still span the Colorado River, the connective tissue of a historic suspension bridge that burned in 2008 by a youngster playing with matches. Built in 1916, it was the longest suspension bridge in Utah and second longest west of the Mississippi River. A tragic historical loss.
Read all about it in The Canyon Country Zephyr (2021): Dewey Bridge - its History & Fiery Demise.
on the Dome Plateau today. Please excuse the Bronco porn that follows but this is its first time off road since being assembled only 28 days ago in Michigan.
Expansive view towards the south from a high point along the trail.
So-called “Cave Spring” in the Entrada Sandstone escarpment, used historically by ranchers to provide water to stock.
Relict uranium miner’s cabin on Owl Draw Upland.
The new manual Ford Bronco Badlands/Sasquatch is an enormously capable machine that will open up more areas in the backcountry for exploration. What’s a retired geologist to do when not mountain biking or launching rockets?!
according to this ancient and rusty 3M Company sign along a state highway in eastern Washington. Indeed.
Image taken in Rapid City, South Dakota on July 4th, 2018.
caught in the act of defoliating a tamarisk on my property in Castle Valley. Large swaths of the invasive tamarisk along the Colorado River are being stressed this year, likely due to the widespread emergence of the tiny beetle following a very mild winter. If one listens closely you can hear them munching away. Go, beetle, go!
Tamarisk leaf-eating beetle (Diorhabda elongata), approximately 5 mm long.
Let’s get small: Macro image of a molting beetle. Look closely.
This beetle was introduced at Potash and at Dewey Bridge in 2004 as an experiment in biocontrol but it never fully eradicated the tamarisk along the riparian corridor, though this year they are very heavily stressed, likely aided by the hot and dry weather this spring and early summer.
Stressed tamarisk on both sides of the Colorado River upstream of Big Bend.
Colorado River upstream of Take Out Boat Ramp showing highly stressed tamarisk on both banks, yet the voracious beetle has left the gambel oaks, cottonwoods, willows and sandstone (!) untouched.
of legally diverted water from Castle Creek, now being performed digitally and remotely since the Utah Department of Natural Resources has just installed a real-time monitoring point using a solar powered sonic water level sensor and radio transmitter. Previously, someone would have to visit this site and visually read the staff gage in the Parshall flume through which the water is flowing in order to calculate the flow. This new system is undoubtedly calibrated to the old staff gage, and likely radios the data in real-time, or perhaps daily.
Newly installed electronic gaging station next to Castle Creek above the town of Castle Valley. Note the metal Parshall flume box through which the water is flowing, away from the viewer in this image.
The sonic water level sensor at the upstream end of the Parshall flume. Note staff gage on side of flume.
The diverted water is claimed under three water rights granted in 1885, 1891 and 1933 for 2.0, 1.033 and 1.9172 cfs (cubic feet per second) respectively according to Utah DNR records.
UPDATE: An additional remote water gauging station has been installed on the 14-inch diameter iron pipe that transfers water from the point of diversion to the fields for irrigation lower in the valley. This is about 1.1 miles below the point of diversion seen above.
the Bull Pup model rocket heads skyward at the Ken’s Lake Proving Ground this morning on an Aerotech F20-7W engine. It’s a very menacing scale replica of a short-range air-to-ground missile used by the US Navy during the 1960s and 1970s, but without the ordinance onboard, of course.
1980 USGS image.
in less than 40 years, this prolific dove is a common occupier of the feeding stations, here and nearly everywhere.
Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto).
has shuffled off this mortal coil, when, sadly, creative narrative poet and rock art expert Rory Tyler passed away at home in Castleton, Utah last Friday. Close friends are gathering with Rory’s brother in order to determine how to preserve his on-going academic work on local rock art and to honor his legacy.
Rory Paul Tyler, 1950 - 2025, RIP.
and in with the new as the seldom-used and decrepit corral along Castleton Road is demolished and replaced with metal fencing.
on the Colorado River upstream from Moab commemorates a gold placer operation that occurred 130 years ago. High marks to the person that chiseled this historic graffiti into a varnished sandstone boulder above the river. It’s very well done and endures to this day.
