“Cabins imitating the Indian teepee for tourists along highway south of Bardstown, Kentucky.”  Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division

Photographed by Farm Security Administration staff photographer Marion Post Wolcott in July 1940.  The photo is of Wigwam City #2, Cave City, Kentucky.

“The Wigwam Motels, also known as the “Wigwam Villages”, is a motel chain in the United States in which the rooms are built in the form of teepees, hence the name “wigwam”. It originally had seven different locations: two locations in Kentucky, a location in Alabama, another location in Florida, one in Arizona, one in Louisiana, and another one in California. They are very distinctive historic landmarks. Two of the three surviving motels are located on historic U.S. Route 66, in Holbrook, Arizona and on the city boundary between Rialto and San Bernardino, California. Wigwam Motel #2, in Cave City, Kentucky was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 16, 1988 under the official designation of Wigwam Village #2.

“Wigwam village #2 was built in 1937 a few miles south of the original wigwam village #1, but on US-31W in Cave City. It was built consisting of 15 wigwams used as guest rooms and a much bigger concrete and steel central structure that originally served as a restaurant. The 15 wigwams are arranged in a semi circle around a common area with playground and recreation area. Each wigwam has a paved pad to accommodate one car.

The diameter at the base of each teepee is 14 feet (4.3 m), they are 32 feet (9.8 m) in height. Behind the main room of each unit is a small bathroom with sink, toilet, and shower. In 2008, the rooms contain the original restored hickory furniture, cable TV and a window mounted air conditioner. There are no telephones to maintain the original atmosphere of the motel, though there is internet access. The restaurant is no longer in operation, but the motel is still open and welcoming guests.

“Wigwam village #2 is close to Mammoth Cave National Park … The motel is located on 601 North Dixie Hwy, Cave City, Kentucky. ” –   Wikipedia

After the Sipapu Natural Bridge hike, we took a drive south on Utah 261 towards Mexican Hat.  A sign not to far from our campground warned “10 % grades – switchbacks – narrow gravel road 23 miles ahead.”  I learned later that part of the route is called the Moki Dugway.

It was actually the shortest route to our next destination when we resumed our drive the next day, so, besides an afternoon excursion, we were also checking the route out to see if we should go the longer route.  The Moki Dugway  is a series of steep switchbacks down a gravel road from the top of Cedar Mesa over less than 3 miles.  It was built in the late ‘50s to for transporting uranium ore from a mine to a processing mill in Mexican Hat.

“The State of Utah recommends that only vehicles less than 28 feet in length and 10,00 pounds in weight attempt to negotiate this steep (10% grade), narrow, and winding road.”

That eliminates us, then, since towing our small car sends us way over that length.  We went the long way round the next day.

We also visited Goosenecks State Park and drove through Mexican Hat that afternoon.

Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah

The sign at the trailhead says:

Trail to bridge: .6 mile (.97 km) – 500 foot (152 m) elevation change.

A strenuous hike rewards the adventurous with a closer view of Sipapu Bridge.  The trail leads to either a viewpoint partway down the canyon wall or to the canyon bottom where you can stand beneath one of the world’s largest natural bridges.

The trail contains two flights of stairs, three ladders, steep switchbacks, exposed bare rock, and stretches requiring the use of handrails.

Leaving Moab, Utah, we had a few days before our next reserved camp site – on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  While we didn’t have reservations, we decided to head down to Natural Bridges National Monument, still in Utah.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to camp at the monument for two reasons.  All of the sites were filled and there is a 26 ft. length limit, which includes the RV and the tow, or towed, vehicle.  Our little motorhome is just under that, but we were towing a little car, so were over length, even if there would have been a site available.

However,  a ranger at the desk in the visitor center was able to direct us to an overflow camping area a few miles from the park on BLM land.  We were able to find a nice little spot there with a bit of privacy from the few other camps utilizing the area.

I’m going to try to work through the remainder of photos from the trip a bit faster, without working up a video for now.  I do plan to put together videos and pages with links to references, but that will be down the road a ways, figuratively speaking.

Our final visit in the Moab area was to Canyonlands’ “Island in the Sky.”

