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The Schedule
Tuesday, October 10 (Georgetown 82/48°; Canyon: 75/47° - Sunset is 7:18pm)
Ø Round Rock to Canyon, TX. 450 miles. Stay at BW Palo Duro conf #445305697
- The small town of Canyon, TX, located south of Amarillo, TX, was formally incorporated in 1906. Yet, the first industry, Pecos & Northern Railroad, was established in 1898 for shipping cattle from Randall County. In 1910, West Texas State Normal College was established. Seven short years later, this same college became a degree-granting institution.
- In 1921, the university assisted with the formation of the Panhandle Plain Historical Society. Then, in 1933, the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum was founded. This museum is now considered to be the largest state supported museum in the entire state of Texas. The local college in Canyon went through several name changes over the span of 80 years. The latest change, West Texas A & M University (WTAMU), was instituted in 1990. The 176-acre campus provides a variety of events and activities for students, visitors, and community members.
- One of the most famous residents of Canyon, TX was Georgia O’Keeffe. She was an American modernist artist who lived in Canyon from 1916-1918. It is widely believed that her signature style was developed while she taught and chaired the art department at West Texas State Normal College.
- Her love for sunrises and sunsets inspired her to experiment with capturing the effects of colors and lighting on the Texas Panhandle horizon. A landscape watercolor painting that she created while living in Canyon was titled “Light Coming in on the Plains.” She found more inspiration from her daily walks around the college campus, the surrounding area of her residence, or throughout Palo Duro Canyon.
Wednesday, October 11 (Farmington: 71/40° - Sunset 6:42pm)
Ø Canyon, TX to Farmington, NM 480 miles. Stay at BW Plus Four Corners Inn conf #975305996. Gain 1 hour.
- The history of Farmington can be dated back over 2,000 years ago when the Anasazi "basket makers" lived in the area in what is now known as "pit houses" and later in pueblo structures built from the native sandstone rock. Their past occupancy can still be seen in the various ruins that fill the surrounding countryside. After the Anasazi exit from the area, the land was then inhabited by the Navajo, Jicarilla Apache, and the Utes, which add to the cultural diversity found in this area to this day. The Spanish passed through this area in the late 1700's and eventually settled in the eastern part of San Juan County in the early 1800's. It was not until mid 1870's that the population of the area began to grow with the actual settlement of what was to become Farmingtown, later shortened to Farmington. Settled by pioneers from Animas City, Colorado at the confluence of the La Plata, Animas, and San Juan Rivers. Farmington began to blossom into a flourishing farm and ranch economy and incorporated on July 15, 1901.
- In the early part of the 1900s, apples became a prime crop for the local farmers. A quote from "The Sunny San Juan Magazine" from 1938 gives us a glimpse into how important the apple commerce was, "The harvesting of some 2,000 acres of fruit calls for a lot of activity in this valley. There are about 53,000 bearing apple trees in the San Juan district. Speaking in terms of commercial apple growing, our valley produces in a normal year in the neighborhood of one hundred standard car loads. Quality of apples compares favorably with the product of other more extensive fruit producing localities. Jonathan, Delicious, Grimes Golden, Rome Beauty, and Winesap are the principal varieties, and are harvested in the order named. Thinning is practiced by the successful growers to insure commercial sized apples and to prevent overbearing." Farmington went through several "oil and gas" booms during the 20th century. At one time, Farmington was the leading oil and gas producing area in the state of New Mexico. The oil and gas industry remains a staple for the area.
Thursday, October 12 (Moab: 70/42° - Sunset 6:45pm)
Ø Farmington, NM to Moab, UT 183 miles. Visit Canyonlands, NP (30 miles each way) before checking in at Aarchway conf #249216. Maybe visit Arches for night sky photos?
- Moab , city, seat (1890) of Grand County, southeastern Utah , U.S. It is located on the western flank of the La Sal Mountains alongside the Colorado River , about 110 miles (177 km) by road from Grand Junction , Colorado .
- The city was originally founded in mid-1855 as a Mormon mission, but it was abandoned later that year after a conflict with local Indian peoples. Interest in the region was rekindled in the mid-1870s, and a settlement became established there by the early 1880s. Both the original mission and the surrounding area bore several names, including Spanish Valley, Grand Valley, and Poverty Flats, before the 1880s, when the city was named Moab—the general understanding being that it was named for the biblical “land beyond the Jordan,” although another possibility is that the name came from a Paiute word meaning “mosquito water.” Moab emerged in the early 1900s as a center of stone-fruit cultivation.
