Moab Super Cub

30 Sep 2014

Friend Steve lives in Minnesota, but keeps a Super Cub near Moab.  Fortunately he was out here just when I was around, so I looked him up.  Steve's a dead keen bush flyer, and knows all of the many unused bush strips around here.  Most were built for the uranium mining boom around here in the 1950's.   The 'Utah Back Country Flyers Guide' lists about 80 such strips, and Steve helped compile that guide.  

It was a day of perfect weather,

so away we went.

A 'slot' canyon, 

very deep, but barely wide enough to walk through,

for miles....

One of the back country airstrips.

The perfect aircraft for these strips, that are sometimes rough.
Notice the size of those tires.

A fire place made from petrified wood.

There's lots of it around here.

A large piece of petrified wood.

An old mining shack.

These secure fences around nothing that we could figure....

But this was uranium mining, so maybe a 'hot' spot....

The river really heavy with silt,from recent storm rains,
causing the same erosion process that formed all these canyons over the ages.

Lake Powell

Notice the water-line that shows how low it is,

after a decade of dought.

That long concrete boat launching ramp

is now not even in sight of water.....

Wilson Arch, one of the thousands of arches around Moab.

Cliff dweller ruins.

This is an isolated Mormon community,

with the houses excavated into the rock.

Great houses that are cool in summer and warm in winter.

And of course, with Mormons there'll be sustenance gardens.

Solar panels on the top of the rock.

Aspen colours  high in the Abajo Mtns.

 The Abajo Mtns overlook the Canyonlands,

So much spectacular terrain everywhere!

4 hrs of flying around the most spectacular rock forms anywhere.....

Steve's Angle of Attack indicator.

When the string points to the yellow area, 

the wing is near it's stall angle.

Simple and effective.
And of course he has VGs.....

Moab off-road

28 Sep 2014

Steve also took me on several excellent off-road trips in his Jeep.

There's hundreds of miles of off-road tracks around Moab,

from easy to very challenging.

We climbed some very rough tracks but I didn't get many photos,

too busy just hanging on.......

 One of the arches in Arches National Park

There are hundreds and hundreds of arches in this park.

Typical traffic in the Arches Park...... 

 Some excellent petrographs from Indian times.

That's the only bear I've ever seen  in such artwork.

Note the little fellow with the bow and arrow in front of the bear,

I guess that's how big a bear would look if you just had a bow and arrow....

There's also several mountain sheep in the picture,

There are heaps more such artwork right along a road near Moab.

 A typical viewpoint in the Canyonlands.

Steve.

Cliff dweller ruins, Goosenecks, Monument Valley

02 Oct 2014

Flying from Bluff, Utah.

This Comb Ridge was once the home of many Anasazi cliff dwellers.
There are dozens of excellent caves in the ridge, many of them with ruins.
And the well-watered flats below,
were excellent for growing the corn and beans that were their stable diet.

There are several two-story dwellings.

This is another two-story dwelling.

The lower level is hidden by the foliage.

The upper story is very difficult access along a narrow sloping ledge,

and I didn't feel competent to climb there on my own.

My guess is that the upper story was the defensive position in case of attack.

This is the lower level, which looks very lived-in, and would have been quite comfortable.

Note the little alcoves upper left.....

One still contains corn cobs, probably from the times of occupation!

Another shelter from Indian times.

The 'Gooseneck' canyons

What a view-point!

The classic view of Monument Valley

Navajo souvenir shops, one of so many along the roads to Monument Valley

A Navajo farmstead, sheep in the corral, and a genuine earthen hogan.

A clever corral made all from rock.

The 'Mexican Hat' balancing rock.

There had been recent rains, so the desert was blooming....

Another photo of rocks, I just can't resist....