The Island in the Sky in Canyonlands National Park is a mesa with sandstone cliffs that drop over 1,000 feet to the terrain below.  It is the easiest part of the park to visit, having many spectacular viewpoints at pullouts along the paved scenic roads.  At an average elevation of 6100 feet, it is the highest part of the park.  It includes about a dozen trails of varying lengths, some across the plateau as well as a few descending toward the rivers.

Selected Information Resources:Canyonlands National Park

• National Park Service
• Wikipedia
• Wikitravel
• Discover Moab
• The American Southwest

Dead Horse Point, near Moab, Utah, is a high plateau peninsula connected to the main plateau by a narrow neck of land.  It is part of Dead Horse Point State Park and has spectacular views of the Colorado River, Canyonlands National Park, La Sal Mountains, and other scenic features.

According to legend, the point, with it’s 30 yard wide neck, was used as a natural corral by 19th century cowboys.  Apparently, at one time, the corral was abandoned, gate left open, with unwanted cull horses still inside.  Not all of the horses left the point, dying of thirst in view of the Colorado River 2000 feet below.

A more prosaic explanation is that Dead Horse Point was named by early Mormon Pioneers for a rock formation at the base of the plateau that looks like a dead white horse laying on its side (photo on right).  In this explanation, the legend of the dead horses in the corral was created by a  Moab elementary school student in the early 20th century for a “chamber-of-commerce” type contest for a story to lure tourists.

Selected Information Resources:

Dead Horse Point State Park

• Utah State Parks & Recreation
• Wikipedia
• Utah.com
• Discover Moab

Our final hike in Arches National Park was a loop trail – 1 mile (1.6 km) – that includes three large arches.

The Windows – also known as the Spectacles – are two very large arches eroded from the same sandstone fin.  Individually, the two arches are named North Window and South Window.  Bearing left on the loop trail, North Window is the first arch that is reached.  Visitors can easily climb up and stand or sit under this massive arch.  Continuing on the trail around a large sandstone extension from the fin, the South Window can be viewed from  the trail. A short spur leads to the base of the sandstone fin. South Window is higher than North Window and not easily accessed.

The third large arch, Turret Arch, lies in a castle-like sandstone formation.  A moderately strenuous climb though its span yields a view of the Windows framed by Turret Arch.

Selected Information Resources:

Arches National Park.

• National Park Service
• Wikipedia
• Wikitravel
• Discover Moab
• GORP
• The American Southwest

In this case, Park Avenue is a canyon in Arches National Park.  A  1 mile (1.6 km) trail leads through it between the Park Avenue parking area and the Courthouse Towers parking area.

Our September 27, 2011 hike started from and returned to the Court House Towers parking area, going up hill up the canyon and down hill on our return.  We turned back at the steepest part of the trail, a short section from the Park Avenue viewpoint and trailhead.

Park Avenue viewpoint is the first major stop in the park after the visitor center.

Most visitors pass by Park Avenue trail  on their way to other more popular features, stopping only at the viewpoints at either end to perhaps snap a few photos.  We saw few other hikers on our “stroll” along the dry wash that passes between the towering walls of the canyon.

Selected Information Resources:

Arches National Park.

• National Park Service
• Wikipedia
• Wikitravel
• Discover Moab
• GORP
• The American Southwest

The Colorado and Green Rivers divide Canyonlands National Park into three districts – the Island in the Sky, the Needles, and the Maze, with the rivers themselves listed by the National Park Service as a fourth “district.”  Island in the Sky  is the easiest to visit and, thus, the most popular.  The Maze is more remote and the least accessible of the park’s districts.  The Needles is a 75 mile drive from Moab.  Most of the district’s features are found on its extensive trail system and four-wheel-drive roads.

The road to the Needles district passes through Newspaper Rock Recreational Site, location of a large collection of prehistoric petroglyph rock art.

Most of our September 26, 2011 exploration of the Needles was on the relatively short scenic drive and the 2.4 mile Slickrock Trail (a loop).

