2002 Day 3Return to Main Page
AUGUST 2002
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On the third day, the riders headed into the Arches National Park. There are over 2,000 arches carved out of the rock in the park. It is the greatest concentration of arches anywhere in the world and a spectacular display of the natural forces of erosion.

 

 

The ride took them to places such as Balanced Rock, Double Arch, Fiery Furnace, Devil’s Garden and the most famous of all the arches, Delicate Arch.

 

 

 

 

Besides the Arches National  Park there is also the Canyonland National Park and the Deadhorse State Park. The Green River (to the west) and the Colorado River to the east) meander through Canyonland National Park., dissecting it into three pieces; The Island In The Sky, The Maze and The Needles areas. Each area is very distinct and epic in scale.

 

 

 

The Maze is a labyrinth of sandstone carved by water that leaves the visitor wondering where it goes and where it ends.  The Needles are similar to the hoodoos of the Bryce Canyon. It is made up of massive spires that cover the landscape. Canyonland is an area that resembles the Grand Canyon in its vastness and its grandeur. Some of the canyon walls of The Island In The Sky area are over two thousand feet of vertical sandstone. 

 

The Island In The Sky is the highest point and from there one can see the other two sections below that cover tens of thousands of acres. In the final scene of the movie “Thelma and Louise” they took their final leap off of an area called Shafer Trail just below Dead Horse State Park which is on the edge of the Canyonland National Park and gives a view of areas that seem to rival the Grand Canyon in beauty and splendor.

 

Deadhorse State Park is a peninsula of land that juts out into the Canyonland National Park.  It is a narrow piece of landscape that funnels down to less than a few hundred yards in width. Cowboys and Indians used the area as a natural corral for herding horses.  The horses would be herded into the narrow area of land and then brush would be placed in a picket so that the horses could not escape. Legend says that some horses were herded onto the point and corralled and then forgotten. When they were found they were all dead; hence the name Dead Horse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the evening of the 23rd, the riders headed into the Desert to an area called the Big Bend, which sits in a narrow canyon on the Colorado River.  Under the night stars the men came together around the campfire; not unlike the early travelers of a century and more ago did as they moved west.

 

 

 

They talked about those they left behind and expressed thanks and blessing for being with those who made the choice to be there. The men continued to chatter on into the night about the great opportunities this business has afforded them and their families and the enormous future that awaits.

 

 

 

    

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