Traveling through Utah can put a person in their place, time-wise. If you listen to the geologists and anthropologists, the landscape tells stories that are a fascinating mix of the ancient and the fleeting.
The geologists’ stories are ancient in the literal sense of the word, taking millennia to unfold. For instance, geologists refer to the events that formed the Grand Staircase (multiple thousands of years ago), as “recent.”
The anthropologists’ stories are about the native people whom they’ve named the Anasazi, which translates to “ancient ones”. These stories occur in prehistory, before a lasting written language. The words ancient and prehistory sound old, but human history has yet to register on the scale of time used by geologists.
Besides that, each excavation reveals a fleeting glimpse of a culture in transition, whether because of drought, population growth or tribal unrest. These transitions often took less than a century. Some of those stories took less than the span of my own lifetime, so far.
As travelers in our sixties, Doug and I are well aware of the passing of time. Our own histories, which have sometimes felt weighty and significant, now seem fleeting.
In other words, Life really is short. Which is why we set off on these adventures.
And oh! We do not want to become petrified.
GRAND STAIRCASE ESCALANTE
The “Grand Staircase” of southern Utah refers to a corridor which slices through the area’s geological layers, each with its own colors and characteristics. The result is a 88-mile long staircase through pre-history — a story written in stone, so to speak.
The exposed formations include:
~ The pink cliffs and hoodoos of Bryce Canyon NP (the most recent layer).
~ The Precambrian strata of the Grand Canyon NP (the most ancient layer).
~ The multiple layers of Zion NP (the middle layers)—
the white of Navajo sandstone (with the cross-bedding of sand dunes),
the red of the Kayenta formation (with dinosaur tracks),
the shale of the Chinle formation (where petrified wood is found),
and so on, down to the flowing waters of the Virgin River, which etched their way through all these layers.
If geological facts leave you cold, try chewing on this sentence, which I lifted from a brochure: “This is a land of silence, space and scenery that defies description and inspires the imagination.”
ANASAZI STATE PARK
We stopped at this rather odd little State Park which is an archeological dig site and museum, nothing more. A 20 minute film about the area and its history was rather moody and slow paced. That is not a criticism.
We looked at all the exhibits in the small museum, then toured the archaeological dig site. The site reveals excavations of above-ground rooms and a below-ground living pit.
Some exhibits are re-creations of the rooms, which easily trigger the imagination.
The excavations reveal that this site was only inhabited for 50 to 75 years. Why the inhabitants left is a mystery. But they did burn their buildings as they left, which seems like an important detail. The exhibits remind us of Hovenweep, with its mysterious untold tales of human habitations and departures.
PETRIFIED FOREST STATE PARK
Another brochure told us that, just down the road, Petrified Forest SP has hiking trails which lead to “one of Utah’s best and most accessible displays of petrified wood.”
Since Doug has a few hunks of petrified wood that we’ve been carting from state to state our whole married life, I wasn’t surprised he wanted to visit this place.
The first hike we did was quite hilly, and led to an amazing site. Petrified wood lay on the hillside in abundance — logs and stumps and hunks and splinters — all in beautiful, varied colors.
I knew that the colors are a result of the minerals which permeate the wood, but I hadn’t known there could be such a rainbow! Deep plum, lavender, rose, light pink, scarlet, gold — all set to advantage on the beige sand and highlighted by the light green of lichens, and the dark green of surrounding cedars and evergreen.
It was so lovely that we decided to stay another day and do the second, slightly longer hike, called “Sleeping Rainbows.”
We intended to enjoy a campfire that evening but as darkness fell it began to rain. The plink plink of rain hitting the camper continued all night long.
In the morning we saw even more petrified wood. I’ll include some photos, but be aware they don’t do the colors justice.
"Hovenweep" is such an evocative name. I'm not sure why it caught my attention so much.
I would amend the brochure to read ..."a land of silence, space, and mystery". So many unanswered questions, mostly about the humans who were there thousands of years ago.
I'm happy for the update to the blog!