- In the early 1950s a uranium -mining boom transformed the quiet town into a bustling industrial center. The uranium boom and subsequent production of locally discovered oil and potash faded in the 1960s, after which Moab successfully transformed itself into a tourist center for the scenic region surrounding the city. Notable attractions include the adjacent Arches National Park (north), Dead Horse Point State Park and beyond that Canyonlands National Park (southwest), and a unit of Manti-La Sal National Forest (southeast). Moab has also become a popular destination for recreational and competitive mountain bikers eager to experience the Slickrock Bike Trail. In addition, the city is the southwestern terminus for the 142-mile (229-km) Kokopelli Trail, a rugged mountain-bike route that roughly follows the Colorado River northeastward into western Colorado.
- Canyonlands NationalPark is an American national park located in southeastern Utah near the town of Moab . The park preserves a colorful landscape eroded into numerous canyons , mesas , and buttes by the Colorado River , the Green River , and their respective tributaries. Legislation creating the park was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 12, 1964.
- The park is divided into four districts: the Island in the Sky, the Needles, the Maze, and the combined rivers—the Green and Colorado—which carved two large canyons into the Colorado Plateau . While these areas share a primitive desert atmosphere, each retains its own character. Author Edward Abbey , a frequent visitor, described the Canyonlands as "the most weird, wonderful, magical place on earth—there is nothing else like it anywhere."
- In the early 1950s, Bates Wilson, then superintendent of Arches National Monument , began exploring the area to the south and west of Moab, Utah . After seeing what is now known as the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, Wilson began advocating for the establishment of a new national park that would include the Needles. Additional explorations by Wilson and others expanded the areas proposed for inclusion into the new national park to include the confluence of Green and Colorado rivers, the Maze District, and Horseshoe Canyon.
- In 1961, Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall was scheduled to address a conference at Grand Canyon National Park . On his flight to the conference, he flew over the Confluence (where the Colorado and Green rivers meet). The view apparently sparked Udall's interest in Wilson's proposal for a new national park in that area and Udall began promoting the establishment of Canyonlands National Park.
- Utah Senator Frank Moss first introduced legislation into Congress to create Canyonlands National Park. His legislation attempted to satisfy both nature preservationists' and commercial developers' interests. Over the next four years, his proposal was struck down, debated, revised, and reintroduced to Congress many times before being passed and signed into creation.
- In September 1964, after several years of debate, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Public Law (United States) 88–590 , which established Canyonlands National Park as a new national park. Bates Wilson became the first superintendent of the new park and is often referred to as the "Father of Canyonlands."
Friday, October 13 (Moab: 70/41° - 7:25am/ 6:43pm)
Ø Arches NP; timed entry pass for 8 am. Find location for eclipse photos & take test shots. Hike to Delicate Arch?
- Arches National Park is a national park in eastern Utah , United States. The park is adjacent to the Colorado River , 4 mi (6 km) north of Moab, Utah . More than 2,000 natural sandstone arches are located in the park, including the well-known Delicate Arch , as well as a variety of unique geological resources and formations. The park contains the highest density of natural arches in the world.
- The park consists of 310.31 km 2 (76,680 acres; 119.81 sq mi; 31,031 ha) of high desert located on the Colorado Plateau . The highest elevation in the park is 5,653 ft (1,723 m) at Elephant Butte , and the lowest elevation is 4,085 ft (1,245 m) at the visitor center. The park receives an average of less than 10 in (250 mm) of rain annually.
- Administered by the National Park Service , the area was originally named a national monument on April 12, 1929, and was redesignated as a national park on November 12, 1971. The park received more than 1.8 million visitors in 2021. From April 1 through October 31, 2023, a timed entry reservation is required to visit the park between the hours of 7 a.m. and 4 p.m.
- The story of Arches begins roughly 65 million years ago. At that time, the area was a dry seabed spreading from horizon to horizon. If you stood in Devils Garden then, the striking red rock features we see today would have been buried thousands of feet below you, raw material as yet uncarved. Then the landscape slowly began to change.
- First, geologic forces wrinkled and folded the buried sandstone, as if it were a giant rug and someone gathered two edges towards each other, making lumps across the middle-called Anticlines. As the sandstone warped, fractures tore through it, establishing the patterns for rock sculptures of the future.
- Next, the entire region began to rise, climbing from sea level to thousands of feet in elevation. What goes up must come down, and the forces of erosion carved layer after layer of rock away. Once exposed, deeply buried sandstone layers rebounded and expanded, like a sponge expands after it's squeezed (though not quite so quickly). This created even more fractures, each one a pathway for water to seep into the rock and further break it down.
