Pipe Spring Group Photo

The first pic this week is a group shot of the folks at Pipe Spring. Danita and I are kneeling front & center. The man behind Danita is Asa, our roommate. Asa is a very nice guy and a neat freak besides. We couldn’t get a better roommate. The person kneeling at the extreme left is our supervisor, Kate. Next to her is our alternate supervisor, Eric. The most interesting person at Pipe Spring has an unusual beard and is standing in the back row, third from the right. Benn is a Kaibab Paiute Indian. He lives on the reservation and works as one of the interpreters at the park.

Coral Pink Sand Dunes

The most unusual part of our training was the rattlesnake handling session. A woman from the University of Utah came with non-verminous snakes and rattle snakes. She had us handle the non-verminous snake, then pick the snake up with snake tongs, then pick up the rattle snake with snake tongs. Danita and I declined to handle the rattle snake. As a result, we are not qualified to move a rattle snake should one appear on the grounds. So sad!

The sand comes from here

We visited Coral Pink Sand Dune park Wednesday. The view above is what we saw when we walked over the top of the first sand dune. The Vermilion Cliffs are in the background. The second view shows where the sand comes from. The wind erodes sandstone. It funnels between Moquith and Moccasin Mountains, picking up speed and carrying the sand. On our side of the pass, the wind fans out, slows down, and deposits the sand. Sand is also blocked by the Vermilion Cliffs. The result is a beautiful sand dune playground. Younger folks ride sand boards (like snow boards, but on the sand). Richer folks ride OHVs (Off-Highway Vehicles) around the park.

Cactus Flower at Zion Park

Here’s how you make a sand dune playground of your own. Gather enough white sand to cover parts of six states. Cover with ocean, add iron oxide and let sit 170 million years. Sand will turn a nice rosy sandstone. Elevate the area to 5,000 feet (the Colorado Plateau). Expose sandstone to elements and let erode into coral-colored grains.

Zion Park Court of the Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

Cactus Flower

Today we visited Zion Park. IT’s a hour and a half drive if you don’t take the shortcut. If you take the shortcut but don’t have a high clearance 4-wheel drive, it takes the better part of a day plus about $500 to get yourself towed out. The long drive goes through Hurricane, Utah. We got away from the East Coast, but we can’t avoid Hurricane. Zion park has a bunch of very impressive rocks that mostly make for very boring pictures. Most of the pictures are of other things we saw while walking around.

Riverside Walk, going towards Narrow Gorge

Danita has been trying to get the results of the MRI of her knee, without us having to drive to St. George. The latest is that she filled out a permission form along with a copy of her driver’s license. There is a possibility we will have the results in a couple of weeks.

Hanging Gardens (Eat your heart out, Babylon)

6-point buxk

Ground squirel