JFstego
05-24-2012, 11:34 AM
Day 4. Nautilus and Edmaier's Secret
There is an interesting rock formation off the White House Trail Road called the Nautilus. It looks like a big oyster shell from a distance and has a big notch in the middle carved into it by water. According to the rangers at the Paria Station, this formation is very delicate and frequent visits could damage it.
Due to sharp shadows, the pictures of the Nautilus come out best when the light is diffuse. I managed to take some decent HDR shots almost in the middle of the day.
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We explored the area around the Nautilus a little and then hurried to get to our next destination -- Edmaier's Secret. You can reach it either by walking over two miles through the Buckskin Gulch and then climbing over a fence or by driving on a Jeep trail from US 89 and then descending an escarpment (see http://www.thewave.info/EdmaiersSecretMap.htm for more details). We opted to drive. The Jeep train was FUN! First, you drive deeper into the hills and then onto a narrow road with steep cliffs off both sides. My uneasy feeling was multiplied by a clearly visible car wreckage below. After gaining elevation, the road becomes sandy with cattle roaming free. At one point, we ran into a herd of black cows with white heads blocking the road on a sandy hill. I waited and then backed off to pick up speed hoping the cows will get out of our way.
Going down (and back up) the escarpment was a big part of the fun. This area has some brown-orange colored brain rock with yellow-orange-brown buttes.
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We named these "crocodile" and "lost dog" rocks.
There are also quite large sand dunes right next to the buttes and some really strange looking rocks that look like card boxes.
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Honza named this one the Startrek rock.
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Climbing the escarpment back up, we opted for a little more challenging route with some exposure to heights but absolutely breath-taking views.
Since we still had some time left and this was our last full day in Utah, we decided to visit the nearby Rimrock hoodoos. After spending days in solitude in hard to reach places with no human beings around us, it felt funny to walk to the hoodoos on a short beaten path and then wait in a line to take a picture. How anticlimactic.
We rewarded ourselves with a dinner at the most posh restaurant in Kanab, the Rocking V Caf
There is an interesting rock formation off the White House Trail Road called the Nautilus. It looks like a big oyster shell from a distance and has a big notch in the middle carved into it by water. According to the rangers at the Paria Station, this formation is very delicate and frequent visits could damage it.
Due to sharp shadows, the pictures of the Nautilus come out best when the light is diffuse. I managed to take some decent HDR shots almost in the middle of the day.
54375
54376
54377
54378
We explored the area around the Nautilus a little and then hurried to get to our next destination -- Edmaier's Secret. You can reach it either by walking over two miles through the Buckskin Gulch and then climbing over a fence or by driving on a Jeep trail from US 89 and then descending an escarpment (see http://www.thewave.info/EdmaiersSecretMap.htm for more details). We opted to drive. The Jeep train was FUN! First, you drive deeper into the hills and then onto a narrow road with steep cliffs off both sides. My uneasy feeling was multiplied by a clearly visible car wreckage below. After gaining elevation, the road becomes sandy with cattle roaming free. At one point, we ran into a herd of black cows with white heads blocking the road on a sandy hill. I waited and then backed off to pick up speed hoping the cows will get out of our way.
Going down (and back up) the escarpment was a big part of the fun. This area has some brown-orange colored brain rock with yellow-orange-brown buttes.
54379
54380
54381
54382
54383
We named these "crocodile" and "lost dog" rocks.
There are also quite large sand dunes right next to the buttes and some really strange looking rocks that look like card boxes.
54384
54385
Honza named this one the Startrek rock.
54386
Climbing the escarpment back up, we opted for a little more challenging route with some exposure to heights but absolutely breath-taking views.
Since we still had some time left and this was our last full day in Utah, we decided to visit the nearby Rimrock hoodoos. After spending days in solitude in hard to reach places with no human beings around us, it felt funny to walk to the hoodoos on a short beaten path and then wait in a line to take a picture. How anticlimactic.
We rewarded ourselves with a dinner at the most posh restaurant in Kanab, the Rocking V Caf