ramblings of a Seattle travel, food and photography hound
Of all the strange shapes found throughout the Southwest, some of the most whimsical are found in Goblin Valley State Park. Think toadstools and you'll get an idea what to expect. These hoodoos are a result of the erosion of the reddish Entrada sandstone deposits that collected in tidal flats. There are no established trails... Continue Reading →
You don't have to go to Petrified Forest National Park to see petrified wood. Along Highway 12, north out of Bryce Canyon National Park, we stopped at Petrified Forest State Park that has some splendid examples of petrified wood. As soon as you take the trail into the hills, you begin to notice some pastel-shaded... Continue Reading →
Driving down Highway 24 from Torrey, a wall of rock emerges on the horizon as far as the eye can see. It is an impressive sight, the western edge of the Waterpocket Fold, exposed when the Colorado Plateau was formed. Beyond this is a colossal warp (geologists call this a monocline) in the landscape. From... Continue Reading →
On the afternoon of our arrival, along the Bryce Canyon scenic drive, the temperature was in the 40s and a stiff wind was stinging our faces and blowing dust and sand into our eyes. Snow was clearly visible on the higher slopes. Sound like vacation in the winter? Only a few hours earlier we were... Continue Reading →
Kodachrome Basin State Park is a curious name. What does a popular slide film from Kodak have to do with a state park? It turns out that in 1949, the National Geographic Society did a story and took photographs of the area and named it after the new film that Kodak introduced. Never mind that... Continue Reading →
The Southwest is famous for its slot canyons, narrow passageways carved out of sandstone by the erosive power of fast, flowing water. These canyons typically have very high, vertical walls, making them shadowy and dark for most of the day. They become illuminated to the floor only when the sun is directly overhead. Some passages... Continue Reading →
You reach a point somewhere on Scouts Lookout when you have to decide if you’re going to finish the last one-quarter mile of the Angels Landing hike that ascends a narrow fin of rock over a saddle and hogsback. On either side, the trail drops off precipitously over a thousand feet to the Zion Valley floor, with... Continue Reading →
What started out as a hike to Weeping Rock turned into a much longer, splendid hike toward Hidden Canyon. Instead of turning left at the interpretive panel as we should have, we mistakenly turned right. After an hour of hiking that severely tested our legs and lungs, the trail became progressively more challenging, a portion of... Continue Reading →
Italians speaking German? Italian villages that look Austrian? These are not so odd in the northeastern part of Italy (Trentino-Alto Adige) that belonged to Austria before 1919. This region is the home of the Dolomites, a spectacular mountainous region that is in the South Tyrolean province and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As we arrived... Continue Reading →
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