Selected Information Resources:

Canyonlands National Park

• National Park Service
• Wikipedia
• Wikitravel
• Discover Moab
• The American Southwest

The following photos are all licensed under creative commons and were found on Flickr searching on the word mountain.

almost may by paul (dex) Some rights reserved	napali by paul (dex) Some rights reserved	Up the winding path by Steve-h Some rights reserved
mountain scenery by mathias-erhart Some rights reserved	Remember the summer by pgpdesign (paul) Some rights reserved	What Have I Done? by tropicaLiving – Jessy… Some rights reserved
Picture Peak by Jeff Pang Some rights reserved	Russet by Nicholas_T Some rights reserved	Ocean Colors by Paulo Brandão Some rights reserved
Khezr Beach, Hormoz Island, Persian Gulf, Iran by Hamed Saber Some rights reserved	Kearsarge Pinnacles by Moonlight by Jeff Pang Some rights reserved	Dramatic clouds at sunset by Steve-h Some rights reserved
Davos by Astragony Some rights reserved	The Mountain Exhaled by laszlo-photo Some rights reserved	Large Format Study N. 22 by rachel_thecat Some rights reserved
Budd Creek Sunset, Tuolumne Meadow, Yosemite National Park by SteveD. Some rights reserved	Texture… by Himalayan Trails Some rights reserved	Epilogo by Astragony Some rights reserved
Blue Mountain View by nosha Some rights reserved	AYP0721425 by miyukiutada Some rights reserved	so distant by Andréia Some rights reserved
~ Mauritius ~ by Mohammed Alnaser Some rights reserved	Cloudy Victoria Peak at Lake Louise by laszlo-photo Some rights reserved	Denali from McKinley Princess Lodge, right by Unhindered by Talent Some rights reserved
CERRO FITZ ROY ( EL CHALTEN ) 3.405 MTS by R I O M A N S O Some rights reserved	Endless Whiteness [Explored] by Rising Damp Some rights reserved	Delaware River Sunrise by Bob Jagendorf Some rights reserved
Full moon wind by SteveB in Denver Some rights reserved	CYP0015758 by miyukiutada Some rights reserved	refuge des bannettes by girolame Some rights reserved

Canyonlands National Park – A large region of rugged buttes, pinnacles, mesas and canyons south and west of Moab, Utah.  This was the second time we’ve hiked this 2 mile round trip trail.

Grand View Point is the southernmost spot on the high mesa of Canyonlands, Island in the Sky.  From the Grand View Overlook, the trail runs along the southern rim of the mesa, 1000 feet above the lower plateau, which is in turn carved into complex canyons by the convergence of the Green and Colorado Rivers.

Selected Information Resources:

Canyonlands National Park

• National Park Service
• Wikipedia
• Wikitravel
• Discover Moab
• The American Southwest

On September 23, after we had moved from Devils Garden Campground in Arches National Park to a campground near Moab, we took a drive to see some some of the area that we had never been through before.

Heading northeast out of Moab on US 191, we turned left onto Utah 128 just before the bridge crossing the Colorado River.

Designated “Upper Colorado River Scenic Byway,”  Utah 128 follows the Colorado River Gorge for over 30 miles, after which it crosses open desert towards Cisco.  Now a ghost town, Cisco was established as a station for replenishing the water supply on steam locomotives on the Denver and Rio Grand Western Railroad main line.  Five miles past Cisco, Utah 128 intersects Interstate 70.

For the first 13 miles, the highway parallels the river through a narrow section of the gorge – part of this distance, the gorge is part of the boundary for Arches National Park.  The gorge widens after that, passing Castle and Professor Valleys, shooting locations for western films and television commercials.  At 24.7 miles, a dirt road leads to a viewpoint for the red spires of Fisher Towers.

Our drive (blue) took us almost the full length of the scenic byway, including driving to the Fisher Towers viewpoint.  We turned back just short of Cisco.

On the way back to Moab (red), we turned at the La Sal Mountain Loop Road, which is also the road into Castle Valley.  While the road signs were less than optimum, we were able, with the help GPS, to take the right turns on the Forest Service roads.  The road is paved part way.

The La Sal Mountain Range, in the Marti-La Sal National Forest, is the second highest range in Utah, with peaks approaching 13,000 feet.  Pines, quaking aspens, and streams make this alpine region a sharp departure from the desert country around Moab just a few miles away.

