This morning we drove into the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park.  Wedged above the confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers, this area is a mesa at 6000 feet overlooking river-carved canyons thousands of feet below:

We briefly visited the visitor center:

We drove to the Green River Overlook.  The overlook is on Kayenta Sandstone, which acts as a capstone over the softer Wingate Sandstone, which forms the cliffs at the overlook.  Below, the Chinle Formation acts as a cap over the Moenkopi Formation, which is the lower set of cliffs:

The harder Chinle Formation is the top layer here, with the softer Moenkopi Formation below:

The Green River flows through the canyon dividing the Island in the Sky and Maze districts of the park:

Next we hiked down to False Kiva.  Due to the fragile nature of the site, False Kiva is a Class II NPS site, so the site or its trail do not appear on any maps.  Rangers will give information on getting there if asked about it.  We already knew the location of the trail and site, so we set out:

Amazing views of the Green River basin along the trail:

We met this fellow on the trail:

False Kiva is the small, rightmost shadowed area under the overhang:

The overhang is huge, and we hoped for a seismically quiet day:

Trish can be seen hiking in the lower right:

Hiking under the arch, B is in the foreground.  M, in red, can be seen standing at the entrance to False Kiva:

Under the arch:

M’s dramatic pose:

False Kiva:

B looked through the NPS logbook for the site:

The site is thought to be a Native American dwelling, probably 700 to 1000 years old:

On the way back, B captured a nice flower photo:

Next we visited Upheaval Dome, a meteor impact site within the park.  The crater is a few miles across, and was created as much as 170 million years ago:

Orange Cliffs Overlook:

Grand View Point Overlook:

Buck Canyon Overlook:

Candlestick Tower Overlook:

The vastness of this area is amazing:

Next we hiked to Mesa Arch, made famous by its photo being one of the default backgrounds for Windows 7:

Leaving Canyonlands National Park, we drove to nearby Dead Horse Point State Park, named for the narrow point where wild horses were corralled for sorting.  According to local lore, horses were once left contained at the point, and died of thirst within sight of the Colorado River thousands of feet below.  The kids worked on their Junior Ranger workbooks:

From the visitor center, we could see potash evaporation ponds near Moab:

We drove out to Dead Horse Point:

Busy day!

Shabbos dispersed camping just outside of Canyonlands National Park was pleasant.  Today we drove into the park and visited the Needles District visitor center:

The park is divided into three districts by impassible canyons channeling the Colorado River (right), and the Green River (left).  The Maze has no paved roads and takes hours to reach, so we decided not to try to get there.  Later this week, we will drive North to Moab and visit the Island in the Sky district:

Leaving the visitor center, we drove to the Elephant Hill trailhead and hiked towards Chesler Park, where the needle formations for which the park is named can be viewed:

There was a narrow canyon to walk through:

The kids spotted ancient hand print pictographs on this rock.  B is looking for more:

All along the trail we saw mature cryptobiotic soil.  We were careful not to “bust the crust”:

Cactus in bloom:

At last we reached Chesler Park and could look out over the needles in the distance:

There was also a nice arch here:

We went back the way we came back through the narrow canyon:

Returning to the visitor center, the kids handed in their workbooks and received their Junior Ranger badges:

Agave in bloom:

Here we only have tenuous Verizon voice connection with our backup phone, so we decided to drive up to Moab this afternoon.  On the way back to the highway, we stopped to visit Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument, where Native Americans have been fashioning pictographs for over 2,000 years:

Continuing north, we stopped in Moab for groceries, diesel, water, and dumping sewer tanks.  BLM lands in the Moab area for the most part do not allow dispersed camping due to the amount of use the area receives, so we continued north on highway 191 for 12 miles to a dispersed camping location on Utah state SITLA land.  See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.