 Dale Sievert | .Red Rock Country Travelogue The Colorado Plateau, extending from western Colorado westward hundreds of miles, is rife with incredibly beautiful sedimentary rocks, mainly limestone and sandstone. It is enormously colorful, with red rocks dominating. |
I first visited the area in 1969, and I've been back 10 times or so, never tiring of the stunning rock formations and canyons formed by wind and water erosion. I'm going again next July, introducing my grandson to such grandeur he won't find in Wisconsin. I know, the Wisconsin Dells has pretty reddish rocks, too. But I took the boat trip there in 1971. When the boat turned around to go back to town, I asked the pilot why we were turning back, as I expected the beautiful rocks were yet to come (as I remembered them from my 1963 trip there). That's what happens when you visit Utah and nearby states--you get spoiled.
Bob Kattner and I visited a few of my favorite spots in the area in early October. If you never visited any of them, we highly recommend visiting them.
Bob Kattner and I visited a few of my favorite spots in the area in early October. If you never visited any of them, we highly recommend visiting them.
Utah
Utah is my favorite state (at least the southern third, home to five national parks and several national monuments). Had my great grandfather been one of Brigham Young's many children, I might have lived there--rather than milking cows as a youth 730 times a year in Newton.
 Zion National Park, along Kolob Resevoir Road |  Zion Canyon, carved by the Virgin River, seen at the bottom |
 Beginning of the Narrows hike, with Bob navigating the waters of the Virgin River, two feet deep at times |  Nearly three miles up the canyon, which eventually narrows to 10 feet wide and over a thousand feet straight up |
Zion Canyon in its late afternoon fiery glory
 Bryce Canyon National Park, on the Queens Garden trail, displaying the limestone rocks |
 Farther along, and much lower into the canyon, on the QG trail |  Natural Bridge in BCNP, about a thousand feet higher than the previous photos |
At Cedar Breaks National Monument, also a limestone formation
Along Scenic Highway 12, just west of BCNP
 Unusual erosion along Cottonwood Canyon Road, Utah |  Grosvenor Arch along Cottonwood Canyon Road |
 Grosvenor Arch up close |  Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, Utah |
Children of fundamentalist Mormons (there were lots of kids--and one mother)
Arizona
Northern Arizona is on the southern fringe of the Colorado Plateau. We saw a truly magical place there--Antelope Canyon. It is on Navajo land. We also saw Horseshoe Bend, an enormous twist in the Colorado River. Both places are very close to Page, Arizona, which was built when the Glen Canyon Dam was constructed in the late 1950s.
Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell on the Colorado River, Page, Arizona  Lake Powell, on our 50-mile boat trip to Rainbow Bridge National Monument in Utah |
Rainbow Bridge, 290 feet high, near Lake Powell
The bridge from the other side
 Entering Lower Antelope Canyon, cut 65 feet deep by flash floods, near Page, AZ |  Violent water flows carve unusual formations into the sandstone |
 The white in the photo is actually an overexposed blue sky, 65 feet up. |  This formation is called The Eagle. |
 Hanging precariously |  Two handsome dudes from Manitowoc County |
This is in a nearby canyon, Upper Antelope Canyon.
Horseshoe Bend, where the Colorado River does a 180-degree turn, 5 miles from the Glen Canyon Dam
 Near Page, AZ |  Just before sunset the rocks turn much darker red color. |
Nevada
The only thing we saw in Nevada was Valley of Fire State Park, just off I-15, an hour from Las Vegas, on our return to the airport.
The only thing we saw in Nevada was Valley of Fire State Park, just off I-15, an hour from Las Vegas, on our return to the airport.
A lot of Westerns were filmed in this park.
 The deep red colors come from the iron in the rocks. |  This one spot in the park had some unusual purple rocks. |
You had to have been there to appreciate it.
A very pretty combination of colors
Epilogue
I remember in grade school looking at pictures of Utah, impressed with the colorful rocks. Never have I been disappointed in visiting there. The variation in color, in rock formations, and in vegetation (or lack thereof) keeps me from boredom as I travel through lower Utah, and into Arizona. I think you'll find the same when you go there--and I hope you do.
I remember in grade school looking at pictures of Utah, impressed with the colorful rocks. Never have I been disappointed in visiting there. The variation in color, in rock formations, and in vegetation (or lack thereof) keeps me from boredom as I travel through lower Utah, and into Arizona. I think you'll find the same when you go there--and I hope you do.
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