The Writing Is On The Wall

The dark desert varnish provides a strong contrast to the underlying red rock. Native Americans used this contrast to make petroglyphs or rock art. Simply scraping through the desert varnish, native Americans left panels providing records of events, hunting information, instructions on how to follow them, etc.

These panels are part of the heritage of the Native American peoples and are protected by law. However, as can be seen in the second image, modern graffiti occasionally intrudes on the panels.

The first five are on the rock walls on Highway 279 just outside Moab (i.e. on the north bank of the Colorado River). Some are close to the level of the river bank. Others, as in the third and fourth images, are fairly high up the cliff wall and would have required some effort in reaching the panel during its creation.

Smaller, more crudely made pictures can also be found as seen in the fifth image.

The appearance of the panels along Highway 279 (the first five images) differs somewhat from the panel found in Arches National Park along the trail to Delicate Arch (sixth and seventh images). A park sign along that trail attributes this panel to members of the Ute nation. Note this panel was made after 1600 CE because hunters are shown riding horses. Horses were not introduced into the area until after 1600.

Red Cliffs Along the Colorado River

As you proceed toward Moab along Highway 128, you reach the Colorado River, a name derived from the red colour of the water's load of iron mineral based silt.

Along each side of the river all the way to Moab, and beyond along Highway 279, you follow he river's edge and are contained by steep red cliff walls rising several hundred meters. The river has cut itself deeply into the surrounding rock formations.

Large sections of the older cliff walls are covered in a dark deposit. This thin blueish black material is a thin layer of manganese rich clay acted on by bacteria and is called “desert varnish”. It only covers areas which have been stable for a long time and have not had significant water erosion. The dark coating is a stark contrast to the underlying red rock, a characteristic used by Native Americans.

In some areas, the cliffs have been more eroded and form slightly dome shaped formations, whose vertical faces have been further eroded by wind, rain, and freeze-thaw cycles. In such cases, the hollowing out is a precursor to arch formation and can be seen in these images. The ones shown here are along Highway 279.

Fisher Towers, Utah

Along Highway 128, about 20 miles northeast of intended destination, Moab, we found ourselves back into a storm system. As we rounded a bend in the road we came upon some dramatic views of Fisher Towers along the Colorado River.

This rock formation, like the entire area, is a deep red with shades of deep purple and occasionally greens due to various mineral in the rock with iron being responsible for the reds.

These formations are a favourite among local rock climbers.

Cisco, Utah A Ghost Town

Entering Utah from Colorado and heading to Moab, we decided to take the scenic route. This involved exiting Interstate 70 and going along a very badly distorted “paved” road through Cisco to Highway 128. However, as we reached out turnoff, a storm was brewing over the desert and, as on entering Cisco it became very black, with sheets of rain falling in the distance.

Cisco is now a ghost town. Originally it serviced steam engines. Later cattle and sheep farming were introduced. However, with the construction of the Interstate and the loss of the train service function once diesel became dominant, little remained to support the town. Recently, however, oil wells have been drilled in the area.

All that remains of the town are some buildings in various stages of collapse. These include remnants of a few old timber buildings (log cabins) in advanced stages of collapse and a general store that is barely holding together but with the rather odd painted graffiti tag “KILLA” above the entrance. Perhaps this is a reference to the consequences of automobile accidents whose byproducts, auto wrecks, have take over the properties adjacent to the old buildings, deserted there with little likelihood of ever being recovered.

The wrecked cars are mostly of recent origin with paper tags seemingly related to accident investigations taped to the windows, although a vintage yellow convertible sits there as well. Other junk including old rusted oil tanks is strewn around the town,

One last intriguing building is the remains of what was likely once a garage/service station. On its front is a large mural of the Fisher Towers area closer to Moab along Highway 128. In front is a sign labeled “Cisco Landing”. Since there is no obvious water in the area it seems somewhat incongruous until you look at a map and realize that one of the dirt roads leading south from Cisco leads to the Colorado River. There, a rafting business exists. Hence the name.