Located on the north side of Utah 128 just west of the bouldering area at Big Bend (about 0.6 mi (1 km)).
R.H. is the likely inscriber, but notice the initials JA are faintly pecked in the upper left.
The boulder in 2021 when vandalized with climber’s chalk. Fortunately, several year’s time and rain has washed the chalk away. Image credit: Moab Times-Independent, Sena Hauer.
Learning opportunity: Utah Gold - History, Placers and Recreational Regulations.
man last walked on the Moon in Taurus-Littrow valley. Here’s tonight’s waxing gibbous Moon, three days from full, with the Apollo 17 landing site indicated by the orange x where astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt (a geologist) performed three days of exploration in 1972.
Taurus–Littrow valley is located on the southeastern edge of Mare Serenitatis, the landing site of Apollo 17, indicated by the tiny orange x.
in the 21st century with a historic launch and capture of the largest object ever put into space early this morning. It’s unfortunate that this incredible accomplishment isn’t receiving more news coverage.
I’m not so sure that Elon Musk isn’t an alien.
Images below are screenshots from the live stream provided by SpaceX.
One minute before launch the Super Heavy Booster and Starship are fully fueled with liquid oxygen and liquid methane.
Liftoff as 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy Booster generate twice the thrust of the Saturn V, capable of placing 150 tons into Earth orbit.
Super Heavy Booster hovering at the launch tower after return from flight. Entirely unprecedented. Wow!
The captured Super Heavy Booster hanging from the “chopsticks” post flight as the vehicle undergoes depressurization.
Glowing plasma during controlled re-entry of Starship during peak heating prior to a successful soft landing on target in the Indian Ocean. Hi-res images provided by Starlink.
Video: Drone’s-eye-view of the liftoff.
Video: The tower catching the returning Booster!
Video: The landing burn and soft touchdown of Starship.
It’s pretty clear that NASA needs SpaceX more than SpaceX needs NASA. Per aspera ad astra.
after the summer’s absence via the San Rafael Swell. There’s no place like home.
Milky Way galaxy erupting a fountain of stars and nebulae, geyser-like from the rim of the Little Grand Canyon of the San Rafael River.
Sunrise from the Wedge Overlook, northern San Rafael Swell. Click on image to enlarginate.
The magnificent Buckhorn Wash pictograph panel. Click on image to embiggen.
The remote San Rafael River “Swinging Bridge” built 1935-1937 by the Civilian Conservation Corps, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
southwest of Spokane, Washington, the Columbia Plateau State Park Trail extends for 130 miles (209 km) across the semi-arid Channeled Scablands. Some portion of this trail system is part of my daily ride, usually a section between Spokane and Amber Lake, at its very northeastern end.
Open ponderosa pine forests and seasonal wetland ponds dominate the flat-lying terrain that traverses the 1908 path of the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railroad.
A typical crowded day on the trail.
Red, white and blue fireworks above Rapid City, South Dakota on the 4th of July 2018.
is the chief celebrity of Fruita, Colorado, having lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off in 1945. There’s even a local festival held in May every year to acknowledge Mike’s tenacity! Learn about Mike.
It’s easy to find Mike’s statue in charming downtown Fruita on Google Maps.
used in the Pacific in 1958 during Project Hardtack to monitor the radiation in the upper atmosphere during the nuclear tests. Here’s my scale model lifting off from the Ken’s Lake Missile Test Range early this morning.
The snazzy Doorknob roaring off the launch rail under thrust from a “F” engine, achieving an 893 foot apogee during its minute-long flight.
exists out in the open for all to see about one mile below Dewey Bridge on the opposite side of the Colorado River. Countless motorists on Utah 128 pass by a sturdy wooden ladder tucked against the escarpment, built circa 1940 in order to survey the site of a proposed dam in the canyon. Here’s an excellent article on the relict by our local writer.
The view across the Colorado River where the ladder is somewhat difficult to see against the sandstone cliffs, especially if watching the road and travelling at high speed.