Here’s the next diary installment of The Dkos Road Tour Series (see URL list for previous diaries at the close of this diary). Our destinations today will take us, first, to northern New Mexico then to southern New Mexico, and from there to southeast Utah. The information in these diaries is “layered.” Meaning, the reader chooses how much or how little read, graduating from the essentials to more in-depth details. By the way, if you enjoy the series, it would be good to have a recommendation from commentators. Gracias.
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GHOST RANCH/GEORGIA O'KEEFE
Location/Geography: Northern New Mexico. Rio Arriba County. Closet City or Town: Abiquiú. Area: 21,000 acre (85 km²). Jemez Mountains region, also Chama Basin along the eastern margin of the Colorado Plateau and the Rio Grande rift. Badlands topography.
Coordinates: 36.32979ºN 106.47400ºW (http://bitly/1y1gRDt)
Google images: http://bitly/1hYwQOj
Maps: http://bitly/1ndtWlR
√ Spotlight: Georgia O'Keeffe. Abiquiú. Idyllic, rugged, and variegated landscape set in the Chama Basin. An ideal painter’s and photographer’s setting of color and changing moods caused by lighting. Dinosaur fossils. Focus: paleontology, geology and the artist herself.
√ Snapshot: Ghost Ranch is a retreat and education center overseen by the Presbyterian Church. In this land of shifting light, boundless skies, and fused cultures, Ghost Ranch was a perfect match for Georgia's vivid imagination and matchless talents. The geologic panorama circumscribing the ranch is the subject of many landscapes and tableaus painted by the artist who almost lived to see and celebrate her 100th birthday (1887 - 1986). She also loved living in nearby Abiquiú. With the ranch’s soaring rock walls and arresting colors, Georgia painted here for fifty years. Ghost Ranch especially inspired her New Mexico Eden made into a miniature on an easel. The craggy geologic backdrop of this region almost seems out of place. Indeed, this landscape of diverse colors she immortalized sometimes looks more akin to Utah's canyon country or the Painted Desert of Arizona. Of course, this is New Mexico territory. This sector of the state is also an integral part of the Colorado Plateau’s distinctive geologic forming and its rock formations laid down over hundreds of millions of years. Ghost Ranch was bequeathed to the Presbyterian Church in 1955 by Arthur and Pheobe Pack. Its 21,000 acres (85 km²) were originally part of a land grant to Pedro Martin Serrano from the King of Spain in 1776. The grant was called Piedra Lumbre, meaning shining rock. The name of the ranch derives from El Rancho de los Brujos, which traces its origins to many tales of ghosts and legends of hangings in the ranch's history. Georgia O'Keeffe and Ghost Ranch have always been connected. Although she never owned the ranch, she eventually bought a small home from Arthur Pack, then later an equally cozier though smaller, abode in nearby Abiquiú. The beguiling setting of both places had much to do with her decision to settle here.
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√ Guided Tour Essentials: For some five decades, the Presbyterian Church, the National Ghost Ranch Foundation, as well as friends and supporters of Georgia O’Keeffe kept Ghost Ranch a going concern. Ultimately, special facilities built on the property became a nationally recognized study and conference center. Georgia maintained a summer home on the ranch in 1934, then later established her permanent residence from 1949 until her demise one year short of her centennial birthday. Ghost Ranch is where her ashes were scattered. What a splendid and larger canvas of life she had at her whim! At the ranch, cliffs of tan, gray and yellow sandstone forms a spectacular wall of sedimentary formations extending for miles across the terrain. From these basic colors, other hues appear. The aesthetic effect also depends on the lighting. As a result, mustard, charcoal, beige or tawny, and lavender, among many others, serves as Nature’s palette given the highly picturesque atmosphere throughout Ghost Ranch. And Georgia took advantage of this variable spectrum in her bold and colorful artwork. She also spent many years exploring and painting the badlands, whose rugged and variegated topography added to the vibrant colors of the singular setting. Indeed, a veritable rainbow of colors and the wondrous high-altitude lighting in this part of the state makes these environs a unique subject for painting and photography. The ranch includes a famous paleontological site preserving Triassic Era dinosaurs. Fossil bones were found here as early as 1885. In 1947, the discovery of over one thousand well-preserved fossilized skeletons of a small Triassic dinosaur called Coelophysis (pronounced “c-lo-fice-iss”) was unearthed in Hayden quarry. In 2007, fossil remains of Dromomeron romeri, one of the archaic groups of animals called "basal dinosauromorphs," were also found in the quarry.