- Today, water shapes this environment more than any other force. Rain erodes the rock and carries sediment down washes and canyons to the Colorado River. Desert varnish appears where water cascades off cliffs. In winter, snowmelt pools in fractures and other cavities, then freezes and expands, breaking off chunks of sandstone. Small recesses develop and grow bigger with each storm. Little by little, this process turns fractured rock layers into fins, and fins into arches . Arches also emerge when potholes near cliff edges grow deeper and deeper until they wear through the cliff wall below them. In addition to grand arches, water dissolves small honeycomb formations called tafoni .
- Over time, the same forces that created these arches will continue to widen them until they collapse. Standing next to a monolith like Delicate Arch , it's easy to forget that arches are impermanent. Yet the fall of Wall Arch in 2008 reminded us that this landscape continues to change. While some may fall, most of these arches will stand well beyond our lifetime: a lifetime blessed with an improbable landscape 65 million years in the making.
Saturday, October 14 (Moab: 69/41° - 7:26am/ 6:42pm)
Ø Arches NP; timed entry pass for 8 am. Annular eclipse 10:24 am 4 minutes long 30 degreed SE sky
Sunday, October 15 (Moab: 69/40°; Bryce Canyon: 58/26° Sunset: 6:52pm)
(Bryce Canyon elevation is 8000-9000 ft)Ø Moab, UT to Bryce Canyon City, UT. Leave as early as possible. About 350 miles total. (6 hours)
Ø Drive through Capitol Reef (67/46°); possible hike Goosenecks (0.4 miles, 10-20 min) & Sunset Point? (1-mile passable road. Hike is 0.6 miles round trip)
Ø Arrive at Bryce; drive through? Check in at Best Western Plus Ruby’s Inn, conf #764005891
- Bryce Canyon National Park is an American national park located in southwestern Utah . The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a canyon , but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau . Bryce is distinctive due to geological structures called hoodoos , formed by frost weathering and stream erosion of the river and lake bed sedimentary rocks . The red, orange, and white colors of the rocks provide spectacular views for park visitors. Bryce Canyon National Park is much smaller and sits at a much higher elevation than nearby Zion National Park . The rim at Bryce varies from 8,000 to 9,000 feet (2,400 to 2,700 m).
- The Bryce Canyon area was settled by Mormon pioneers in the 1850s and was named after Ebenezer Bryce , who homesteaded in the area in 1874. The area around Bryce Canyon was originally designated as a national monument by President Warren G. Harding in 1923 and was redesignated as a national park by Congress in 1928. The park covers 35,835 acres (55.992 sq mi; 14,502 ha; 145.02 km2) and receives substantially fewer visitors than Zion National Park (nearly 4.3 million in 2016) or Grand Canyon National Park (nearly 6 million in 2016), largely due to Bryce's more remote location.
Monday, October 16 (58/26°; 7:38am/6:51pm)
Ø Hike Navajo Loop (west side of trail closed) Use Sunrise Point . Distance 0.8 miles to Queens Garden, 2-3 hours, 550 – 625’ down and up in elevation) and Wall Street (closed). Drive through park (15-45mph).
Tuesday, October 17 (Bryce: 57/25°, Sunrise 7:39am. Springdale: 70/39°, Sunset 6:53pm)
Ø Bryce Canyon City to East Zion entrance, then Springdale, UT (85 miles, 2 hours)
Ø Enroute, visit Moqui Sand Caves, Belly of the Dragon (past the Route 9 turn off. Sand caves is 2 miles south of Rt 9 on Elephant Gap Road off the Rt 89. Moqui Cave is 11 miles south of Rt 9 on Rt 89). Canyon Overlook Trail stop in Zion (good luck getting parking space)
Ø Stay at Harvest House B&B, 29 Canyon View Drive, Springdale, UT 84767 .
Wednesday, October 18 (Springdale: 70/39°; 7:43am/6:52pm)
Ø Zion NP. Hike Emerald Pools, walk Virgin River, stop at shuttle stops (shuttle runs 7:00am – 5pm). Health watch in the Narrows – cyanobacteria .
- Zion National Park is an American national park located in southwestern Utah near the town of Springdale . Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau , Great Basin , and Mojave Desert regions, the park has a unique geography and a variety of life zones that allow for unusual plant and animal diversity. Numerous plant species as well as 289 species of birds, 75 mammals (including 19 species of bat ), and 32 reptiles inhabit the park's four life zones: desert , riparian , woodland, and coniferous forest . Zion National Park includes mountains , canyons , buttes , mesas , monoliths, rivers , slot canyons , and natural arches . The lowest point in the park is 3,666 ft (1,117 m) at Coalpits Wash and the highest peak is 8,726 ft (2,660 m) at Horse Ranch Mountain . A prominent feature of the 229-square-mile (590 km2) park is Zion Canyon , which is 15 miles (24 km) long and up to 2,640 ft (800 m) deep. The canyon walls are reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone eroded by the North Fork of the Virgin River .
