Next day we first went to see the Toadstool Hoodoos near Big Water. The hoodoos are easily reached after an easy 15 min hike along a wash from the road. The hoodoos present a surreal landscape and live up to their apt name.
Next we wanted to drive the Cottonwood canyon road through Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument (GSENM) from Big Water to Cannonville. It is a dirt road which spans 45 miles along the Cockscomb fault running north south through the GSENM. We checked the road conditions at the Big Water visitor center and started the drive. The first portion of the road ran along the Paria river which had inexplicably white sand bars on both sides. Finally we stopped the car and went down to the sand bars to look at the white stuff. I tasted the white stuff and it seemed to be salt. My speculation is that the high rate of evaporation of water from the ground brings out dissolved salt to the surface, but I have no independent confirmation.
The road was lonely and beautiful: it passed through colorful badlands which have been warped into strange shapes by the Cockscomb fault. There were multiple trailheads and apparently there are interesting slot canyons on the side including the Cottonwood canyon narrows themselves. The area seems very much worth exploring in future: especially I am interested in exploring the Yellow Rock which promises some very colorful striated slickrock. The final interesting spot on the road was Grosvenor arch. Although all of the Cottonwood canyon was a dirt road, incongrouously, there was a nice concrete paved trail to see the Grosvenor arch. The arch looks like a doorway and is one of the more interesting arches around. After Grosvenor, the scenery became less interesting and we finally hit the pavement at Cannonville.
To make our return journey to Las Vegas more interesting, we decided to drive through Zion, rather than go to Cedar City and take I-15 south. We got to Zion in the afternoon and as usual, the scenery did not disappoint.
We stopped at various viewpoints to take pictures and also saw two groups of big horn sheep. The sheep were causing quite a traffic jam since everybody had to stop and take pictures. Once we were out of Zion, there was not much to see and it was a non-stop trip to Las Vegas. We checked into the MGM Grand and had dinner inside the hotel only.
Next we wanted to drive the Cottonwood canyon road through Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument (GSENM) from Big Water to Cannonville. It is a dirt road which spans 45 miles along the Cockscomb fault running north south through the GSENM. We checked the road conditions at the Big Water visitor center and started the drive. The first portion of the road ran along the Paria river which had inexplicably white sand bars on both sides. Finally we stopped the car and went down to the sand bars to look at the white stuff. I tasted the white stuff and it seemed to be salt. My speculation is that the high rate of evaporation of water from the ground brings out dissolved salt to the surface, but I have no independent confirmation.
The road was lonely and beautiful: it passed through colorful badlands which have been warped into strange shapes by the Cockscomb fault. There were multiple trailheads and apparently there are interesting slot canyons on the side including the Cottonwood canyon narrows themselves. The area seems very much worth exploring in future: especially I am interested in exploring the Yellow Rock which promises some very colorful striated slickrock. The final interesting spot on the road was Grosvenor arch. Although all of the Cottonwood canyon was a dirt road, incongrouously, there was a nice concrete paved trail to see the Grosvenor arch. The arch looks like a doorway and is one of the more interesting arches around. After Grosvenor, the scenery became less interesting and we finally hit the pavement at Cannonville.
To make our return journey to Las Vegas more interesting, we decided to drive through Zion, rather than go to Cedar City and take I-15 south. We got to Zion in the afternoon and as usual, the scenery did not disappoint.
We stopped at various viewpoints to take pictures and also saw two groups of big horn sheep. The sheep were causing quite a traffic jam since everybody had to stop and take pictures. Once we were out of Zion, there was not much to see and it was a non-stop trip to Las Vegas. We checked into the MGM Grand and had dinner inside the hotel only.
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