OMG Look at All of the Pretty Rocks

After a reasonably restful night (after grabbing a blanket for me) we got on the road nice and early. Our destination for the day was Canyonlands National Park. We were exploring the Islands in the Sky district and camping in the Needles district. The Islands in the Sky district is the mesa peninsula between the Colorado and Green rivers of which you can see the confluence of at the southern most point in the district. However, our first stop was Four Corners because it was only thirty minutes out of our way. 

Mesa Arch

I love rocks. Especially pretty ones. I will try to be selective. John had had enough by the end of the day and we still had another full day of rock ogling to go. 

Sam and Bryson thought the Prickly Pear cactus was neat. 

Newspaper Rock Petroglyphs. We happened upon this on the way to our campsite. Apparently unbeknownst to me we had to pass thorough Bears Ears National Monument to get to our campsite so I got a bonus in seeing Bears Ears. There’s lots of interesting stuff to do related to the Pueblo peoples further in that wasn’t on the agenda but I digress. I will post the contents of the plaque that explains Newspaper Rock Petroglyphs:

Newspaper Rock is a petroglyph panel etched in sandstone that records approximately 2,000 years of early human activity. Pre-ristoric peoples, probably from the Archaic, Basketmaker, Fremont and Pueblo cultures, etched on the rock from B.C. time to A.D. 1300. In historic times, Ute and Navajo people, as well as European Americans made their contributions.
In interpreting the figures on the rock, scholars are undecided as to their meaning or have yet to decipher them. In Navajo, the rock is called "Tse' Hane’”(Rock that tells a story).
Unfortunately, we do not know if the figures represent storytelling, doodling, hunting magic, clan symbols, ancient graffiti or something else. Without a true understanding of the petroglyphs, much is left for individual interpretation.
Newspaper Rock is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Elephant Rock

This was the view from our campsite in the Needles District. There were fewer viewpoints here due to being a bit lower in elevation so we spent the day up in the Islands and planned to see what we could early in the morning before heading to Arches. Plus the visitor center was closed by the time got here and I can’t leave without my stamp!