Digression: Total Lunar Eclipse 2008 Feb 20

As a digression from the general thread, I took a sequence of photos of the total lunar eclipse of 2008 Feb 20. This sequence was assembled from individual images shot from my front door step which, aside from being convenient, provided a wonderful opportunity to get warm regularly.

The last time I saw a total lunar eclipse was (IIRC) September 2003 while visiting Moab. Unfortunately I had no tripod available at that time and no photos were taken then. This time I was better prepared.

The images are crops from individual frames assembled using GIMP.

Enjoy.

Heading 10,000 km/ 6500 Miles West: Utah

Aside from knowing people in the region, I love the Southwest USA's deserts, so it takes little enticing to get me to visit the area. The specific area covered in the next few posts' photos is the area around Moab, Utah, with emphasis on an iconic National Park just north of Moab: Arches.

If you have a bright sunny day, the first thing that strikes you (aside from the heat in the summer) is the sky. There seems to be so much of it. Then you notice the colours in the soils and rocks. The desert is anything but dull, Whether the colours are subtle as in the first photo (eastern Utah, north from Interstate 70) or more dramatic as the the next images has very much to do with weather and time of day.

The pink mesa lies on the road from the ghost town of Cisco to Moab (#128) near Fisher Towers. As we looked out towards the mesa, a storm suddenly moved in, darkening the skies and letting the setting sun cut below the clouds to illuminate another mesa remnant in the same area.

In Arches National Park, the varied terrain lends itself to the receding planes image during the day. As the sun sets, the pink glow lights up the desert.

Supplementing the Environment:

The people who adopted the cave house strategy had an additional problem to solve: How do you grow crops in an area with limited soil nutrients? Cattle are not raised in the area since the cost of doing so remains prohibitive. Therefor cattle dung is not an option for enriching the soil. An alternate strategy was developed.

The geologic structures that provided housing for the inhabitants and their animals, also provided natural nesting areas for birds. Picking up on this, the people in the area made use of smaller “caves” and turned them into pigeon coops. The pigeons themselves were not their concern, but the bird droppings were. These droppings provided nutrients capable of enriching the local soils and thereby enabling agricultural development of the land.

These images show various pigeon coops in and around Goreme and Uchisar (notably the aptly named Pigeon Valley). Similar structures can be found in the Ilhara Valley and throughout the region. These coops are still used.

Adapting to the Environment: Goreme and Uchisar, Turkey

In approximately central Turkey is an area formed from volcanic activity. Mountains showing their volcanic origins surround eroded plateaus. Because the plateaus were covered by a soft, volcanic material, the rock is relatively soft and easily eroded. This results in the odd formations named “Fairy Chimneys”.

People occupying the area took advantage of the relative softness of the rock to carve out caves in which to house themselves and their animals, as seen in tis photo of Uchisar. While these caves can be used as-is, many have been extended outward with a more conventional front section as the main part of the house.

Over time more and more such houses were formed and towns such as Goreme (third photo) developed amid the labyrinth of odd rock formations.

As these communities grew larger, and as caravan routes used these places as resting places, forts were built such as the one in Uchisar. This carvanserai wqs cut into a volcanic plug overlooking the valley and plain below. Maned by the sultan's army, caravans were offered three days of accommodation and protection at no cost then sent on their way. This was not an altruistic service on the sultan's part. Caravanserais communicated to each other using mirrors, fire and smoke to inform the sultan of what goods were in transit. This made taxation simpler and more effective.

The town of Uchisar retains a strong semblance to its historical appearance. You can even find an old shepherd and his dog herding a flock of sheep through the old buildings and cave dwellings on the lower slopes of the town.

Not only did the area's easily workable rock formations provide a place to house the populations, it also provided a place for early Christians to hide and build communities. Adopting the same building techniques as the locals, they carved out not only accommodations for themselves, they built churches in caves and painted them in an elaborate fashion, as in the church shown here. Many of these churches are preserved in the Goreme Open Air Museum.

Goreme (much like Uchisar some 5-6 km away) has not only houses but also hotels that make use of caves.

And then you occasionally find a a beacon to visitors – a dead tree festooned with clay jars.