Sunday, Oct 11, 2020-Capitol Reef NP

 On the Alaska Highway during the summer of 2019, we learned a new phrase-Frost Heave. That when a section of the permafrost melts and a massive dip is created in a Highway. 

Today the new word we learned is Monocline. I know very little about the geology of earth’s surface (!) but the best definition I’ve been able to find is that a Monocline is a wrinkle in the surface of the earth! 

Capitol Reef NP’s defining feature is the nearly 100 mile long “wrinkle” named the Waterpocket Fold. If you want a deeper explanation, it’s Deposition, Uplift, and Erosion. It’s extraordinary geology as these pictures show:



We’re hiking the Grand Wash and Hickman Bridge Trails tomorrow. We’ll post some pics tomorrow night.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Albuquerque, NM to Cortez, CO

Image
Diana and I rode the Tramway to Sandia Peak. We just barely got on the tram because the winds were too strong to make it safe. After spending an hour or so at the top, we got on the last tram down-again because of heavy winds. Here’s a pic of us on the observation platform with Albuquerque in the background. I was going to post one pic of each place we camped so here is where we stayed in Albuquerque. Also, here is a pic of what happens when you drive your fifth-wheel trailer down I-40 at 70-75 MPH. The guy camping next to us had a blowout going that fast. Here is a pic of the tread on (off?) one of his trailer tires. Yesterday we drove to Towaoc, CO and we’re camped at the Ute Mountain Casino Hotel Sleeping Ute RV Park. What a name huh? We walked over to the casino last night and only walked home a little poorer! I’m not a gambler but you’d better watch out for Diana and the slot machines! Today we took the truck to a Nissan dealer in Durango for an oil and filter(s) chang...
Read more

Monday, August 12th-A Spectacular Day on the Water!

Image
Today we took a nine hour day cruise into Kenai Fjords National Park. What did we see? My goodness, it’s hard to list them all! Let’s start with 30-40 glaciers, building sized icebergs, multiple pods of Orca/ Killer Whales, several humpback whales, dozens of sea otters, jumping Silver Salmon, several different types of birds (Cormorant, Tufted and Horned Puffins, Auklet, Terns, one bald eagle, and Murre), Steller Sea Lions, Harbor Seals, AND some of the most beautiful scenery imaginable! Probably the most spectacular thing we saw was unique calving of the Northwestern Glacier. Here a fixed photo but I’d like to describe for you how it happened. Look at the above pic and imagine this happening: (the boat is about a half mile from the “terminus” of the glacier-where it falls or flows into the ocean) A room sized chunk of ice fell from the upper part of the glacier above the giant rocks at the top of the picture 2-300 feet to the lower section of the glacier along with a lot of...
Read more

Monday, September 30th-Mt Rainier National Park

Image
Even though we lived in the Portland area for 10 years, we never visited Mt Rainier NP. Why? Yo no se! Anyway, we spent most of today in the park. We’re camping about 10 miles from one of the entrances in Randle, WA. We’re back in the mountains and it’s really cold again! We follow the weather in Houston and Dallas and we are really sorry you have to put up with that hot weather a little longer. Here’s a pic of the temp here today: We encountered a lot of snow on the ground and a few random flakes in the air! The first hike we went on was the Grove of The Patriarchs trail. Here are a couple of pics of Diana by some of the 1000 year old trees there. For WA these are really big trees!
Read more