USA 2019: Up the Colorado without a paddle.

We've seen the Colorado canyons from the top at Canyonlands and Dead Horse Point and today was our chance to see it from the bottom. We booked a river trip which took us some 35 miles down the river and back. And very enjoyable it was too. It was interesting to learn a few facts about the Colorado in this part of the world. At the moment, it was about 6 foot deep but the level can vary tremendously depending on the state of the snow melt. A few weeks ago it was up to around 18 foot but is now dropping due to the warm spell. Levels drop considerably over the summer months and, quite often, the trips stop from July onwards as the levels are too low for the craft we were on. Because of the muddy state of the water and the wide temperature variations, there are few fish that can survive under these conditions: carp and catfish are pretty much the only ones. A few photographs follow and, guess what, no landscapes in this post.

The river cliffs are used by climbers but only so far up as higher up the rock becomes too soft for safety.

In many places there were pteroglyphs. These were quite high up and this begged the question "how did they get up there to chisel away?". The answers simple: when they did it, the ground was at that level. Luckily, the present day lower levels mean that the pteroglyphs are safe from vandalism.

No landscapes but I didn't say anything about riverscapes. The river is as brown and murky as it looks here.

Typical of the scenery we passed through.

Coming down the river gives a completely different perspective on what we've seen from above.

We can all recognise an arch by now. This one is called Jug-Handle Arch because it looks like a ......

Dead Horse Point to the right, which is where we were yesterday afternoon. It's just over 2000 feet high. From up there the river looks like a brown thread weaving its way around the canyons. On the water, you get a real feel for how meandering the river really is.

A pair of Great Blue Herons, the most common heron in North America. They pair for life and, by the look of this nest, it's been reused for several years. The female lays somewhere between three and seven eggs.

Just the moon appearing over the cliffs.