The westward course of bathtub rings (Potash, Utah)

Where does salt come from? And how can I never have wondered that before? The bathtub ring of Lake Mead and the westward course of empire should have got me thinking about this sooner.

All that wide blue sky (Kanab and Paria)

"But for me, oh it was the acting" (31s)
Only not in this case.

We saw the new Magnificent Seven a few weeks ago. (That was my allowance of murders for the month, can't watch any more for a while.) The story was interesting enough - it's a remake, and one of the classic plots, so no real surprises. The film likewise, especially in its context as one of a series (Seven Samurai, the original Magnificent Seven, and even The Avengers is not stretching the point too far.) The costuming was not bad, though the female pseudo-protagonist showed way too much bosom for a respectable woman of the period who wasn't at an evening party. (And not enough actual, y'know, character development. Ugh! Say it with me, boobs are not characters ... unless you're a comic strip.) Several of the characters were very striking - such a villain! - but for me, oh it was the scenery.

Image by Geraint Smith via jerrygarrett.wordpress.com

'Bonanza' set near Kanab, UT
On private property and unmaintained,
it is slowly succumbing to weather

I am enchanted with the cliffs and mesas of the region they call 'Indian Country' (which is gah, idk, hopeless understatement, much of the continent was Indian Country. However.) The ground in such shades of orange and brown among the green, it is no wonder the sky looks so blue. M7 was shot in New Mexico (and Louisiana, but that can't possibly be the landscape shots) but it could just as well take its place with dozens of earlier westerns filmed at Paria, Utah, or other locations not far from Kanab.

It is hard to convey in words how satisfying to the eye is the sweep of a long sagebrush flat, or a mesa rippling with golden-headed grasses, with the unpredictable shapes of the hills rising beside - the weird angles where different layers have been pushed, pulled, folded, or have eroded at different rates, the effect of patient wind and furious water, or long-dead volcanic eruption. In this case, too rivers and streams - though in our further west country, it is much drier.

from a prominence above old Paria town, GSENM, UT

Abruptly I want to learn how to ride a horse. (Up til now been afraid of horses for decades.) And oh, so looking forward to our trip to New Mexico later in the year.

Hidden treasure (Casto Canyon)

Early Autumn foliage at Casto Canyon

It's kind of off the beaten track though really not far off it: less than 3 miles north of the Bryce Canyon turnoff, and then about 3 1/2 miles in on an unpaved but well-graded road. To - just a canyon, in about the middle of nowhere.

A wide stony wash, still wet in places from recent rains. Red-orange sandstone walls, lucent against the sky, subtly echoed in the autumn foliage. The rain has washed off and settled the dust, leaving all the rock richer in colour and the sky a crazy clear deep blue, near-cloudless.

Still plenty of heat in the sun, but a cool breeze.

Cathedral Gorgeous

Q. What if nature played water games in a clayey old lake bed for thousands of years?
A. Cathedral Gorge State Park.


The old lake sediment must be exactly the perfect consistency - soft enough to cut through, sticky enough to hold its shape. Runaway runoff has carved and is carving an astounding succession of crannies, caves, niches and slots into the previously solid accumulation of ancient lake sediment. If you've ever seen Bryce Canyon, with its hoodoos, or Cedar Breaks, both formed by wind erosion and repeated freeze-thaw cycles on sandstone, the similarity is striking.





But the scale is completely different. The shapes recall Hindu carved walls, classical columns, nesting ledges of a thousand birds, and you can reach out and touch them, practically hold them in your hand.













The upper surface is no more than 50 feet above, much less in most places. The close quarters lead to amazing keyholes of sky and effects of sunlight filtering down over the intricate surfaces. And, much photography.

The Grand Canyon kind of does your head in but is hard to intimately connect with, whereas Zion rears above you, you're among it, literally inside it, and it is more humanly touching because your brain can comprehend the scope.


In the same way, some slots in Cathedral Gorge are too small to get through, and we were brushed either side with dirt by the time we came out - but the smaller scale, if anything, made us even more wide-eyed with wonder. (Yeah, even the teen. Fist pump! We casually - nah the truth is we pointedly - mentioned that we do stuff this cool practically every time we go away. The education continues.)

Also, it was fairly warm out there (112/44) but in among the crevices there were constant out-sighings of cool air. How can that be? And even knowing how, I shake my head. It does not seem any less amazing.

CCC water tower

The site is adorned by a few old CCC buildings: a ramada, a water tower and a very charming outhouse that is no longer accepting donations (there's one of those at Kershaw-Ryan, too) - and there is camping there too, perhaps for a cooler season.







And they had the best mud ever. I have seen mud dried into curved tiles before. This is the first time I've ever seen it curled into a fringe.

Miller Point overlook

Across the highway from the park entrance is the ghost town of Bullionville - for next time. (We were already saying 'next time' by then.) For now, we turned north on 93 towards Pioche, stopping at the Miller Point Overlook to see Cathedral Gorge from above.

Itinerary

Saturday: 317 to Caliente, turn northeast on 93. Through Panaca junction, to Cathedral Gorge State Park ...