UTAH LANDSCAPES
In this photo series of Utah landscapes, we will visit a few spectacular geological formations:
San Rafael Swell along I-70
Fantasy Canyon
Backroad leaving Fantasy Canyon
Split Mountain
Travel in early April brings amazing skies, clouds, storms and staggeringly beautiful scenery.
SAN RAFAEL SWELL ALONG I-70
Crossing Utah on I-70, between Hanksville and Price, is the San Rafael Swell seen in the panorama above.
I climbed the hillock seen in the panorama foreground and turned the other direction to capture the vibrant colors and contours of the Utah scenery.
FANTASY CANYON NEAR VERNAL, UTAH
Down a long dirt road barely marked is Fantasy Canyon with its striking formations.
Ancient river channel sediments make up the sandstone structures in Fantasy Canyon. Erosion at differing rates has left these spectacular “pinnacles, pillars, knobs, and arches” standing over about 10 acres. The entire surrounding area of desert is also littered with endless numbers of oil and gas wells!
Louie loved running from the top of the formations and leaping over the boulders. He started out on the top of the dome in the back part of the photo above and then ran full bore straight done and then over a lot of the boulders.
It was hot and Louie took advantage of any bit of shade.
What would the wild West be without wild horses? They were scattered throughout a vast area in various bands.
You can see the ubiquitous oil wells. They were everywhere!
ALONG THE BACK ROAD LEAVING FANTASY CANYON
SPLIT MOUNTAIN EAST OF VERNAL, UTAH
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There is a spectacular campsite beneath Split Mountain and along the Green River. A huge group of mountain bikers took over the entire campground (about 20 sites) so we couldn’t stay to camp under this colossal mountain. Instead, we went 2 miles up the road to Green River Campground, which is very nice but did not have Split Mountain towering above us.
This mountain range towers over a small campground. Spectacular!
