Goblin Valley State Park

Smurf Goblins

Animated clay creatures populating an isolated valley near Green River, Utah pop up organically from the smooth valley floor like red goblins. Sienna-hued and bulbous, these odd figures look earthy and familiar; strangely comforting: a recurring dream inhabiting an alternate reality coexisting with ours, beguiling us to behold their surreal condition.

Some goblins stand alone, others cluster in cliquish gatherings as if conducting meetings; yet others seem to be anxiously waiting for you as if they've been expecting you for years in a state of suspended animation.

Goblin Assembly

Groups emerging from the soil, yet integral to it, seem to be holding congress, a goblin assembly discussing internal affairs.
There may be a tribal meeting.  Or large family reunions.  Each gathering representing sub-species of goblin: ethnic groups, or genetically engineered castes.

Duck-Like Goblins

Some are duck-like.  Some are Smurf-like.
Some are hooded monks chanting their morning prayers, eternally.

Hooded Monks

The entire place is a village of unworldly beings frozen in time.  Rather like an extremely slow scene with people buzzing in and out at lightning speeds: bees on a bug's life cycle and goblins dancing to their own imperceptible rhythm.

Dancing Goblins

Some goblins are distinctly upright, striking individualistic poses captured on a slow moving walk, perhaps smiling.

Solitary Goblin

The solitary goblin is the remarkable one representing his faction by sheer force of character, or unique characteristic.

Popeye Goblin

There's Popeye looking ever the weathered sailor with sunken mouth and bony cheeks.

Toothless Hag Goblin

There's the toothless old hag in extreme stage of decay, with gaunt face grinning at the sky, forever.

Big Bird Goblin

There's Big Bird Goblin walking alone.

Goblin Gone Blind

There's the bony indescribable one: a goblin gone blind.

On one level goblins could be proto-humans in various stages of development;  on another, they might be post-humans in different phases of arrested development.  Perhaps they are reincarnations of partial personalities: alter egos eternally working out issues.

Kissing Goblins

 Unresolved loves forever kissing.

Rug-Rat Baby Goblins

Or unborn souls made manifest by clay; giant heads stuck in the mud like rug-rat babies personalities.

In any case, there's a supernatural quality to this place.  Goblins, ghouls, or apparitions are lingering into modern times.  The spirit of Halloween is alive and naturally well at Goblin park reminding us, possibly, of our spectral ancestry.

Spectral Goblins

Arches National Park

Three Gossips

Natural wonders envelop Moab, Utah.  The area is one red sandbox filled with giant toys.  Huge stone sculptures set against enormous red cliffs make up the landscape.  This is high desert; hot in the summer and frigid in winter.  Although rivers do stream, collecting thunderstorms, channeling their precious fluid to oases like Moab, the local splendor is rocks.  Geological forces made these rocks, heaving them up through tectonic plates shifting and setting them into place, while extreme weather: wind, rain, and snow,  polished and sculpted them into their latest form.

Arches National Park is most amazing of all.  The scale is monumental and it's first magnificent monument is the Three Gossips seemingly discussing the latest political intrigue and passing judgement on their hapless subjects.  They might be robed choir members but for their chiseled aspect and austere demeanor.

Balancing Rock

Balancing Rock is an enormous egg-shaped rock atop a red pillar; a Jurassic vision ensemble resembling T-Rex on the prowl.  The prehistoric predator sizes up and seizes its prey, if only it could...

Double Arches

Arches National Park, not surprisingly, has a few arches.  Naturally formed and varying in size, these red portals dot the landscape.  Sometimes they're grouped into compounds, other times isolated and discreet.

Arch

One major grouping is the Double Arches compound.  It is expansive, requiring quite a bit of walking to get a taste of the place, or vigorous hiking for hours to fully take in its scope.  Here a formation, there a sculpture, everywhere a climbing adventure.  All red.  

Spring Arch

One attraction juts out of the ground springing up and over head like an arcing liquid extrusion petrified in mid air.  Another, is a conglomerate of shapes scattered and piled into an arch-like castle.  Much like sandcastles, these sandstone piles evoke a playful hand sparking the imagination.

Picnic Area

Life makes a go of it wherever it can. Hardy trees take root in the unlikeliest of places, requiring the rare thundershower and runoff to survive.  These micro oases resembling landscaped parks prove that "life imitates art"... and make perfect picnic areas too.

Surrealist Rocks

At times, vegetation and sandstone take on a surrealist look as if rocks and trees had been Terra-formed by Salvador Dali for a Southwest Disney theme park.

Rock Faces

Rock faces really start looking like faces and pillars start resembling animated creatures.  Animism is alive and well in the desert heat.

Arches Crows

Crows thrive and eagles soar, jack rabbits hide from the full sun and lizards bore into cool sand under cover of rocks.  It's a minimal, conservative existence of economic simplicity.  A Darwinian laboratory for the survival of the fittest.