Hiking: The Chimney Rock trailhead is just behind the museum. The path steadily winds and climbs its way uphill through purple and gray layers of the Chinle Formation. Eventually, this crooked route to the top crosses a broad terrace overlooking the main compound. Beyond the terrace, the route to the top continues uphill past boulders of sandstone and conglomerate from the Dakota Formation. There is an unmarked spur trail on the left leading to outstanding views of Chimney Rock, where hikers have grandiose and sweeping views of the landscape far below. Looking west along the cliffs, the Echo Amphitheater (in Rio Arriba County) is prominent. This renowned regional landmark is some 17 miles (27 km) west of Abiquiú and about 4 miles (7 km) up the road from Ghost Ranch. From there, hikers can head south toward the Chama River and Jemez Mountains, then east toward impressive red rock mesas.
Directions: Take Hwy. 285 from Santa Fe and travel northwest toward Españolaand Abiquiú. Ghost Ranch is approximately 38 miles (61 km) and just north of Hwy. 84.
Contact Information: Ghost Ranch in Abiquiú, HC77 Box 11, Abiquiu NM 87510. Phone: 505-685.4333; toll-free 877-804.4678
Here's my recommendation for a follow-up URL: http://bitly/1d7aaDy
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GILA CLIFF DWELLINGS NATIONAL MONUMENT
Location/Geography: Southwest New Mexico. Catron County. Closet City or Town: Silver City. Area 533 acres (2.1 km²). Mountainous terrain; lush, verdant highs and lows topography of the Gila Wilderness. Ideal volcanic materials for cliff dwellings.
Coordinates: 33.227222ºN 108.27222ºW (http://bitly/1kB5VCm)
Google images: http://bitly/1lzk87Q
Maps: http://bitly/1lvvgCh
√ Spotlight: Remote location of cliff dwelling alcoves and solitude worth the gorgeous drive along an unpaved road (though well maintained). Heavily forested terrain classified as a refuge and habitat. Thus, a protected wilderness. Focus: prehistoric history and archaeological ruins.
√ Snapshot: Established in 1907, Gila Cliff Dwellings NM is now administered by the NPS (formerly governed by the USFS). The ruins are located in the Gila Wilderness was designated the world's first wilderness area on June 3, 1924. Its protected 558,014 acres (2,258.2 km²) defines part of New Mexico's Gila National Forest. Measuring approximately 27 miles (43 km) from north to south, and 39 miles (63 km) east to west, the wilderness is one of the remoter national monuments in the Southwest. The Gila Cliff Dwelling are also enshrouded by the protective cover of the Gila National Forest and surrounded on all sides by wilderness. It takes over an hour's drive from the nearest town before arriving at these somewhat lofty ruins. Although the monument is a relatively small site; that is as measured in acreage, the ruins of interlinked cave dwellings constructed in five distinct cliff alcoves are worth the time getting there. The level and sinuous road is unpaved and requires drivers slow down, even more than usual.
