Kansas and Missouri

Travelling home.  Said goodby to the Rockies and hello to the prairies and great plains.  It was good to see green again.  Even flat roads were a nice change.  Big negative was the cattle feed lots.  Some you could see, others were screened behind tall hedges.  But you could smell them all.
The smell itself would make you give up eating beef.  Nicer thoughts - The Historic Fort Dodge is now an incorporated city for State Veterans Home.  The whole thing is like a retirement village with independent living to total care.  The Truman neighborhood in Independence is a charming victorian historic district. And St Louis is a wonderful city with many historic, beautifully restored neighborhoods as well as the famous arch, U. S. Grants Farm and the home of the Cardinals and Clydesdales. 

Great Sands National Park

This was a real surprise.  After emerging from the mountain pass I found myself in high desert again.  The San Luis Valley.  This large desert plateau area is surrounded on the west, north and east my mountains, open to the south.  The prevailing southwest winds blow sand grains into the northwest corner at the foot of the Sangre de Christo mountains.  The sand grains are dropped into creeks of snowmelt.  The creeks carry the sand grains to the dunes where they deposited as "silt".  Finally the northwest winds coming down the mountains  carve the dunes into their wavy shape.  The dunes are over 700 ft high and cover more than 330 square miles. I think I understand this unusual event.  It is estimated that the dunes have been there for 12,000 years to over a million years.  The white stripes on the dune photo is snow.  The ant size figures on the dunes are people. The park is also a preserve. Tonight I can see the entire snow capped Sangre de Christo range from my hotel room.  This is my 21st and last national park.  What an experience!

Continental Divide

I finally made it back to the "East".  Due to snow pack in the higher Monach Pass I followed the Ranger's advice and took a lower pass, only 10,138 ft elevation.  But the great thing is the summit coincided with the Continental Divide.  I feel almost home!  The drive over the pass was lovely.

Scenic byway route 128

I drove on the Colorado Riverway from Moab to I-70 about 45 miles.  The road was at river level and followed it for most of the way.  Again I found the bottom up prospective to be fascinating and the river was a welcome relief from high desert scrub.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison N. P.

Unfortunately it was cloudy and raining while I was at the Black Canyon.  The rock face is really dark (black) with dramatic whitish limestone strips.  The canyon is narrow and deep.  This adds to its blackness as sunlight does not always reach the bottom.  At the rim drive there was snow in the large raindrops.  Air temp was 37degrees.  Tomorrow I have to drive through the mountains.  It snowed in the passes today.  It is predicted to be dry tomorrow.  Will keep my fingets crossed.  Try to use your imagination with the photos.  This is really a striking place.

Arches National Park

The arches, holes and balanced rocks are the main features.  Little can be seen from the scenic drive.  Again jeeps and hiking seem to be the most popular mode.  The contented cows were open range critters on the road leading into the Canyonlands visitor center. 

Canyonland National Park

This park has three sections.  The Needles where the eroded rocks reminded me of the New York skyline from a distance.  Island in the Sky is a plateau between the canyons created by the Colorado and Green Rivers at a 6000 ft elevation.  The plateau is very narrow at the "neck" creating an Island in the Sky.  The Maze is the third part and you either hike, ride a horse or drive a off road vehicle.  There are no roads and trails.  You make your own. A little rough for me.  Plenty of fantastic land forms to keep your interest.