Percieds Meteor Shower

Our favorite meteor shower of the year is coming to a peak on the 11th of August. Before dawn you are likely to see 50-100 meteors per hour. In the early evening you might catch an earthglazer, a long slow colorful meteor traveling horizontally across the sky. If you are a night owl things really get going around midnight. For best viewing find a dark clear open sky and a camp chair. It’s that simple.  Don’t wait till Sunday night to see the show. With cloudy Monsoon skies rolling in and a waxing moon; opportunities to see shooting stars might be more rare than in years past.
Those who want a social experience should check out the ranger-led night sky/stargazing at Balanced Rock in Arches National Park, between 9-11. More info here
 

John Wesley Powell

In 1869 John Wesley Powell set out to explore the Colorado River with nine men, and cover almost 1,000 river miles through uncharted canyon. They set out May 24th from Green River, Wyoming with four boats constructed of oak, and food for ten months on an exploratory expedition of the American West.

As the expedition's route traveled through the Utah canyons of the Colorado River the ten men endured hardships and dangers.  Passing the Confluence of the Green with the Colorado, the expedition was one boat sunk, extremely low on rations, and searching for driftwood to fashion new oars.

July 23, 1869 – “On starting we come at once to difficult rapids and falls, that in many places are more abrupt than in any of the canyons through which we have passed, and we decide to name this Cataract Canyon.”

July 24, 1869 – “Large rocks have fallen from the walls – great angular blocks, which have rolled down the talus and are strewn along the channel. We make three portages in succession. Among these rocks, in chutes, whirlpools, and great waves, with rushing breakers and foam, the water finds its way. We stop for the night only three fourths of a mile below the last camp. A very hard day’s work has been done.”

July 27, 1869 – “Late in the afternoon we discover a flock of mountain sheep a hundred feet above us. We land quickly, out of sight, and away go the hunters. Soon we hear firing. We lash our prizes to the deck and go for a short distance; but fresh meat is too tempting, and we stop to have a feast. And what a feast it is! Two young fine sheep! We care not for bread or beans or dried apple tonight; coffee and mutton are all we ask.”

Six men completed the journey on August 13, 1869. One explorer left the expedition in Vernal where he raised a family. Three were never heard from again after hiking out at Separation Canyon near the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

"What falls there are, we know not; what rocks beset the channel, we know not; what walls rise over the river, we know not."

John Wesley Powell did not see himself as just an explorer. He was a scientist, with a thirst for knowledge. Powell's expedition of the Colorado River led to some of the fundamental principles of geology today. His exploits were the first to convey the depths of our canyons.

Mission 66 Program

HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD ARCHES NATIONAL PARK
HAER No. UT-70

ARCHES NATIONAL PARK ENTRANCE ROAD
Leaving Highway 191 near the remains of a "dugway", or primitive cattle drive trail, the road travels up the north canyon wall through a series of dramatically ascending switchbacks, passes close to a number of scenic areas and terminates at a loop near the Devils Garden.

Completion of this road was planned as part of the National Park Service's MISSION 66 program initiated by NPS Director Conrad L. Wirth. Founded by the National Park Service in 1956, the MISSION 66 program was intended to develop and protect the natural and historic resources of these priceless possessions of the American people. The project would conclude after ten years, coinciding with the fiftieth anniversary of the National Park Service.

In order to forge this section of the road, running up the canyon wall and over the rim, 185,000 cubic yards of rock was blasted and 30,000 yards of dirt and rock moved from borrow ditches to form the road base. The final costs for the road between the entryway and the junction with the Windows road totaled $742,740 during the 1958 fiscal year.

The official opening and road dedication was held Sunday, August 24, 1958. Mrs. Alvina Williams, age 80, cut the official ribbon accompanied by officials representing the National Park Service, the State of Utah and local interests.

Mrs. Williams was the widow of one of Moab's earliest settlers and pioneers, Dr. J. W. Williams, who had died in 1956. Ten years later, the American Society of Landscape Architects selected the Arches entrance road as one of the best roads of the Mission 66 program.
 

Labyrinth Canyon kayaks

Monsoon rains brought some incredible clouds on a recent Labyrinth Canyon kayaking trip. Pictures by guide Jason Reese.