Canyonland, Arches, Rafting, Natural Bridges, and Monument Valley

Well a lot has happened since our last major post in Capitol Reef NP - but we haven't had internet to report it all! First stop was Canyonlands National Park, Islands in the Sky - a fantastic mesa overlooking the Colorado and Green Rivers.
Here Dave does his Moose imitation:

And here is the view from one of the overlooks - this is not an aerial shot! The Green river is about 3000ft below and just visible.




We spent the night in Moab - the uranium mining centre of the US - and also a great base for exploring the parks. Here Grommet takes us into Arches NP:

Dave prepares to shoot Pine Arch:

And here is Delicate Arch at sunset - a long hike but well worth it. The view is spectacular - what you can't see is that there were a couple of hundred people standing next to us!









Next day we took a white water raft trip down West Water on the Colorado River - no photos because of the risk of getting the cameras wet - but it was great fun and a good day out.

Following that it was on to Natural Bridges National Monument - a Natural Bridge is formed by a river eroding a shortcut and cutting off a previous meander, whereas a Natural Arch is formed by erosion that is not above a watercourse. It stormed while we were here...

The next day it was on to Monument Valley where the meals were also monumental - we shared a taco and could hardly finish it. The valley is run by the Navaho Nation and they have their own laws not answerable to the state or federal authorities (except for major felonies). They even have their own police cars, courts, and (I assume) jails.

Following that, we took the drive to Mesa Verde in Colorado - passing Four Corners on the way -where Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado all meet and an endless string of witless tourists lines up to spread-eagle themselves with one limb in each state. Mesa Verde though is fabulous and easily lives up to expectations. Another highlight was seeing a black bear (in fact grey) ambling out onto the road in front of us - I had to hit the brakes hard to miss it and unfortunately there was no camera at the ready. Here's one of the Pueblo villages:

It's nice to have an internet connection again and to catch up with the results from Uvalde. Go Team, Go!