of them new to science. Several were named in her honor, including Thompson's Penstemon (Penstemon thompsoniae) and Thompson's Woolly Locoweed (Astragalus mollissimum var. thompsoniae). Mount Ellen, in the Henry Mountains, is also named for her. “I never felt more exultant in my life ... I was looking on the most wonderful scenery I ever beheld.”

Andrus Expedition, 1866 “... as far as the Eye can see a naked barren plain of red and white Sandstone crossed in all directions by innumerable gorges ...” -- Franklin B. Woolley, Andrus Expedition, 1866. Several years before the Powell Expedition, the Andrus military expedition patrolled the Aquarius Plateau region, providing the first written descriptions of this area.

Mapping the Last Uncharted Lands By 1870, the continental United States had been mapped and surveyed, except for one area -- the vast region that surrounds you. From the Colorado River to the Aquarius Plateau, and from the Virgin River to the Green, this rugged landscape was uncharted territory. Though the Fremont Expedition passed through Capitol Reef during the winter of 1853-54, they were desperately low on provisions and did not linger to survey the region. In 1872, John Wesley Powell launched his second expedition down thw Green and Colorado Rivers to chart the Rivers and surrounding lands. Over the next four years, his brother-in-law, Almon H. Thompson, led the land survey of southern Utah, during which he explored and charted Boulder Mountain and the rest of the Aquarius Plateau. The expedition also named and mapped the Escalante River and the Henry Mountains, respectively the last-mapped river and mountain range in the lower 48 states.

Other articles: Utah Highway 12 along highway
Turning aspens on Boulder Mountain  

Other articles: Utah Highway 12 along highway

Locations: Point Lookout.
View south from Boulder Mountain  

Interpretive panel

Lay of the Land: Across a Vast Horizon “To a life that accepts Nature's hand in sculpting an individual expression – Nothing is exempt. From the mellifluous rhythm and tome of the wid chime, to the transitional form of the cloud – Nothing exists alone. All things thrive and whither in confluence with one another. So it is; the paradox of our divinity.” – Dave Buschow Waterpocket Fold The 100-mile-long Waterpocket Fold forms the backbone of Capitol Reef National Park. Here, geologic rock layers drape over a steeply dipping fault plane. Over millennia, water and wind have eroded the soft layers, sculpting the Waterpocket Fold's intricate contours. Along the Fold, water collects in sandstone basins, forming “waterpockets.” Circle Cliffs Within this section of Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument lie huge petrified wood logs, some nearly 90 feet long. These rocks formed from trees that grew some 210 million years ago. The logs were buried in river sediments and became “petrified” as silica from volcanic ash gradually replaced organic cell tissue. The Heart of the Escalante “The Aquarius should be described in blank verse and illustrated upon canvas. The explorer who sits upon the brink of its parapet looking off into the southern and eastern haze, who skirts its lava cap or clambers up and down its vast ravines, who builds his camp fire by the borders of its snow-fed lakes or stretches himself beneath its giant pines and spruces, forgets that he is a geologist and feels himself a poet.” – Clarence Dutton, 1880 The wild heart of the Escalante River drainage spreads before you – a labyrinth of canyons, mesas, and rolling slickrock. Remote peaks grace the horizon. On the far left lie the Henry Mountains, the last-named mountain range in the continental United States and home to one of the country's few free-roaming bison herds. Follow the horizon south, and you'll reach the rounded dome of Navajo Mountain on the Utah-Arizona border.

Other articles: Utah Highway 12 near Calf Creek

Locations: The Hogback.
Boulder Creek below Utah Highway 12  

Other articles: Utah Highway 12 in Escalante
Escalante Outfitters, supplies and food
Western end of Escalante  

Other articles: Utah Highway 12 on UT Hwy12

Locations: Powell Point.
Powell Point from Utah Highway 12 (2017)  

Interpretive plaque on the Second Powell Expedition	Interpretive plaque about the Kaiparowits Formation

Second Powell Expedition: Charting New Territory Powell Point Recollections “We still keep Table Mountain (Pink Point) to our left … this singular mountain suggests a monster melon, sliced and standing on end. It is exactly the color of a ripe, red core; the pines that grow on ledges and benches, black specks at this distance, look like weeds.” – Walter Clement Powell, member of the Second Powell Expedition of 1871, describing their ascent of the Blues Formation to the base of Powell Point. The Topmost Stair Powell Point reveals the topmost layer of the Colorado Plateau's Grand Staircase. This brilliantly colored layer, known as the Pink Cliffs or Claron Formation, is the same geologic layer that forms the spectacular, pinnacled landscape of Bryce Canyon National Park and Red Canyon, farther west on Highway 12. Last Blank Spot on the Map In 1871, this region was part of the last uncharted territory in the continental United States. That year, Major John Wesley Powell launched the Second Powell Expedition to explore and map this frontier, continuing the work he had begun three years earlier. Powell led the expedition safely through the wild waters of the Green and Colorado Rivers to the Paria River. He then instructed his brother-in-law Almon H. Thompson to lead the expedition overland to map what they called “the unknown country.” In 1872, expedition members climbed the slippery slopes of the badlands on which you now stand. Thompson then scaled the brilliant pink formation above you to view the surrounding country. Over the next four years, Thompson's explorations filled in this last blank spot on the U. S. map. In 1879, surveyor Clarence Dutton named this spectacular landmark “Powell Point,” in honor of Major Powell. Highway 12 now follows the 2nd Powell Expedition's exact route from Henrieville all the way to Head of the Rocks, east of Escalante.