- Human habitation of the area started about 8,000 years ago with small family groups of Native Americans , one of which was the semi-nomadic Basketmaker Ancestral Puebloans (who used to be called Anasazi by early non-indigenous archeologists)( c. 300 CE). Subsequently, what has been called the Virgin Anasazi culture ( c. 500) and the Parowan Fremont group developed as the Basketmakers settled in permanent communities. Both groups moved away by 1300 and were replaced by the Parrusits and several other Southern Paiute subtribes. Mormons came into the area in 1858 and settled there in the early 1860s.
Thursday, October 19 (Page: 69/46° - 6:37am/5:44pm)
Ø Springdale, UT to Page, AZ 96 miles. Gain 1 hour.
Ø Antelope Canyon X tour 11:40 am Taadidiin Tours MP 308 Highway 98 conf #188417274
Ø Horseshoe Bend in the afternoon
Ø Stay at Lake Powell Resort (19 miles from Horseshoe Bend) res #85L015 itinerary 800051760
- Navajo Upper Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon in the American Southwest , on Navajo land east of Lechee , Arizona . It includes six separate, scenic slot canyon sections on the Navajo Reservation, referred to as Upper Antelope Canyon (or The Crack), Rattle Snake Canyon, Owl Canyon, Mountain Sheep Canyon, Canyon X and Lower Antelope Canyon (or The Corkscrew). It is the primary attraction of Lake Powell Navajo Tribal Park, along with a hiking trail to Rainbow Bridge National Monument . The Navajo name for Upper Antelope Canyon is Tsé bighánílíní, which means 'the place where water runs through the (Slot Canyon) rocks'. Lower Antelope Canyon is Hazdistazí (called "Hasdestwazi" by the Navajo Parks and Recreation Department), or 'spiral rock arches'. Both are in the LeChee Chapter of the Navajo Nation. They are accessible by Navajo guided tour only.
- Horseshoe Bend is a horseshoe-shaped incised meander of the Colorado River located near the town of Page , Arizona , United States. It is also referred to as the "east rim of the Grand Canyon."Horseshoe Bend is located 5 miles (8 km) downstream from the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell within Glen Canyon National Recreation Area , about 4 miles (6 km) southwest of Page. It is accessible via hiking a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) round trip from a parking area just off U.S. Route 89 within southwestern Page. The land south of the Bend's parking area, trail, and overlook are on the Navajo Nation territory. The overlook is 4,200 feet (1,300 m) above sea level, and the Colorado River is at 3,200 feet (1,000 m) above sea level, making it a 1,000-foot (300 m) drop.
Friday, October 20 (Page: 69/45° - 6:37am/5:42pm)
Ø Half day Navajo Canyon float trip 9 am-12:30 pm Meet in hotel lobby 8:15 am
- Glen Canyon Dam - See the second largest concrete arch dam in the United States.
- Navajo Sandstone - View towering Navajo Sandstone geologic formations with stunning red and burnt orange rocks.
- Navajo Canyon - The Navajo Canyon walls are 600 feet above the water. You will see "desert varnish", also known as Navajo Tapestry, on the sandstone walls.
- 50/50 Wall – As high as the rock is above you, it is equally deep below you.
Saturday, October 21 (Chinle: 64/30° - 7:31am/6:35pm)
Ø Page, AZ to Chinle, AZ 168 miles - Thunderbird Lodge. Lose 1 hour
Ø Canyon de Chelly tour 3-7 pm Be at Lodge tour desk by 2:40 pm
- For nearly 5,000 years, people have lived in these canyons - longer than anyone has lived uninterrupted anywhere on the Colorado Plateau. In the place called Tsegi, their homes and images tell us their stories. Today, Dine' families make their homes, raise livestock, and farm the lands in the canyons. A place like no other, the park and Navajo Nation work together to manage the land's resources .
Sunday, October 22 (Chinle: 63/30° - 7:31am/6:34pm)
Ø Canyon de Chelly rim drive north and south.
- White House Overlook and Trail Closed. White House Overlook and Trail, one of seven overlooks and the only public trail on the South Rim Drive, remains closed because of safety and law enforcement concerns.
Monday, October 23 (Clovis: 71/42° - 7:05am/6:10pm)
Ø Chinle, AZ to Clovis, NM 447 miles.Stay at ?? (Best Western Cannon AFB?)
Tuesday, October 24 (Georgetown: 79/54°)
Ø Clovis, NM to Round Rock, TX 476 miles. Lose 1 hour.