Part Twelve: From Page to Sage(Scroll down this page to start with Part One)
My kingdom for a warm, comfy bed. I deserve it. And I could also really use a shower too, so I rent a room in Page, Arizona, a strange little bustling city on the banks of Lake Powell. It’s a noisy place – people yelling and conversing loudly, kids screaming, horns honking and it would seem that very few cars and trucks here are equipped with mufflers. Or is it me? Am I just super sensitive after spending the last six days in desert silence? No matter, I’m out like a light the second I hit the pillow; normally a light sleeper, no horn nor voice nor loud vehicle can keep me up tonight.
On the other side of eight hours of sleep, I wake up totally refreshed. I decide to take it easy today, no hurry, no worry. I organize my stuff, eat a leisurely breakfast, study the maps to choose my next destination, do some laundry, shower then finally hit the road around eleven. I have my sights set on Monument Valley and the sagebrush country of Utah.
Monument Valley is located in southeast Utah just north of the Arizona border. It’s an impressive place - huge sandstone buttes dot the valley, the largest of which towers 1,000 feet over the valley floor. These buttes are not just big, they are also vividly colored with red being the dominant color. As in Coyote Buttes and throughout the Southwest, various oxides impart the color in the rock; the reds in particular is imparted by iron oxide.
Three distinct layers make up these monoliths: the base is made up of Organ Rock Shale, this is soft shale; the middle section is DeChelly Sandstone, hard shale; and the top is Moenkopi shale topped by Shinarump siltstone. These rocks have what are called ‘joints’ - vertical, very smooth and even, and they determine how a rock erodes and give these particular formations their unique look.A fascinating place but I don’t stay long; I need to find a place to camp tonight before dark. Northward ho!
Next: From Mexican Hat to Muley Point
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