Digging for Dinosaurs: Treasure in These Hills Why Here? The Kaiparowits Formation's stunning fossil record results from a perfect combination of circumstances. First, during the Late Cretaceous, this region was a lush, subtropical, coastal plain where an enormous number and variety of animals lived. Second, abundant rivers and coastal storms moved great volumes of sand and mud, so animals that died were sometimes buried quickly, preserving their remains. Lastly, uplifting of the Colorado Plateau over the past 60 million years has brought this deeply buried treasure to the surface. Scientific Frontier In a region famed for once being the last unmapped frontier in the continental United States, the Kaiparowits Formation remains a largely unexplored frontier. By protecting the fossils of this formation through proper collection and study, Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument conserves a vast storehouse of knowledge available nowhere else on earth. Kaiparowits Fossil Bonanza There's treasure beneath your feet. Not of the gold-and-rubies variety, but rather a treasure of fossilized bones, eggshells, and other paleontological gems, buried in these gray rock formations some 73-77 million years ago. Known as the Kaiparowits Formation, these sedimentary rock layers lie at the top of what is perhaps the best and most continuous record of Late Cretaceous terrestrial life in the world. Forty-foot long crocodiles, rhinoceros-like horned dinosaurs. tyrannosaurs, and velociraptors – all lived here. Scientists have surveyed only a small fraction of the Kaiparowits Formation, and have unearthed more than one hundred species of vertebrates. Excavations are revealing a long-lost ecosystem inhabited by a fantastic array of animals, including some of the earliest marsupial and placental mammals ever found. These disoveries are helping to explain the origins of our present world.

Other articles: Utah Highway 12 in Tropic
Powell Point from the roadside near Tropic  

Saint George, Utah, to Laguna Hills, California

Laguna Hills, California

Wednesday, October 11th

Other articles: Alta Laguna Boulevard Alta Laguna Park

Locations: Alta Laguna Park.
View from Alta Laguna Park  

Thursday, October 12th

Other articles: U. S. Highway 101 at rest stop
Gaviota Rest Stop  

Locations: San Luis Obispo.
House I lived in while attending Cal Poly
Market where I worked, formerly called the New Park Grocery  

Locations: San Luis Obispo.
Line for F. McLintocks barbeque at the Farmer's Market
One reason the SLO Farmer's Market was so pleasant  

San Luis Obispo.

Saturday, October 14th

Locations: Port San Luis.
Port San Luis after lunch  

Locations: San Luis Obispo.
Still functional 50+ years later  

Sunday, October 15th

Other articles: California Highway 41 83900

Locations: Atascadero Pine Mountain Cemetery.
Grave marker of Paul Schweich  

Other articles: Adelaida Road at cemetery

Locations: Adelaida Cemetery.
Grave marker in Adelaida Cemetery  

Monday, October 16th

Other articles: Fairview Avenue near Southwood
The Old House  

Other articles: California Highway 1 in Gualala

Locations: Gualala.
Estuary of the Gualala River in Gualala  

Tuesday, October 17th

Other articles: California Highway 1 in Fort Bragg

Locations: Fort Bragg.
The Emerald City out back of Egghead Omelettes Restaurant  

Other articles: Bald Hills Road at Lady Bird Johnson Grove

Locations: Lady Bird Johnson Grove.
Looking up through the trees  

Interpretive panel for “Saving the Redwoods”	Backlit view of redwood forest.

Saving the Redwoods As spectacular as these redwood forests are, their protection was slow to gain broader support. One of the earliest organized efforts to save the redwoods was led by the Sempervirens Club. In 1902, they convinced the California legislature to appropriate funds for the purchase of the first state redwood park. Congressman William Kent also joined the effort. He personally bought and donated 295 acres of redwoods outside San Francisco to the federal government. His gift led to the creation of the Muir Woods National Monument in 1908. Save the Redwoods League was founded in 1918 to purchase redwoods and convert the land to public trust. Numerous groves were protected and redwood state parks created through the League's efforts, including Del Norte Coast Redwoods, Jedediah Smith Redwoods, and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Parks. A renewed effort to establish a national redwood park began in the early 1960s. These efforts were augmented in 1963 when a National Geographic survey team discovered several trees along Redwood Creek that were taller than any previously known. This discovery helped lead to the establishment of Redwood National Park in October of 1968.

