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sbisson ([personal profile] sbisson) wrote2009-02-03 11:20 pm
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Underneath the Arches

The southern Utah stretch of US-191 is a spectacular road.

The long run from Monticello to Moab runs past two major mountain ranges, and across plains ridged with eroded red sandstone ridges. In winter the bright sun reflects off the snow, sharply defining the horizon and outlining the peaks of the La Sal mountains.

It's hard to keep to the speed limit as you glide down the long hill to the plain.

The long descent

The straight road runs past the lone monolith of Church Rock, a giant stone beehive - straight off the state's road signs - that dominates the plain.

Church Rock

There's nothing to tell us what the mysterious cave at its foot contains.

A few miles further and you're threading through gorges and over rolling hills. Suddenly a red rock bridge is at the side of the road, with a waiting turn off. This is Wilson Arch, a sign of the erosion that's shaped the land over millions of years.

Underneath the arches...

US 191, Utah
January 2009

[identity profile] drjon.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 11:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Wooo.

My goodness, but USAnia is blessed with some remarkably beautiful geography.

I'd love to visit one day. Well, except that they'd never let me in ;}P>

[identity profile] marthawells.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 11:58 pm (UTC)(link)
I think the cave in Church Rock was hollowed out in the 1920s by a religious cult trying to build a church.

[identity profile] sbisson.livejournal.com 2009-02-04 12:14 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks for that!

It was - I did a little further research and came up with this link which said that the hole was dug by a cult led by Marie Ogden in the 1930s.