 |
| Our Start |
 |
| Across the desert |
 |
| Right it is |
 |
| Green river |
 |
| Our destination- Crystal Gyser |
 |
| Were it runs down to the Green river |
 |
| What it does to the rock |
 |
| 1 |
 |
| 2 |
 |
| 3 |
 |
| Heading home |
 |
| What a day, I'm sleepy!! |
 |
| What a day, I'm ready to party!! |
It is Remembrance Day today and and time to stop for a minute and thank all those soldiers who have served and are still serving in the military. To remember all those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country and to fight for the freedom that each and everyone of us enjoys today. To each and every one of you, I say "Thank You".
It is chilly here this morning and cloudy as well. The sun looks like it has abandoned me today. I am not sure what is on the agenda for today however I would like to go into town and find some off road books that have GPS coordinates in them. It would make it so much easier to find the proper trails when you are in the back country. There are so many obscure little trails out there that it is easy to get off on the wrong one. We have all the books for the Arizona trails and they work great so hopefully we can find ones for Utah as well.
We did not go into town and get the GPS books, instead just headed out to the trails - MISTAKE!!
We found Blue Hills Road easily enough and there was even a sign pointing us in the directions of Salt Wash Trail. Signs are a good thing. It wasn't too long before there were a number of different forks on the trails and no sign saying which was the main trail. It became a crap shoot as to what trails to take and
which ones were dead ends. We took several and turned around on several and went this way and that way and finally, somehow, someway and somewhere found a sign that pointed us to Crystal Geyser which was our ultimate destination for today - BUT - I am not quite sure how we got there!!! I think we must have looked like a couple of losers out on the trails with all the backtracking we did. Oh well, we did make it to the geyser. I looked it up on Google and this is what I found ....
Crystal Geyser, located on the east bank of the Green River, is a rare example of a carbon dioxide driven geyser. Geothermal activity (ie steam) does not play a role in this geyser's activity. The ground water near the geyser has significant amounts of carbon dioxide, along with substantial gas accumulations in the surrounding area. Saturation of the aquifer with carbon dioxide creates enough pressure to force ground water through the geyser and out on to the surface. This geyser can erupt to a height of 40 meters or more. Between eruptions, the water level is about 17 feet below the surface of the geyser - at the water table. The area around the geyser is covered with a thick layer of travertine which is a form of limestone deposited by mineral springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance (which is exactly what this was) and exists in white, tan and cream colored varieties. Travertine is a terrestrial sedimentary rock formed by the precipitation of carbonate minerals in ground and surface water. The first record of the geyser was in 1869. And that folks, is your science lesson for today!!
We got back to the bus (again in the dark) and I for one was glad to be off the trail today. It was a rather rough ride today and at one point John had to stop and put the headlight back into place as we had lost the screws holding in in!! The poor old jeep looked like it had blown an eyeball with it hanging down like it was!!
Back at the bus and time to relax, have a drink and cook supper.
No comments:
Post a Comment