In southeastern Utah, the Green and Colorado Rivers have carved parts of the Colorado Plateau into a series of red pinnacles, mesas, buttes, spires, crimson cliffs and canyons. There are numerous National Parks in this area including Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, Capitol Reef, the north rim of the Grand Canyon, and Canyonlands. Canyonlands National Park is broken into three distinct districts: Island in the Sky, The Needles, and The Maze. There is an additonal unit of Canyonlands NP called Horseshoe Canyon. Several movies by John Ford (Monument Valley is located south of Canyonlands) and others (e.g. The Comancheros, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Galaxy Quest) as well as the final scene of Thelma and Louise (Island in the Sky) were filmed in or near Canyonlands. Aron Ralson became trapped in a slot canyon located in the Horseshoe Canyon unit and was forced to amputate his right arm. This was later described in his memoir Between a Rock and a Hard Place and the movie 127 Hours.

For a change of pace, we decided to do a desert trip. Ted had been to Canyonlands several times and suggested this location as a nice place to car camp. Because it is the desert, we thought it would be best to go late in the season when the temperatures would be more moderate (we had highs of 80 to 90 F and lows of 40 to 50 F). However, this meant that Brian and Jim were unable to go because of teaching commitments.

I got off train in Green River Utah at the Amtrak/UP train station. The train station was boarded up as were most of the buildings nearby. Ted had not yet arrived, so I walked down to Ray's Tavern (best burger place in town). Using modern technology, I sent an email to Brian and Jim who called Ted on his cell phone. Brian and Jim later relayed to me that Ted was on his way. We crashed at the River Terrace Motel located on the Green River across from a John Wesley Powell Museum. Great place with a great breakfast.

The next day, we repacked his truck, gassed up, bought ice and drove down to National Park Ranger station located in Hans Flat. This was about 60 miles on paved road and then 46 miles on unpaved 2W drive road to get to the Ranger station. We picked up our back country permit and then drove 34 miles on high clearance 4W drive to the Maze Overlook. It took us about 4 hrs to get to the Maze Overlook from the Ranger station and we stayed there for 2 nights. Then we drove 37.5 miles on 4W drive road to Cleopatra's Chair to spend the one night there.

While at the Cleopatra's Chair campsite, we had a new moon and almost completely dark skies. I say almost because there were two lights we could see on Island in the Sky. I broke out my 15x30 binoculars and we observed the Andromeda Galaxy (M31; located in the constellation Andromeda), the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules (M13). We also saw the globular clusters M62 and M19 at the same field with my binoculars. These clusters are located just above Antares in the constellation Ophiuchus.

The next day we left Cleopatra's Chair and drove back to Green River stopping along he drive to take photographs.. I caught a shower in Ted's motel (Knight's Inn). Then we headed back to Ray's Tavern for some food prior to me departing on Amtrak that evening.

This was also the first trip where we had to pack our poop out!! Ted has this plastic toilet seat with three legs that you open up. You use a kit called Wag Bags to place a plastic bag inside that the toilet. The plastic bag contains something called Poo Powder breaks down waste with a NASA-developed gelling/deodorizing agent. The kit also contains toilet paper, a hand sanitizer, and a zip lock bag to put everything in after you are done. We then placed it in a large plastic tub (which did begin to smell like a diaper bag) and disposed of it in normal trash in Green River.

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Canyonlands National Park (337,598 acres) is an American national park located in southeastern Utah created 1964. The Colorado River and Green River combine within the park, dividing it into three districts called the Island in the Sky, the Needles, and the Maze. The Colorado River flows through Cataract Canyon below its confluence with the Green River. The Island in the Sky district is a broad mesa in the northern section of the park between the Colorado and Green rivers. The Needles district is located south of the Island in the Sky, on the east side of the Colorado River. The Maze district is located west of the Colorado and Green rivers. The Maze is the least accessible section of the park, and one of the most remote and inaccessible areas of the United States. A geographically detached section of the park located north of the Maze district, Horseshoe Canyon contains panels of rock art made by hunter-gatherers from the Late Archaic Period.

Green River (population 847 [2020 census]) is a city in Utah located on ancestral Ute indian lands. The city is located on the banks of the Green River, a major tributary of the Colorado River. John Wesley Powell embarked on the first of two voyages down the Green River in May 1869 and floated the river to its confluence with the Colorado and beyond. Throughout the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, the mining of uranium played a significant role in the economy of Green River. The U.S. Air Force built the Green River Launch Complex outside in 1964 to launch Athena missiles as part of research to improve nuclear missile capability. Amtrak provides service to Green River via the California Zephyr daily.

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