Rainbow Bridge

  A span of 275 feet, gracefully arching to a height of 290 feet makes Rainbow Bridge, the world’s largest natural bridge. The top is 42 feet thick and 33 feet wide. The bridge’s predominate color is salmon-pink with dark stains called desert varnish, caused by iron oxide (hematite) Afternoon and morning sunlight makes the coloration especially brilliant.

Rainbow Bridge is considered sacred by the Navajo Nation, for whom personified rainbows have stood as guardians of the universe. This natural wonder nestles among canyons carved by streams en route to the Colorado River from Navajo Mountain’s north flank. Until the formation of Lake Powell, this was one of the most remote and inaccessible regions in the contiguous United States. It is located on 160 acres of federal land located in San Juan County, Utah, immediately adjacent to Navajo Mountain. Today the bridge is accessible by a two hour, one-way boat ride from Bullfrog

Turret Arch

Arches National Park is a geological wonder, created over millions of years from the salt and sand deposits of an ancient seabed, now exposed to the erosive forces of the high desert environment. The park contains a bewildering array of sculpted forms including one of the largest and most concentrated collections of natural stone arches in the world

North Window was formed out of Entrada Sandstone that was deposited during the Jurassic Period somewhere between 180 and 140 million years ago

The Windows District was the setting for Edward Abbey’s famous Journal, Desert Solitaire and is home to juniper forests, multiple collections of eroded sandstone formations and famous arches. If you look closely you can see three arches.

The highpoint for me is the view of Turret arch through the North Window.

Fluteplayers

  At hundreds of sites scattered throughout the mountains and deserts of the southwest, on cliffs and boulders and in caves the ancient people recorded eloquently their visions and prayers. Most rock art has ritual or ceremonial origins, however rock art also appears to be a visual communication and documentation system that may mark trails, boundaries and other features, as well as record time and events. One of the most intriguing and widespread images found in Southwestern rock art is the fluteplayer commonly known as Kokopelli.  Kokopelli is believed to have been a fertility symbol, roving minstrel or trader, rain priest, hunting magician, trickster, and seducer of woman. He is one of the few prehistoric deities to have survived in recognizable form Ansaszi times (200 BC to 1450 AD) to present.

Big Horn sheep 

A common petroglyph is Bighorn Sheep. Because Bighorn sheep spirits were the special spirit helpers of Rain-shaman, bighorn were believed to yield rainmaking power. The association of a shaman with his spirit helper was so great, he was believed to sometimes transform into his animal spirit when he went into the supernatural. Some Bighorns are shown as combinations of human and animal features,. The large numbers of bighorn petroglyphs may reflect this belief.

Brownstone Canyon 

  This painting looks like the statue of liberty 

Great Salt Lake

The Great Salt Lake is the largest body of water between the Great Lakes and the Pacific Ocean. It is the largest salt lake in the western hemisphere and one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world, a shallow remnant of the once huge Ice age Lake Bonneville. The lake is 75 miles long from north to south and about 30 to 50 miles wide it is 30 feet at its deepest point.

Everything floats better in the higher salinity (12% to 25%). Swimming and floating in the lake is a common entertainment in the summer. The lake is teaming with life. Vast numbers of birds flock here. Plankton, algae, brine shrimp, and brine flies form the base of a food pyramid that supports one of the largest biomasses on the North American continent.

The Great Salt Lake Yacht Club, the oldest continuous chartered yacht club in America, located 16 miles west of Salt Lake City on Interstate 80.

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