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√ Guided Tour Essentials: A little more than seven hundred years ago, a nomadic culture called the Mogollon people (pronounced "moo-gee-own") sought refuge from marauding enemies and the elements. The cliff itself was created by volcanic activity. The setting is, therefore, ideal as a refuge and habitat. Archeologists consider the Mogollon a peaceful tribal people who desired only to be left alone to their own devices. Mainly, their interests in farming, hunting and gathering, and crafting highly decorative pottery among other utilitarian human necessities. In this outback terrain, they built forty rooms within five spacious sandstone cliff caves located in what is now the heart of western New Mexico's Gila National Forest. Compared to other archaeological sites throughout the Southwest these cliff palaces are relatively recent dwellings. They were constructed between 1270 and 1300. A one-mile-long (1.6 km) trail leads to the west fork of the Gila River to the Gila Cliff Dwelling caves. These alcoves-turned-habitats are about 150 feet (45 m) above the canyon floor, with five separate alcoves. Each is linked by a crude pathway. Although the Mogollon did not have a lengthy stay here, they chose one of the most beautiful and isolated locales to build their village and raise their families. One wonders what these prehistoric people thought of the steep, forested hills and valleys that define much of this green country. For contemporary travelers, the solitude and isolation of this window in time locale engage the imagination. The region also has other features of interest to visitors: including hot springs, other nearby archaeological sites, national forest trails and superb fishing along the Gila River.
Human History: Like other regional Mogollon bands that lived in small groups along river systems as far south as Mexico, those who lived in the Gila Cliff dwellings appear to have been influenced by the Ancestral Puebloans. They lived to the north of the Four Corners region during the same period, only their stay on the Colorado Plateau was somewhere around one thousand years. As such, there are striking similarities both in the architecture and the artifacts from various Mogollon sites.
Bonus Details: In 1912, a new burial ground was found along with new mummified remains. This time, a body of an infant was discovered. Someone in that party named the infant Zeke, whose remains later turned up at the Smithsonian Institute. This unprecedented discovery also gained national attention and increased visitations to the monument. With more visitations came requisite improvements and a means of conservation of artifacts.
What Constitutes A Wilderness? The Gila National Forest claims a lengthy and profuse history of occupation: Mogollon and Apaches, Spaniards and Mexicans, ranchers and prospectors, even outlaws hiding out in this wild and remote country. The famous Apache chiefs, Mangas Coloradas, Geronimo, and Victorio once lived here; at least, for a time. So did the renown conservationist, Aldo Leopold, author of Sand County Almanac (which is considered one of the most noteworthy, and so-called, eco bibles of North America). The Old West lion hunter, Ben Lilly, roamed in these parts as well. Graphic names, like Raw Meat Canyon, Tepee Canyon, and Grave Canyon, each relates a tale from the past. The appeal and beauty of the Gila National Forest come down to its green blanketed wilderness. To address the previous question about wilderness, these protected open spaces are synonymous with sustainability, with a preserved sanctuary set aside and not controlled by human interest. Another way to put it is how a wilderness describes a protected natural environment that has not been significantly modified by human activity. It may also be defined as the most intact, undisturbed wild and natural area left on the planet, the last wild place that is not beset by roads, marred by pipelines or transmission power lines of any kind. In fact, there is no industrial infrastructure of any kind within such boundaries. It’s also the wildness of a setting that makes it what it is: wilderness. The trinity settings of The Gila, Aldo Leopold, and Blue Range Wildernesses offer such an unparalleled experience for those who love to hike or even ride horses. Lest it goes unsaid, no vehicles are allowed anywhere within this green-canopied sanctuary. For those who venture into the Gila’s protected landscape, the magnificence of this arboreal and mountainous region imparts an indescribable feeling of awe, wonderment, and solitude.
Driving Directions: Take Hwy. 15 north of Silver City for 44 miles (70 km). Caution: winding and twisting mountain terrain. Alternative route from Silver City: Hwy. 35 through the Mimbres, 25 miles (40 km) longer though less winding, also wider and more level.
Contact Information: Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, HC 68 Box 100, Silver City NM 88061. Phone (Gila Visitor Center): 575-536-9461; Fax 536-9344
Here's my recommendation for a follow-up URL: http://1.usa.gov/1bNzqDg
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GLEN CANYON (LAKE POWELL) NATIONAL RECREATION AREA
Location/Geography: South-Central Utah. Kane, San Juan, Garfield and Wayne counties; also north-central Arizona. Coconino County, Closet City or Town: Page; Kanab. Area: 1,254,429 acres (5,076 km²), encompassing Lake Powell and lower Cataract Canyon (in Utah and Arizona), and Page to the Orange Cliffs of southern Utah (above Hite).