Selected Information Resources:

• Utah State Route 128 (Wikipedia)
• Colorado River (Wikipedia)
• Moab’s Scenic Byways
• La Sal Mountains & the Loop Road
• BLM Campgrounds along Hwy 128

Moab

• City of Moab Tourism
• Wikipedia
• Wikitravel
• City of Moab website
• Moab Times
• Moab Happenings
• Chamber of Commerce

Our stay at Devils Garden Campground was for three days, but there was still more that we wanted to see in Arches National Park as well as other areas.  On our 2007 trip, we had stayed 3 nights at the KOA southeast of Moab.  This time, we decided to stay there again for four nights, extending our time in the area out to a full week.  Driving distance was just 28.6 miles from Devils Garden to the KOA – the shortest distance between campgrounds we’ve done since September 2009.

Moab is the county seat for Grand County, which takes its name for the original name of the Colorado River, which runs north and west of town.  The town’s population is around 5,000, with an economy largely based on tourism and outdoor adventure activities.

Selected Information Resources:

Arches National Park.

• National Park Service
• Wikipedia
• Wikitravel
• Discover Moab
• GORP
• The American Southwest

Bureau of Land Management

We hadn’t quite reached our furthest distance away from home.  At this point, we still had about a week left in Utah before heading into Arizona.

After Landscape Arch, we went see some of the sights nearer to the entrance to Arches National Park.

It’s 9 miles (14.5 km) from the park entrance to the Balanced Rock parking area. There are four viewpoints along the way for parking, viewing some of the park’s extraordinary and unusual formations  and, at a couple of points, hiking.

• Park Avenue viewpoint – trail leads downhill through the “Park Avenue” canyon to Courthouse Towers viewpoint.
• La Sal Mountains viewpoint.
• Courthouse Towers viewpoint – we hiked up the canyon from this point and back later in our visit.
• Petrified Dunes viewpoint.

Balanced Rock is one of many popular rock formations in the park. From the parking lot, a short trail leads out to near the base and loops around it.  The height of the pillar and rock on top is about 128 feet (39 m).  The balancing rock is about the size of three school buses, estimated at 3577 tons.  During the winter of ‘75 – ‘76 a smaller companion balanced rock fell.  It had been called “Chip Off The Old Block.”

Selected Information Resources:

Arches National Park.

• National Park Service
• Wikipedia
• Wikitravel
• Discover Moab
• GORP
• The American Southwest

Landscape Arch is one of the more popular attractions in Arches National Park.  Located in the Devils Garden area in the northern part of the park, the trailhead was only a short drive from our site in the Devils Garden Campground.  Landscape Arch is 1.5 miles from the trailhead.

It’s the longest arch in the park and according to The Natural Arch and Bridge Society, the longest natural arch in the world, laser measured in 2004 at 290.1 ± 0.8 feet (88.4 m).  Since 1991, three sandstone slabs have fallen from the thinnest section of the arch, resulting in closure of the trail that once passed below it.  Several other arches are accessible in the Devils Garden area.

Selected Information Resources:

Arches National Park.

• National Park Service
• Wikipedia
• Wikitravel
• Discover Moab
• GORP
• The American Southwest

After finishing the Delicate Arch hike, we went to the visitor center, near the park entrance.

Dedicated on September 17, 2005,  the Arches National park visitor center includes, outside the front entrance,  Matthew Gray Palmer’s Desert Animal Series sculptures –  a bighorn ram, ewe and lamb, two ravens and two lizards.    These still life animals are popular with visitors (pdf).

The sculptures provide a close-up look at these magnificent animals.  To make the sculptures, the artist first made life-size wax models of the animals. A mold was made from the wax, into which molten bronze was poured. Additional details are worked into the bronze by hand to make the pieces as realistic as possible.

Palmer, a resident of Washington state, is a mixed media sculptor who also draws and paints.  In 1995 he created Parallaxis, “an endeavor dedicated to making a difference in the world by educating people about natural science and conservation through public works of art and multimedia events.”

Raven:

Raven:

Bighorn sheep ewe:

Bighorn sheep ram:

Bighorn sheep lamb:

Bighorn sheep ram:

Whiptail lizard:

Selected Information Resources:

Arches National Park.

• National Park Service
• Wikipedia
• Wikitravel
• Discover Moab
• GORP
• The American Southwest

Our first hike of our 2011 visit to Arches National Park was the 3.0 mile (4.8 km) round-trip trek to Delicate Arch on September 21.  We had done this hike almost exactly 4 years before, so we knew what we were getting into.

