LITTLE WILD HORSE CANYON (Day 25 - part 2)
Along with the myriad of fascinating shapes and geology, the canyon was also filled with an abundance of life... lizards, birds, mice, insects, etc.
Unlike the concretions I saw back at the Capitol Reef Grand Wash Trail (which are made of the same material as the rock around them), these seem to be nodules... irregular, bumpy lumps composed of a different material. Concretions are usually similar in color to the rock in which they are found, whereas nodules typically have a contrasting composition.
These were the same Moqui Marbles I had seen back on my big Coral Pink Sand Dunes hike (although there they were just scattered on the ground). The marbles range in age from 300,000 years old to 20 million years old, whereas the sandstone is 190 million years old. How is this possible? 20 million years ago is when the Colorado Plateau began to rise, allowing water to seep through the sedimentary rock and leave behind minerals that covered the sand grains with iron, creating tiny spheres. As the sandstone is eroded away by wind and water, the balls are released.
Moqui (pronounced “mo-key”) Marbles are balls of pale Navajo Sandstone covered by a dark shell of hematite (an iron ore).
Yes, this is the path.
Every now and then, a plane would fly overhead. The sound echoed in the canyon not unlike that of a roaring train... or an oncoming flash flood! There really would be zero chance of escape in these tight canyons.
The light began to change as sunbeams slowly reached deeper into the narrow canyon.
Tracks in the sand from lizards and some kind of mouse
These holes also provided resting places for various creatures...
... such as this grasshopper.
Thin-legged Wolf Spiders are solitary predators. They usually sit and wait for their prey to move past. They eat insects and other spiders... including each other.
More fascinating nodules!
Some of these nodules reminded me of dinosaur skeletons!
I finally left the slot canyons and thought I was out of the woods (so to speak)... but this is when the hard stuff actually began. There were many times when I had to take off my gear to climb through and over some of the blockages. I began to be seriously concerned that, as a non rock climber, I would eventually will reach a spot that I couldn't get past and would have to go back.
The wide canyon fools me at first with its ease.
If you look closely, you an actually see a giant branch... now the same texture and color as the rock that captured it.
The tricky stuff begins...
A dead end??...
... Sometimes it was difficult to figure out where to go.
All of these climbs are far taller than I am!
Again I thought I was safe... and yet the challenges continued...
I thought I had met my match with this one! Fortunately I was able to backtrack and find another way up and around...
... Looking back down at the cleft
return • continue