Greatest of all gems in this vast collection of jewels is Delicate Arch.  It stands alone and aloof from the rest, quite far from any other attraction.   In fact it's practically inaccessible.   Hiking uphill for two miles over slick behemoth boulders in the desert heat at high altitude seemingly conspires against anyone ever reaching this isolated landmark.

Pathway to Delicate Arch

The anticipation built while getting to the arch is like potential energy released at first sight.  A fantastic feature on one continuous rock surface stands there, impossibly, pointing skyward, and downward, marking an undisclosed passageway.  A portal to another dimension? A divine whimsy?  A giant's project?  Certainly a testament to nature's varied splendor.  A skeptic might believe, however briefly, that a cosmic Architect, or the hand of God gently carved out an arch so exquisite its only purpose could be to signify majesty; for no other purpose than to inspire, to leave you standing there, agape.

Leaving behind scientific buzz-kill words like erosion, tectonic upheavals and the like, it is so much easier to let go and wonder...

Delicate Arch

Aspen, Ice Caves, Grottoes, and Cascades - Colorado

Aspen Forest

Aspen: a tree, a city, a forest; in any case, a beauty to behold.

The city of Aspen is an alpine jewel set in nature's precious wilderness.  It is a wealthy city where billionaires push around millionaires; it's Beverly Hills on steroids; and it sits in the wild rich Rocky Mountains of Colorado.  Arriving by plane or driving, one discovers the genteel habitat of eggs benedicts, mimosas, and NorthFace-clad hikers and mountain bikers.  It's the gateway to the playground of those who've arrived; or those who simply love nature.

Whether outfitted by REI or Walmart, everyone enjoys venturing past the city and into Mount Massive Wilderness Area in the San Isabel National Forest on the way to Independence Pass.

Magnificent mountains magically morph into an amazing aspen forest on the way to the pass.  First sight of an aspen clump of trees reveals a living organism composed of interdependent living units.  Each tree bolstering the other while searching for sunlight sings a primal leave-rustling melody beckoning to an earlier, perhaps mythical age.  They are tall with greenish white skin - scarcely a bark - and graceful round leaves like swishing earrings in auburn hair.

Within the forest wonders await.  Steep terrain belies a rocky bed where granite stones form crags, caves, and caverns topped by boulder mounds.  Tectonic plates are still forcing bedrock out of the ground and rock gardens of gigantic proportions pop up the mountainside.

Cascade

Rainfall captured at the top cascades down, tumbling, and tunneling while carving hard rock into abstract sculpted stone; some looking remarkably like pock-marked faces in various stages of surprise.

Pocked Rock Face

Natural sculpture gardens filled with reflecting pools and zen reflections capture the imagination.  

Zen Reflection

Granite vessels and fountains randomly created by fickle streams surprise at every turn.

Granite Vessel

Exploring further reveals that hydrology has been busy beneath the surface.  There are rocky grottoes, cave entrances,

Cave Entrance

....and granite ravines, or gullies lead to the most unexpected surprise of all in the warm summer month of August.

Grottoes Ravine

Ice caves, not made of ice, but carved out of solid bedrock and stocked with ice deep underground.  A subterranean pool of melting ice delightfully green with thriving aquatic life greets the unsuspecting spelunker.

Ice Caves Pool

Spring water infiltrating rocky pockets as big as bedrooms freezes in Winter and tunneling endlessly year after year expands space to chamber-size proportions. 

Ice Caves

And always, there is light; playful meandering light overhead, entering deep within crevasses; illuminating, delineating, casting dark shadows over rounded boulders; a beacon, a ray to be drawn to... a hope.

Playful Highlights

Rocky Mountain National Park

Zen-like View

Climbing out of the Colorado desert titanic mountains march North-South in a massive migration spanning eons and stretching from Canada to Mexico.  Meet the Rocky Mountains.

Travelling at maximum speed takes forever to get there.  Driving Eastward at 80 mph behold behemoths reaching for the sky in a slow motion dance highlighted by the sun and underscored by shifting shadows.  Clouds form, gather, and vanish above, around, and in front of the mountains like characters in a play.  The Rockies face the Heavens above and creatures below with indifferent magnificence.

Eventually, climbing up foothills, up the mountain skirt steeply the landscape changes to dense bush, the air thins, and panting, almost gasping for oxygen you end up on the Continental Divide.  The Pacific watershed lies westward, the Atlantic watershed eastward, and each is impossibly far.  At this point in the range the altitude is a mere 9,523 feet above sea level; the summit road reaches an altitude of 12.300 feet with Zen-like views.

Accessing the Rocky Mountain National Park is most convenient from Estes Park, a small alpine city with every sort of accommodation, although the most intimate way to this national treasure is by camping.  Either way, this formidable high-altitude expanse is rewarding, yielding extreme sights.