Coordinates: 36º59’37”N 111º29’13”W (http://bitly/1qNiuji)
Geologic graphics/illustrations: http://bitly/1qlgfpZ
Google images: http://bitly/1nduw36
Maps: http://bitly/1p2tU3n
√ Spotlight: The damming and consequent inundation of the second longest canyon carved by the Colorado River. Mesozoic Era geology and (what used to be) the world's second largest artificial lake-basin (next to what also used to be the first largest basin––Lake Mead). Focus: environmental impact, geology, paleontology, human history, the Great Basin Desert life forms, and the pros and cons of the Glen Canyon Dam.
√ Snapshot: Before these pristine environs were designated for the first basin storage in the Upper Colorado River drainage sector, Glen Canyon in the late 1950s was an unspoiled habitat. Due to its remote location, where roads and towns were relatively few, Glen Canyon’s frontier was seldom visited. Indeed, driving around its ramparts entailed hundreds of miles. The reason for its forfeiture as a canyon transformed into a basin storage retrofit is a compelling environmental story, whose legendary dispute has lasted all these years. In short, the reason was not so much the fact the Glen (as it was popularly known in those years) was, as one famous photographer put it, the place no one knew, as it was the case this canyon had no federal or state protection (i.e., national park, monument or state park endorsement). Thus, it was slated for a great big dam that would hold back a leviathan-sized lake. This mostly unchallenged Bureau of Reclamation directive was a decisive victory for its agency, which hobbled the Colorado River for the first time in this sector. Eventually, Lake Powell, named after Major John Wesley Powell, who first explored the Green and Colorado river canyon country in 1869, named most of the chasms carved by both rivers. As a milestone, the basin reached full pool elevation some twenty years after the dam was built in 1963. The basin was the second largest artificial reservoir in North America. Stretching out nearly 200-miles (321 km) behind the gravity arch dam design, Lake Powell’s shoreline of some 1,900 miles (3,057 km) was a mega-sized basin compared to its downstream sibling, Lake Mead, whose volume was larger. Consequently, rated overall as the larger of the two. Dubbed both a basin storage and hydroelectricity facility, the secondary feature of Lake Powell’s expansive oasis centered on recreation. Hence, the canyon finally earned its protective status (though at a great cost) and became the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (GCNRA) under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior. With its sprawling sheen of water glistening in the middle of petrified sandstone of varying sedimentary formations, Lake Powell is the most popular aquatic playground in the Southwest attracting millions of visitors annually. Unlike Glen Canyon’s former setting before the dam was constructed (i.e., a remote locale relatively few people ever visited), today’s Glen Canyon-Lake Powell is a place everyone has come to know.
√ Guided Tour Essentials: There are two main attractions in this southeast Utah and northeast Arizona region that must be grasped when visiting Lake Powell: the former Glen Canyon and its contemporary appearance. Therefore, a depiction of Glen Canyon when its habitat was strictly a canyon, and later the second-longest canyon in the Southwest that was entirely altered for a new purpose. Ergo, GCNRA’s combo lake and canyon frontier denote a facsimile that conceals some 550 feet (167 m) of Glen Canyon’s best assets hidden from view. Still, and unlike before, access to the lake and what’s left of Glen Canyon is easy due to an improved network of roads built in this region, as well as the Glen Canyon Bridge that connects both states, with savings on both mileage and gas. Encompassing the area around the lake; also, the lower sector of Cataract Canyon at the opposite end (near Hite, Utah), the NPS branch of the Department of the Interior oversees GCNRA’s 1,254,429 acres (1,964 sq. miles/5,087 km²). The terrain is mostly desert landscape accented by an isolated plateau, mesa and butte landmarks, including the highest summit in southeast Utah, Navajo Mountain (which is, in fact, a laccolith). In this sector of southeast Utah, the State boasts some of the finest geologic settings of the Southwest: Capitol Reef and Canyonlands national parks on the north, Grand Staircase-Escalante NM on the west, and Vermilion Cliffs NM and Grand Canyon NP on the southwest. To the southeast, the ranging Navajo Indian Reservation expands toward Colorado and New Mexico, whose open space is larger than a few smaller Eastern states combined. Meanwhile, where once there was a canyon of impressive dimensions a large lake formed and flooded hundreds of feet of Glen Canyon’s interior.
