Day 21: From Moab through Blanding to Kayenta ( part 1 )

The road to the Canyonlands N.P. ( needles district ).

In the morning we departed rather early driving south on the U.S. 191. After a couple of miles we made our first stop at "Hole in the rock" shop. It was a funny place with lots of garbage and memorabilia to buy. We kind of liked it. Then we hit the road again. From U.S. 191 we turned left ( in the place where a beautiful Church Rock is ) to Scenic Road 211 to sightsee the Southern part of the Canyonlands National Park. The road to the Visitors Center was long - over 30 miles, but not in the second boring. We stopped at the Newspaper Rock to admire some beautiful ancient Indian Rock Writing and then proceeded until we arrived the the Big Spring Canyon Overlook. This is the heart of Colorado Plateau - a vastness and wilderness of red, brown and orange rocks all in very strange shapes covering the visible land. Millions of years of erosion have transformed this area into hundreds of canyons, gorges, mesas, fins, arches and spires. This is the spirit of Wild West. To a large degree the area is untrammeled even today - the roads are mostly unpaved ( due to the local government decions no new roads will be constructed ever to protect the enviroment ), the trails are primitive, its river free flowing and no construction allowed. And there is one thing more about it: the unnerving silence. The deep canyons seem to swallow every sound. So when you get out of the car it is all about only two senses: you FEEL the heat, you SEE the beauty, but you HEAR no sound.
The Canyonland is a wild America.

Maciek.