The trail begins at the parking lot adjacent to the old Wolfe Ranch cabin.  A side trail near the cabin leads to some petroglyphs.

The Delicate Arch trail has very little shade.  Most of the trail is over open “slickrock” sandstone – a term given by early settlers because of the difficulty of their horses’ metal shoes getting traction on the sloping surfaces of the rock. There is some exposure to heights.  The trail can be a brutal hike during the summer, when temperatures can exceed 100°F (37.7°C).  The park service recommends at least a quart of water per person on this trail. Across the rock, the trail is marked by rock cairns.

We had planned the southwestern part of our trip for late September into October to take advantage of cooler weather.  The high temperature for our hike was probably in the low 70s.

The trail to Delicate Arch is a nice hike and I heartily recommend it for a spring or autumn hike, or  even an early summer morning hike provided you’re off the rock before the extreme heat of the day.

Selected Information Resources:

Arches National Park.

• National Park Service
• Wikipedia
• Wikitravel
• Discover Moab
• GORP
• The American Southwest

After 2 weeks in Colorado, we left Grand Junction on a short drive to our next destination, Arches National Park.  It was 131 miles (211 km), mostly on Interstate 70, though the actual straight line distance was 60 miles (96.5 km).

As we traveled west in Colorado several days earlier, the landscape had gradually changed from high mountain forest and tundra to high desert country, with quite a bit of farming in the Grand Valley of the Colorado River (once called the Grand River).  Driving west into Utah, the landscape became more and more desolate with a stark and fascinating beauty.

This was our third visit to Arches National Park.  The previous two were brief, but this time we had three nights reserved in the park at Devils Garden Campground.

Arches National Park is in eastern Utah.  It has over 2000 natural sandstone arches and many other interesting geological formations, such as spires, balanced rocks and sandstone fins.  It was designated a national monument in 1929 and became a national park in 1970.

Selected Information Resources:

Arches National Park.

• National Park Service
• Wikipedia
• Wikitravel
• Discover Moab
• GORP
• The American Southwest

This was our second time on this trail segment, which runs from the Bear Lake parking area to Emerald Lake and connects with other Bear Lake area trails.  We had hoped to make it to Emerald Lake if our legs, and the weather, held out.  The weather had been iffy overnight and during the morning.  Trail Ridge Road had been closed closed the night before and remained closed due to snow for the first time in the season. With rain threatening, instead of a hike that morning, we went into Estes Park.  After lunch and walking around Estes Park town center a bit more, we headed back into the park to the Bear Lake area trailhead.

The trail we chose goes to a trio of subalpine lakes – Nymph, Dream, and Emerald – in upper Tyndall Gorge.  The trail is well maintained and rises steadily over most of it’s 1.8 mile  length.  Difficulty is easy to moderate, but can be more difficult for those not acclimatized to the altitude as it climbs to over 10,000 feet.  We had already been in Colorado a week, so the altitude was less of an issue than it might have been otherwise.

From the Bear Lake area trails parking lot (9,475 ft.), the trail climbs steady for 1/2 mile, then levels off at about 9, 700 feet at the south end of  small, lily pad covered Nymph Lake.  The trail begins climbing again in the forest on the north end of Nymph Lake and levels off again at Dream Lake, 1.1 miles from the trail head and at an elevation of 9,912′ ft.  Dream Lake is .35 miles long.  The trail passes along its west shore.

We had hoped to make it all the way to Emerald Lake, 1.8 miles from the trailhead and 10,090 feet above sea level, but we turned back at the north end of Dream Lake due to deteriorating weather conditions.  Weather in the high country can be unpredictable, even in the middle of summer, but this was the middle of September and we’d already had some rain on our hike.  We had rain gear with us. However, it was already 3:30 PM and light rain was falling again, so we decided against pushing on ahead.

Selected Information
Resources:

Rocky Mountain National Park

• National Park Service– Rocky Mountain National Park
  • Suggested Hikes
  • Conditions and Closures
• Wikitravel
• Wikipedia

Estes Park

• Convention and Visitors Bureau
• Town of Estes Park
• Wikipedia
• Wikitravel
• Trail Gazette (newspaper)
• Stanley Hotel

Grand Lake

• Grand Lake Chamber of Commerce
• Wikipedia (the lake)
• Wikipedia (the town)
• Town of Grand Lake