Desert Daze - A Southwest Adventure (VIII)

Part Eight: Exploring Planet Coyote – South

(Scroll down to start with Part One)

Absotively posilutely (same word!) fantabulous. Oh no!, I’ve sunk to using funny but frivolous portmanteau words that really don’t tell you anything. I’m running out of superlatives to describe these places; even my good friend thesaurus isn’t much help anymore. Did you know that it was the author Lewis Carroll (real name: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. How’s that for a mouthful? Try saying that ten times fast…) who first used the word portmanteau in this sense? (It also means ‘a large, double compartmented suitcase’). In his book Through the Looking-Glass, Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice the coinage of the unusual words in Jabberwocky: ’Slithy’ means ‘lithe and slimy’... You see it's like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word. ‘Mimsy’ is ‘flimsy and miserable’ (there's another portmanteau ... for you)". The word itself is a portmanteau derived from porter (to carry) and manteau (mantle).


Anyway, as I said - fantabulous. I round a bend in the trail and suddenly, there they are – dozens of large twisted and tortured red rock ‘teepees’ looming before me. Hard to believe that these curious creations, in fact, the whole of the Colorado Plateau - an area larger than the Sahara Desert, once lay far away, near the equator and at a much lower elevation. The Colorado Plateau, which of course, wasn’t yet a plateau at that time, just a large desert, lay in a belt of strong trade winds, which blew quartz sand into dunes. Gradually, the dunes were buried and, under pressure, solidified into sandstone. Later, the whole area was thrust up, twisted and shoved north by plate tectonics, the interaction of ginormous (love that portmanteau!) plates deep beneath the earth’s surface. The uplifted area then weathered down, exposing the formerly buried sandstone we see now. Why the incredible colors you ask? I’ll get to that question in the next post…

South Coyote Buttes, when compared to North is relatively unexplored. For example, twenty people have permits to explore North today (and most every day) while I’m the only soul in South; I have the place to myself (yes!) Why the difference in interest? North has a truly standout formation called ‘The Wave’, (images to come) which is quickly becoming world famous. I read recently that ‘The Wave’ was featured in a German movie and that, as a result, many Germans venture hoping to visit it in person. While South may not have ‘The Wave’, it has its own collection of awetastic (hmmm, don’t like that one, sounds too much like autistic) formations and the solitude will be an added bonus; it’ll feel like true wilderness.

Wandering around in an awe-struck state with no plan in mind, I stumble upon a huge amphitheatre of twisted rock hidden away between some buttes where you’d never expect to find it; I suspect others miss it entirely. That would be a shame, its walls have some of the best striation patterns I’ve seen anywhere.

At this point, I could continue to attempt to describe what I see here in words, but I think I’d rather just let my pictures tell the rest of the story. Suffice to say that this is a most fanciful place, very ‘Alice-in-Wonderland’ (Lewis Carroll again!) in its otherworldliness.

After a wonderful day of hiking, climbing and clambering, I trudge back to my vehicle (at least it’s downhill this time!), then repair to my campsite. Despite the knowledge that I will be soon enduring yet another cold night in Hotel Truck, I am in good spirits; the thought that tomorrow I will be one of the privileged twenty who get to explore North Coyote Buttes keeps me warm. It’ll be a short night anyway, I’ll be getting up very early to be the first one in so I can spend some alone time with ‘The Wave’.

Next – Exploring Planet Coyote – North and ‘The Wave’