2015-03-24 Green River UT & Nine Mile Canyon

Sunday was a day of rest - sorta.  The RV park we were staying in had their 100th anniversary - complete with ATV parade, clowns (2), older women on large tricycles, and the Grand Marshall was a RV park resident who will turn 100 in June.  Silly but sweet!

Later that day we went to the movies - matinees here are only $3.25 so we decided to see two.

Monday we moved the RV to Green River, UT about 300 miles northeast - back into cold nights (mid-30s).  This old town looks more like a ghost town - almost all the businesses are closed and look like they have been that way a long time.  There are lots of tumble weeds piled up at their doors and rolling down Main Street.  So why choose such a remote place? It is close to many things we love to do and only 45 minutes away from our next destination - Moab.

Today we drove out to Nine Mile Canyon which is actually about 40 miles long.  This was home to the Fremont Indians about 1000 years ago. The canyon had a river running through the entire length, and lots of mule deer (we saw over 150 on this drive).  The main reason for going here is the hundreds of petroglyphs & pictographs from the Fremont tribe.

Below are only a few examples -

The guy on the left has been called Bolo or Balloon Man

Lots of long-necked birds, sheep and snakes

The figure in the middle below has been called "The Robot" (hmmm)

The large figure is a Thunderbird

Check out the large buffalo

This is the most famous - titled "The Hunter"

Below is a sample of what we were driving through.  Some of the pictographs were high up on the sides of these cliffs. It makes you wonder how they got up there to carve these.

And now for a few nature shots ...

First a balanced rock

Birds nests made of mud up in the side of a cliff

Beautifully colored lichens(?)/fungus(?)  growing on the rocks

Gorgeous birds (thanks for posing)

and of course the mule deer.