Alberta Falls

West of Estes Park is Alberta Falls, a robust gushing waterfall within hiking distance from the parking lot.  Sparkling alpine water is a refreshing sight cascading and thundering down granite boulders, delightful to behold.   Climbing to the top and seeing the water tumbling, or staying at trail's end to enjoy the display is certainly worth the effort.

Bear Lake

A strenuous oxygen-deprived two mile hike from the falls delivers a group of alpine lakes the closest of which is Bear Lake, quaint and classic with jutting granite peak backdrops.

Abyss Falls

Intrepid drivers may tackle a one way dirt road steeply climbing from near the park entrance to the summit.  On the way to the top is a hidden gem called Abyss Falls.  This waterfall is continuously carving solid granite into a narrow tubular channel tumbling precipitously into the abyss: a fluid yet steadfast sculpture.

Jagged Moutains

Jagged mountains impress upon all sides on the trek to the top.

Summit - RMNP

Approaching the highest peaks accessible by car is rendered dramatic by rarefied air and endless vistas.
Elevation 12,301feet, more than two miles high is crystal clear, the atmosphere a rugged ambiance.  And, the alpine setting is rich in wildlife.  Nature's bounty is abundantly clear.

Nature's Bounty

Plentiful elk roam gracefully grazing and posing; suddenly sprinting and galloping away; tolerating humans up to a point, bolting when spooked, they're gone.  Here one minute, miles away the next, effortlessly, foraging, drinking melted snow pooled here and there and everywhere conveniently placed in this wildlife playground.  Often, summer thunderstorms turn even the most idyllic hill tops into moody mountains.

Moody Mountain

Fresh air combining with vast vistas fuels the imagination, flaring into ancestral dreams.  And everything is green.  Patches of snow persist well into August highlighting verdant mosses with their complimentary orange lichen.  Alpine views greet you as if smiling.

Alpine View

Crows crackle their craven craw, gliding, soaring, searching: a murder in flux.

Crows Crackle

Marmots scurry in and out of dens stopping to stare and wiggle whiskers: sniffing out the air.

Scurrying Marmot

Distant hawks keen their killing cries while pikas screech high pitched notes ears piercing anew and Elk Bull bugles his mating calls, in rut.

Elk Bull

Suddenly the realization hits that we are like aliens from another planet freshly landed and witnessing a fragile system best left untouched, a prime directive to not interfere: to look and not touch or it will break and shatter like a broken dream.

And yet this is home.  Peace descends like a warm shower.  Little things show off their beauty.  The lichen seems a little redder, the sky a little bluer, smells a tad more pungent, and sounds a whole lot keener; even touching is sharper, describing jagged rock edges and smooth moss textures.  In short, senses are heightened and freedom reigns at one with nature and yourself: atone.

Josie Bassett Morris

Green River

Utah wilderness was settled by many colorful figures but a little known woman stands out for being tenacious in the face of adversity.  Josie Morris dealt with the typical pioneering hardship: eking a living out nothing in the middle of nowhere.  However, the territory was filling up and the state had entered the union; people were there and so was man's Law.

Josie's claim to fame was that she was a wild west woman going solo in a codified world, an American woman in an arid land. Her challenge was being one of the last homesteaders in the modern context of strict water rights and land ownership laws.

Sand Spit - Green River

Someone had already staked a claim to the Green River water rights and he wasn't sharing.  Though hardly anyone lived in the area known today as Dinosaur National Monument, a few ranchers had cattle grazing on  the open range.  Josie's options were limited and she chose an unwanted patch of dry dirt bounded by massive bedrock, relatively close to Vernal.

Bedrock

She couldn't access the river, so she squeezed water out of the rocks; almost literally; and she made her own corner of the desert bloom.

Artesian Spring

Precious autumn rainfall seeps into porous rock formations, freezes during the winter, and is released in Spring like trickling water from a soaked sponge.  Josie captured the dribble, channeled it, and made it flow to her land; homestead irrigation a rustic aqueduct. And, she fashioned a pond, storing water for her fields, hogs, and other barn animals.

Homestead Irrigation

Although Josie did not imbibe forbidden juice during Prohibition, she made moonshine; she conducted business.  Money raised by her stilling output bought building materials for a modest, yet comfortable cabin; most notably, expensive glass windows.

Josie Morris's Cabin

We take glazed windows for granted today, but they were a valuable innovation allowing ample lighting while keeping the elements outside and maintaining a comfortable temperature inside.  Josie's cabin windows are remarkably big and wonderfully segmented into cottage style panels.  By installing a fire place her rustic cabin was transformed into a home during cold winters.  How she got wood in a desert place is a mystery, most likely she bought coal with her hard earned illicit money.

Into the Rocks

Today Josie Morris' legacy is a fertile canyon home to wild flora and fauna.  So after visiting Dinosaur
National Monument and seeing a fossilized dinosaur head

Dinosaur Head

or two take a side trip out to Hog Canyon  - named after Josie's favorite home grown food.
It will be a rewarding surprise: an oasis in the desert.