Escalante Petrified Forest State Park
Tuesday 14 September, 2021
Petrified wood.
Escalante Petrified Forest State Park has delightful specimens of, you guessed it, petrified wood, on a lovely, short but steep, trail. We had intended to camp there, as we have found Utah state parks to be clean and well maintained. But Eric did not want the difficulties and gear-hauling of camping, so, instead, I booked a room at the Circle Cliffs Motel. We loved the Circle Cliffs. The location in Boulder, UT was extremely convenient for the many locations we wanted to explore.
After our grueling climb up Wheeler Peak, we set out the next day across a significant portion of the width of Utah, crossing from the Basin and Range into the high country, the transitional zone between the Basin and Range and the Colorado Plateau. We were very excited to see more of scenic Utah Route 12.
We couldn't resist stoppiing just for a photo at Red Canyon in the Dixie National Forest, even though we had hiked the park on our last trip.
The scenery along Utah 12 lived up to our high expectations. Photo by Eric.
The formations in Navajo Sandstone were spectacular.
The road gave Eric an opportunity for one of his "Subaru commercial" photos of Mather.
The State of Utah provided us with a lovely interpretive guide for the trail. The guide told us that this plant was called Buffalo berry, as it made a jelly that white settlers liked to eat with buffalo meat. This high desert plant has needles that allow it to store moisture.
We found out from the brochure that the Escalante is named not for the escalating layers of the geology here, but for a Franciscan missionary named Escalante. What!?! It is apparently just a coincidence that he had a name that described the geology of the area.
I was enchanted by this tree. Unfortunately, I lost the informational brochure and don't know what it is. Maybe a Piñon Pine?
At last, further up the hill, we came to the petrified wood. Magic hour was coming on, and I got somewhat shutter happy.
Note how, in this one, you can see the growth rings of the tree that formed it.
I loved how the setting sun highlighted the wood and the tree rings here.
After this lovely diversion, we returned to beautiful Utah 12, heading to our lodging in Boulder. We stopped at one of the more special scenic overlooks.
Eric took a picture of the suite we had! It was a great deal.
Distance hiked: 3 km/2 mi, with 109 m/358 ft of elevation gain
Distance driven: 261 mi, for a cumulative distance of 945 mi [ADD KM]
Caches found: 2, cumulatively 3
On to Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.