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NAXJA Member #135
- Location
- Albuquerque, NM
A National Park and Monument that were made for Jeeps! Long distances to cover with lots of breathtaking scenery outside the window here. A map showing several possible routes through this area follows. Note that I have not done the southern portion of Smokey Mountain Road, I got that one in a track swap from Steve on ExPo.
Starting from Capitol Reef... the Burr Trail switchbacks. This is one of only 2 roads that cross the 100 mile long Waterpocket Fold. Note the vehicle far below:
Driving along the Waterpocket Fold. This is a long way from anywhere!
Looking south from the Strike Valley overlook at the tortured rock of the Waterpocket Fold. This continues south all of the way to Lake Powell.
A wicked looking arch in Muley Twist Canyon
Dropping off the Kaiparowits Plateau on Left Hand Collet Road. This is a shortcut between Smokey Mountain Road and the Hole in the Rock Road. These rocks had a bunch of marine fossils.
Checking out the Twentyfivemile Wash Dinosaur Trackway... there were birdlike carnivore tracks:
Herbivorous sauropods left their elephant-like tracks, and a tail drag mark! At the time this was wet sand on the shore of a long inland sea that ran up through this part of America.
Heading towards Lake Powell on Smokey Mountain road
Gunsight Bay as seen from Alstrom Point on Lake Powell, one of the most dramatic overlooks anywhere!
The attached .gpx file has tracks for the routes shown, as well as all of the points of interest I mentioned here.
Starting from Capitol Reef... the Burr Trail switchbacks. This is one of only 2 roads that cross the 100 mile long Waterpocket Fold. Note the vehicle far below:
Driving along the Waterpocket Fold. This is a long way from anywhere!
Looking south from the Strike Valley overlook at the tortured rock of the Waterpocket Fold. This continues south all of the way to Lake Powell.
A wicked looking arch in Muley Twist Canyon
Dropping off the Kaiparowits Plateau on Left Hand Collet Road. This is a shortcut between Smokey Mountain Road and the Hole in the Rock Road. These rocks had a bunch of marine fossils.
Checking out the Twentyfivemile Wash Dinosaur Trackway... there were birdlike carnivore tracks:
Herbivorous sauropods left their elephant-like tracks, and a tail drag mark! At the time this was wet sand on the shore of a long inland sea that ran up through this part of America.
Heading towards Lake Powell on Smokey Mountain road
Gunsight Bay as seen from Alstrom Point on Lake Powell, one of the most dramatic overlooks anywhere!
The attached .gpx file has tracks for the routes shown, as well as all of the points of interest I mentioned here.