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Regrettably (from the perspective of those who opposed the dam), few people at the time could stop the project from becoming a reality. Nevertheless, a riled, and impassioned force of people made such an attempt. What––and who in particular––these protestors were up against amounted to an intractable mindset common in that era, a depressed economy in the Southwest, and the intrigue or machination given how the federal government functioned in the dam-building industry. As stated in the 1972 federal mandate, Lake Powell was established for this reason: To provide for public use and enjoyment and to preserve the area’s scientific, historical, and scenic features. This terse proclamation, therefore, provided the impetus and support for most of the locals and outsiders to go ahead with the unthinkable; that is given the diametrical mindset of those who opposed the dam and basin storage plans. Indeed, this galvanized opposition pointed out the fallacy that authorized the government, both federal and state, to proceed with plans to erect the dam: There was no environmental preservation about what happened here; only a gross transformation that traded one habitat and setting for another. Glen Canyon (as protestors vehemently argued at the time) was thus partially inundated for the sake of water storage that also happened to be primed for a recreational attraction hosting a variety of watercraft plying the lake from one end to the other. The bottom line was the fact money, and commercial factors out trumped the former halcyon environment––a fragile and unprotected environment that appealed only to hikers and those who boated through the deep interior in wood boats, canoes or neoprene rafts.
Glen Canyon Dam (Origins): Were it not for the enormous and sweeping embankment of cement blocking the Colorado River at the southwest sector of Glen Canyon, Lake Powell obviously would not be here. Construction of this towering dam structure began on October 1, 1956. This initial blasting created the diversion tunnels. On February 11, 1959, the Colorado River began flowing through the tunnels so that construction on the dam site could begin. Later that year, the arching Glen Canyon Dam Bridge was completed. As a result, future lake resort and city or town, Page, was born practically overnight. Once the bridge spanned the Colorado River hundreds of feet below the distance for traveling between Arizona and Utah was also shortened by hundreds of miles. The dam was completed on September 13, 1963, Finally, the Colorado River was hobbled for the first time in its upper reaches. From there, most of the water essentially ran in reverse. There was much canyon depth to fill, with nearly 200 miles (321 km) of its length ultimately erasing the imprint of the main channel. Glen Canyon, or some two-thirds of its interior profile, was eventually flooded, and a lake formed relatively quickly. It took about seventeen years for Lake Powell to reach full pool, reaching the high-water mark on June 22, 1980).
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Ensuing Controversy Based On Environmental Diatribes: A question some people ask is: Why did the changeover from a canyon to a lake basin happen? There is also the second question, as a follow-up: Why did it have to happen here? Actually, the real question is why was this canyon selected in the first place? The easiest way to address all three questions comes down to a well-established policy of the federal government in those years. In short, the government did whatever it thought it had to do because it could under the mandate devised in 1922 under the name of the “Colorado River Compact.” Its agreement between seven Western States governed the allocation of water rights among this interstate compact. (black and white Glen Canyon photo before the dam)
Implemented by the Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers, both federal agencies went to work diverting, first, the Colorado River in the so-called lower basin sector, then eventually worked their way into the upper sector. Hence, Lake Powell’s recreational area and water storage facility were the first of its kind in this upper sector. With five marinas, four large campgrounds, two regional airports, and rental concessions from large houseboats to the smaller personal watercraft (commonly called PWC’s), this excessively large bathtub (one of many sardonic monikers for the lake) beyond Page’s veranda overlooking the lake was a dream come true for the Commissioner who oversaw the project––Floyd Dominy. He referred to the lake as the blue jewel of the Colorado, and the dam his agency had constructed was a so-called cash register hydroelectric generating station, whose hydropower revenue was used to help fund dozens of other water development projects around the upper basin. That facility has been in operation effectively since the early 1980s; that is when Lake Powell reached its full pool level (3,700 feet/1,100 m). And that marked era was also the beginning of the end of Glen Canyon’s former habitat––as a canyon province––effectively denuded by the Colorado River in the mid-1960s. Indeed, along its 1,450-mile (2,333.5 km) course flowing down from the Rockies, and ending its run at the Gulf of California, here at Glen Canyon, it was hobbled for the first time. Ostensibly, people in that area were swayed by the dam builders based on the fact the Colorado’s annual spring runoff flooding would no longer be a problem. Thus, hobbling this notorious wild mustang of a river.
