Needles: Day 2 and Utah Miscellanea

Monticello tree in full bloom... and snow covered.

Saturday, April 1st (Happy Fool's Day!!!) we awoke to new snow again in Monticello, but we decided to do our postponed 2nd visit to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park anyway as it is lower elevation that Monticello.

The cats still did their morning walk; they're getting used to the snow (well, they're Calgary cats after all).

John is NOT getting used to the snow and told me he wants to reset his compass to "warm".

Church Rock; the cave opening is in the red rock at bottom

I finally figured out what the domed beehive-looking rock is that we pass on our treks to the Needles... it is called "Church Rock" and it is hollow (!) and has a cave opening in front that enters into the chamber with good acoustics.

There used to be mormon services held there, but the rock now sits on private land and is not in use presently.  Too bad!!  How cool is that??

We drove to Elephant Hill which is the recreation area closest to the actual "needles" in Canyonlands.  We did a 6-mile hike to Chesler Park which got us right up to the base of the needles.

I love the "mushroom cap" caprock on the red rock.  It's Navaho sandstone

John, in a narrow portion of the hike: great rock walls!!

Closing in on the Needles!!

John commented that it was the nicest hike we've done between Canyonlands and Arches National Park.  It was just very interesting and pleasant.  Not strenuous, but it had lots of ups and downs (elevation wise) with great overlooks and "look-ups".  There was always something to be looking at or gazing across at.

I enjoyed the combination of slickrock (following cairns) and sandy path hiking.  Not too much of either.  And I just never get tired of this scenery.  It really is amazing.  I'm sorry to be leaving Utah!

Waterpockets (potholes) filled with water and Island in the Sky in background

Sandy wash with cool water patterns

Dawn, at the base of the Needles

Waterpocket Garden - with desert paintbrush and yucca plants

But speaking of which, we are leaving the state, and John & I have been discussing some quirky things we've discovered about Utah....

Southern Utah does not have many large towns.  We are very thankful that we stocked up in St. George, UT (SW corner of the state).  That was the only Costco and WalMart between California and Colorado (in southern Utah).  Really!!

John, on the rock trail

Close up of the Needles - love the striping in the pinnacles

Liquor is regulated by the state (which we knew) but there aren't state liquor stores in every town (which we did not know). After St. Geroge, we only found ONE state liquor store - in Moab.  Counties that don't have a state liquor store "may" have a state liquor "agent" (essentially a small family run liquor store that carries a small selection of state-approved liquor).  We found 3 of these liquor agents in our whole trip, 2 of whom we purchased wine from (Heather in Bicknell and Holly in Panguitch) and the 3rd we didn't as his selection was so small we couldn't find anything we wanted (and we weren't in dire straits... yet!).

Large, chain grocery stores are rare in southern Utah.  We found a Kroeger's in Moab, and an Albertson's in St. George.The rest of the time, we were at the (meat and produce) mercy of very small local grocers. We became very inventive (and adventuresome) with what we could find.

Tawny, enjoying a good sunbeam on the back of my chair in the Living Room

We did bring a lot of our favourite groceries with us from Calgary - such as cereal, crackers, protein bars and cat food that we can't get in the States - but of course we couldn't bring meat or produce with us. We would definitely plan differently if we were spending time in southern Utah again...

Other than that, we loved our Utah experience and hope to visit again soon!

But for now, we're headed to Colorado.