Other articles: U. S. Highway 101 at Bandon

Locations: Bandon.
Tsunami Evacuation Map for Bandon, Oregon  

Gold Beach to Albany.

Albany, Oregon

Albany, Oregon, to Boise, Idaho.

Other articles: US I-84 at Rooster Rock

Locations: Rooster Rock (historical).
Interpretive panel at Rooster Rock State Park  

Rooster Rock

Lewis and Clark Expedition Rooster Rock Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the two great American explorers who made secure the claim of the United States for the Oregon country, passed along this stretch of the Columbia River with their Corps of Discovery on their way to the Pacific Ocean on October 31 -- November 2, 1805. They brought their boats through the “Great Shute” (now covered by the waters of Bonneville Dam) and recorded “a remarkable high detached rock stands in a bottom on the stard side ... [it is] 800 feet high and 400 paces around, we call [it] the beaten rock.” A later journal entry called it Beacon Rock. The captains described “great numbers of sea otters” and “a high clift of black rocks” (Cape Horn) on the north shore. Clark wrote “here the river widens to near a mile, and the bottoms are more extensive and thickly timbered, as also the high mountains on each side ... passed a rock near the middle of the river, about 100 feet high and 80 feet diameter [Phoca Rock] ... we encamped under a high projecting rock on the lard [Rooster Rock].” The expedition camped in this area April 6-9, 1806, on their return journey. They noted that Beacon Rock “may be esteemed the head of tidewater.”

Saturday, October 21st

Other articles: U. S. Highway 91 bet. Zenda and Red Rock Pass
View south to Red Rock Pass
Looking north towards Zenda (in the trees)  

Other articles: U. S. Highway 91 Red Rock Pass

Locations: Red Rock Pass.
Hill with monument  

Interpretive Panel for Red Rock Pass	Interpretive Panel for Red Rock Pass	Memorial plaque to Captain Jefferson Hunt	View from top of hill

Red Rock Pass Geological Site About 14,500 years ago, ancient Lake Bonneville overflowed at this site. A dam of alluvial fans between Oxford Mountain to the west and the Portneuf Range to the east suddenly eroded releasing Lake Bonneville from the Great Basin into the Snake River system. The Peak flow was about one million cubic meters per second at the pass, or about 500 times the maximum discharge on the Snake River at Idaho Falls, Idaho. Ancient “bathtub ring” shorelines up to 1,000 feet above the valley floor are readily visible in the Salt Lake Valley. Evidence of the flood is visible thoughout southern Idaho with areas of scoured bare bedrock (“scabland”) and deposits of boulders (“melon gravel”) marking the flood path. After about 11,000 years, Lake Bonneville receded to become the Great Salt Lake. Highly saline and only 40 feet deep, it is but a shadow of giant fresh-water Lake Bonneville. Red Rock Pass is the geographic northern extremity of the Bonneville drainage basin, and was also designated by the early Latter-day Saint leaders as the northern edge of the proposed State of Deseret. North of here, water flows to the Snake, Salmon, and Columbia rivers, on the way to the Pacific Ocean, but south of here it flows into the Great Basin and the Great Salt Lake. South of the monument in Red Rock Pass, the house-sized limestone blocks were jostled during the breakout of the Bonneville flood. The uneven topography northwest of the monument is a landslide which flowed into Red Rock Pass after it was deepened about 400 feet during the flood. Ancient cave formations are found in the flat-lying limestone of Red Rock Butte immediately north of the monument.

Red Rock Pass You are standing in the outlet of ancient Lake Bonneville. A vast prehistoric inland sea, of which Salt Lake is a modern remnant. Covering over 20,000 square miles when it overflowed here about 14,500 years ago, its winding shoreline would have stretched from here to New Orleans if it were straightened out. This pass was deepened considerably when Lake Bonneville began to slow into Snake River. For a time, a torrent several times larger than the Amazon was discharged here. Finally, with a hotter, drier climate that slowly emerged about 8,000 years ago, Lake Bonneville gradually disappeared.

No 119 Erected October 2, 1950 Captain Jefferson Hunt, Soldier, Pioneer, Churchman Charles Jefferson Hunt served in the Mormon Battalion as captain of Company “A” and as assistant executive officer, in its historic march from Council Bluffs, Iowa to San Diego, California, 1846-47. His service won the commendation of all who served with him. Under appointment by President Brigham Young in 1851, Captain Hunt was guide for the pioneers to San Bernardino, California. His pioneering service included also Provo, Parowan, and Huntsville (which bears hus name), in Utah, and Oxford, Idaho. A convert to the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints he was loyal, obedient, and faithful to the end. Erected by descendents of Captain Hunt and the Utah Pioneer Trails and Landmarks Association.

Other articles: UT Hwy 30 90000
Welcome to Wyoming!  

Rock Creek, Wyoming, to Golden, Colorado.

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Date and time this article was prepared: 11/21/2019 3:59:55 PM