Like it or not, Lake Powell is here to stay for a while. Although the basin’s original predicted lifespan of some five to seven hundred years (i.e., there never seems to be any consensus or confirmation just how long the government figured it might last) was considerably downsized over the past thirty or so years. Indeed, the eventual death knell to both the lake and the dam, which by some estimates may be one hundred years (or far less), will be by Mother Nature’s doing––a basin ailment by the name of aggradation based on a constant inflow of clastic particles of sand that annually funnels into the lake from three primary sources, and is measured in millions of tons.
Bonus Details: Aggradation comes down to sediment buildup. These clastic particles flowing in rivers and streams amount to a byproduct of a high and constant sedimentary inflow common to this entire sandstone country surrounding Lake Powell. The silt fallout, therefore, affects the basin in a debilitating way, whose particles add megatons of sediment inflow daily. And this is exactly what the three regional rivers do: transport sediment. It follows sediment turns into aggradation, and aggradation is a makeshift sludge that never goes away. As will be demonstrated further along in this detailed Glen Canyon treatise, said buildup not only clogs the water but also could foul the waterworks of the dam; that is if the problem can’t be solved (and so far that is the opinion of scientists working the problem).
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The most pessimistic forecast is that Lake Powell is slowly choking on whatever the three rivers deliver immediately after each conduit enters the basin. Think of silt, therefore, as Mother Nature’s trump card held in reserve by those who view how the lake must go; that is sooner than later. But there are similar other cards opponents can lay on the table. Namely, the strange climatic changes of the 20th-century and prevailing drought most likely having something to do with consistent stingy precipitation throughout much of the West and Southwest. Add to this science, how recently (2014) it was found pollution in Asia caused by intense fossil fuel burning of a poor grade of coal is doing its fair share of altering North America’s climate. Of course, on any given day climate change can do just that––change. That said, what’s proving to be nominal given these wet-dry cycles are extended periods when annual precipitation is downright stingy.
As for the other faction fostering a contrary point of view, in this case, staunch optimism in the face of dismal facts, there appears to be no such thing as “convincing evidence” to change their minds. Moreover, these sanguine supporters see and think differently, regardless the scientific analysis that damns the dam and the lake beset with its problems. It follows debates centered on this matter are lively and frequent. Mostly, these discussions come down to the point of a wait and see attitude; that is waiting to see what natural course develops. Given how all three rivers continue transporting a steady inflow of sediment, sometimes there are problems humans can’t solve. Thus, turning the proverbial blind eye to Lake Powell’s continuing aggradation problems.
Directions: 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Page on Hwy. 89 is the south entrance to WAHWEAP (AZ), and 8 miles (12.8 km) south of Big Water (UT) is the north entrance. ANTELOPE POINT (Arizona) is 3 miles (4.8 km) miles east of Page on Hwy. 89. Turn north on BIA Hwy. N22B to the marina or Antelope Point. LEE’S FERRY LAND NAVAJO BRIDGE INTERPRETIVE CENTER (Arizona) is located on Hwy. 89A 45 miles (72 km) southwest of Page and 62 miles (100 km) southeast of North Rim of Grand Canyon NP. Lee’s Ferry is 7 miles (11 km) from the Navajo Bridge Interpretive Center. The BULLFROG Visitor Center is located at the other end of Lake Powell on Utah Hwy. 276. Ferry Service is provided from Bullfrog to Halls Crossing. HALLS CROSSING is also reached by Hwy. 276. Hite, just off Hwy. 99 is not a serviceable marina (as of the date of this writing), which is approximately 50 miles (80 km) southwest of Hanksville, Utah or 80 miles (129 km) northwest of Blanding, Utah.
