Dead Horse And Arches

On our route to Dead Horse State Park in Utah, we made a quick stop at the Petrified Forest State Park. It was a strenuous hike, but I managed to coax the girls to reach the petrified logs exhibit.
The logs were simply surfacing from the ground, and the wood had turned to a kind of marble rock and red, blue and white colors. During the dinosour age, the lava ash covered the logs and a flood covered the logs and later petrified them. There were many exposed logs throughout the park. See the picture for a look.


Today we visited DeadHorse State park in southern Utah. It was an incredible park and it was located atop a large mesa (platue).
The campground was also on top of the Mesa.

When we first arrived, it was raining heavily. The landscape had a bright orange color, with large amounts of orange sand. It looked like mud, but you just brushed it off lightly and there is no trace.
Pretty cool. The landscape was incredible here as you can see from the pictures. You will see the dark red and brown canyon pictures which are from Dead Horse where we spent the night atop the mountain. The campground only had twenty sites, and I am glad I had reservations.



Later today, we toured Arches' national Park.



The arches are pretty magnificant, as we saw the famous Delicate Arch, which is a popular symbol of the American South West, and many other structures.


In summary, I must comment on a couple of things that stood out to me about the trip. One, when it is very hot, 100+ degrees, it is best to leave the canvas bunk end closed, so the air conditioning will run most efficiently. Although keeping the camper closed up kept the camper almost too cold, even in 100 + temps in Vegas. And it is good to have a canvas option when it is really hot and you have no A/C! Two, it was really nice having our own private facilities including bathroom and kitchen (in the camper) while stopping for gas.

This wraps up our southwest tour, and I hope you enjoyed our pictures. It was certainly a trip to remember.