Camping Adventures in Capitol Reef

Last weekend PDP and I got to do some camping and hiking in Capitol Reef National Park!  This has been one of my favorites for years.  As a geology student at Indiana University (a long, long, long time ago), I took a regional geology field class where one of our stops was Capitol Reef.  I will always remember it as the prettiest hike I've ever been on.

The "reef" itself is not a traditional reef in the same sense as a coral reef formed offshore.  This is a monoclinal fold (for you geology fans!) that stretches for over 100 miles.  It was called a reef by the pioneers because it looked just like a barrier that they would not be able to get around.  In fact, the Waterpocket Fold that makes up this part of southern Utah was one of the last places mapped in the U.S.!

Here is a view of the rock units exposed at Capital Reef.  At the top, the "white" or "buff" color knobs are the Navajo Sandstone.  Below them, a cliff forming unit called the Wingate Sandstone.  (Both of these sands were deposited by wind in ancient deserts).  Lower on the hill are the Chinle Formation (known for petrified wood and uranium) and the bright red at the bottom of the stack is the Moenkopi -- old river deposits. 

PDP is in the foreground studying the rock units for a test later. Ha!

We also hiked out to Hickman Bridge, a natural arch in the Navajo Sandstone.  It was hot, hot, hot that day -- sometimes over 100 degrees F.  This makes hiking difficult and sweaty.  The evaporation rate is so high though, you don't stay wet or sticky for long.

Meanwhile --  back in my field area at Cleveland-Lloyd -- I continue to work on my project for GeoCorps.  Here I am searching out and identifying the different types of "cryptobiotic" crusts that form in this desert environment.  The crusts that form in the dry soils are made of lichens, algae, or moss and are important for protecting and storing water for desert plants, so it is important not to trample them!

That's all for now!

Dinosaur Bones and Outlaws!

I've had a bit of a chance to hike around the Morrison Formation near Cleveland-Lloyd.  The exposure is very widespread.  It is amazing to see dinosaur bones popping out of the rocks!  I think I am beginning to recognize what they look like.  Here is a picture of a sauropod rib bone in a Morrison sandstone layer. 

The Morrison Formation, deposited about 147 million years ago, during the Jurassic is known for two things: dinosaurs and uranium deposits.  Sometimes the two are simultaneous -- the dinosaur bones are the uranium deposit!!  This is because during the process of fossilization, the bones get replaced by uranium in the groundwater fluxing through.  About two months ago, not far from here, a dinosaur skeleton was found.  They found it by using a Geiger counter!  Wild stuff.

PDP and I took a trip to Canyonlands National Park last weekend.  On the way there, we passed a Utah State Park called "Dead Horse State Park".  This park has a horrendous background story where several dozens of horses, corralled out on a point in the park and forgotten, jumped several thousand feet to their death.  The drop-off provided the only source of water --- the Colorado River -- at the bottom of the canyon.  Yikes!  But this park is famous for another reason -- Thelma and Louise was filmed here!!  For those of us old enough to remember the scene where they drive off the rim of the canyon, here is a picture of Shafer Road where the scene was filmed.  Of course in taking the picture, I am standing on a cliff about 2000 feet above the road.  The road is also on a cliff several hundred feet above the river.  The scale is hard to imagine in the picture.

That's all for now!   I'm off to the quarry!

The Long and (Un)Winding Road.......

My day here at the "Swell", begins with the drive out to Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry.  The CLDQ is located approximately 20-25 miles south of Price, UT and there is about 15 miles or so of dirt road.  As evidenced in the picture, the road is often straight and uneventful, except for the occasional washboard patches.

For the first 14 or so miles, the road crosses a geologic formation  called the Mancos Shale.  The Mancos shale is primarily mud and silt layers deposited in a shallow seaway that covered much of the interior western part of the U.S. back in the Cretaceous (100 million years ago....).  It has some coal deposits and a few interesting fossil invertebrates, but really isn't the most interesting rock around.  The road really does seem endless some mornings.

This is definitely taking the "road less traveled" as some days we only get 6-10 visitors at the quarry.  But the people who take the time to come out there are always interesting and fun to talk to.


To get the to quarry, the BLM supplies us with Big Silver --- a Chevy Silverado truck.  Here I am leaving the quarry in the truck!

More later!