Contact Information: Glen Canyon NRA, P. O. Box 1507, Page AZ 86040. Phone (Park Headquarters): 928-608.6200
Here's my recommendation for a follow-up URL: http://1.usa.gov/SWHt8h
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Postscript: I used to be a houseboat captain on Lake Powell (Yavapai College Elderhostel program). I also wrote a book about this dubious mega-sized basin, GLEN CANYON BEFORE LAKE POWELL: Beauty Lost in the Southwest (http://amzn.to/2s7kBF5), whose complete narrative relates the before, during, and after aspects of this truly peerless canyon beloved and named by Major John Wesley Powell on his inaugural 1869 Green and Colorado Rivers expedition. If you want to know the entire story given what happened here, and should not have happened, I hope you’ll read this provocative account. Glen Canyon Dam also represents the last large-scale dam constructed anywhere in the American Southwest. . .and for a damn good reason.
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FYI: This latest installment of THE DKOS ROAD TOUR SERIES provides an excerpt from the larger text, SCENIC ICONS OF THE SOUTHWEST (http://amzn.to/2on3z89). The soft cover 8.5 x 11 format (491 pages) provides the same information but also includes a thorough background on geology, natural and human history and miscellaneous subject matter. Additionally, there is an Android app available and the less expensive Kindle version. For information about myself and my books featured on Amazon, feel free to drop by www.richholtzin.com and leave a comment. I also write under the nom de plume, RK ALLEMAN. For more background about this tour series, please read the 3/29/2017 diary, HIT THE ROAD TOUR SERIES: An Introduction.
Another installment of this series will be next SATURDAY (note change of days from Sunday to a day earlier). Hopefully, every Sunday there will be a trio of new scenic icons for the reader’s enjoyment and enlightenment. (For those who want to know where they’re going in these upcoming tours, the previously mentioned introduction lists a Table of Contents (in alphabetical order).
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About The Author: Rich, who writes under the nom de plume, RK ALLEMAN, has worked in the field as an outdoors educator and interpreter for the likes of the Grand Canyon Field Institute (nearly 20 years), Northern Arizona University (Flagstaff), and Yavapai College (Prescott, AZ). For nearly 40 years, he has backpacked some 8,000 miles, not including hiking sorties. Most of his works focus on the geosciences (mainly, geology, archaeology, and ecology), human and natural history applicable to the Colorado Plateau Province (aka the “Four Corners Region of the Southwest).
FYI: Previous diaries:
Intro diary http://bit.ly/2nu738O
1st diary http://bit.ly/2opAB6Y (Acoma Pueblo, Anasazi Heritage Center, Antelope Canyon)
2nd diary http://bit.ly/2oe49Cm (Arches NP, Aztec Ruins, Bandelier NM)
3rd diary http://bit.ly/2pFVvMo (Bryce Canyon, Butler Wash, Canyon de Chelly)
4th diary http://bit.ly/2oVFGDQ (Canyonlands NP, Canyon of the Ancients, Capitol Reef NP)
5th diary http://bit.ly/2qlfctX (Carlsbad NP, Casa Grande Ruins, Casa Malpaís)
6th diary http://bit.ly/2qG5Vje (Chaco Canyon, Chimney Rock, Comb Ridge/Wash)
7th diary http://bit.ly/2qFL9k6 (Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Coronado Monument, Crow Canyon)
8th diary http://bit.ly/2pZuacC (Dead Horse SP, Death Valley NP, Dominguez, Escalante Ruins)
9th diary http://bit.ly/2s7ddcV (El Malpaís NM, El Morro NM, Fisher Towers)