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Show s - - - - - -' - - . f ... i r ' V" . , - : .-- . '' . . v. . -'" Vn : . f t ;. ft if5 1 " " - .Wf?.yA ; ;'',-N';i M' fry, ' . ' - m: i . . . ,- ...vj-'--. t J - ie- ;;;,g up at the Island In The Sky and Junction Butte is National Geo-oi;: Geo-oi;: j-'iic photographer W. M. Edwards and local guide Mitch Williams. - ii to Salt Creek s Immt Jump in ieedles listrict is One of Area's Itesf Specfaculor By Dick Wilson k of the little-known, r. extremely interesting b that can be explored Canyonfands National : is the trail to the lowtr a and the Colorado Over-i; Over-i; in the Needles section, . y israipanying Mr. W. M. -jrds of National Geo-iic Geo-iic Magazine Sunday author found the area 'fewest of the ranger sta-! sta-! one of visual excitement i worthy of more than (casual notice. W Williams' four-wheel . i International traveled Artably into the Needles the recently paved high- I This route should . in I ; seasons ahead, receive ceasing traffic. There is , ;1 to see and do along j ' 'rails, in the canyons n the mounds of color ful rocks at the end of that paved route. Unmarked Trail Mitch turned from the highway about one-naif mile north of the Ranger Station on an unmarked trail. The first., part of the route presented pre-sented no obstacles and the group later met a Volkswagen Volks-wagen bus not far from the Colorado Overlook which demonstrates the accessibility accessibil-ity of this route. Not far from the highway the road winds past huge mushroom Rocks made of various stratified layers. Such gardens of rock formations forma-tions are abundant in the Squaw Flat and Squaw Butte area and make excellent places for roaming for family fam-ily excursions. The first mile of this route can be negotiated quite !( I Qt ti i ft if Hike j -,' j cjORADO Vv OVERLOOK v '- i f J LOWER x jxr. z3 i 1 Needles , Ranger The group inspected the photographic possibilities of The Loop Sunday ' and found them rewarding. easily by most automobiles. It's only two and a half miles to the Lower Jump from the highway and could be a pleasant hike for those preferring pre-ferring not to take their automobile auto-mobile further on the trail. At the Lower Jump The Lower Jump is in tlv; drainage of Salt Creek. Tne lip of this impressive drop is in the shape of a U. Edwards Ed-wards of the National Geographic Geo-graphic noted that its im-pressiveness im-pressiveness would be enhanced en-hanced during or after a flash flood in Salt Creek. At such a time a spectacular waterfall would result there. The Colorado Overlook is seven miles from the highway. high-way. The terrain is similar to that seen in going to the Confluence and the panorama is even more varied. "This area is more outstanding out-standing than the Confluence and the grabens," Mitch Williams told The Times-Independent. Times-Independent. White sandbars in the river below were decorated with red frosting from recent floods. Above the water rose gray cliffs of the Hermosa and R'.co formations. Salt Creak has entrenched itself in meanders in the lower layers of those limestones and Big Spring Canyon is seen to enter the lower gorge cf Salt Creek about a half mile up from the river. Colorado River Overlook Such is the view as seen at the Colorado Overlook. But more than just an excellent ex-cellent look at the river, and this is what the Confluence Overlook lacks, Williams noted, are the numerous geographical geo-graphical landmarks seen in in a 3GD degree gaze. Your eyes reach from the depths of the gorge below to the table tops known as Junction Butte and Island in the Sky. Dead Horse Point is seen in the far distance to the northeast and another tableland is that of Hatch Pcint forming the great wall to the cast. And above that barrier con be seen the the piyamidal forms of the La Sal Mountains. Continuing the circle oE your gaze your eyes follow the many knobs and mes'is which moke up the landscape land-scape to the southeast. The Blue Mountains rise forested and snow-covered above the sandstone canyons at the fur uppcr end of Salt Creek. To the south and southwest are the Orange Cliffs in the distance. View cf the Needles But a most exciting view of the Needles themselves is to be Had from this point. They keep the onlooker entranced. en-tranced. Their finger-like spires project upward into the blue. In the late of the day they form a line of formidable for-midable horizon-keepers silhouettes of sharp clarity against the evening glow. ' Returning from the Colorado Colo-rado Overlook Mitch steered his four wheel drive onto a spur heading north. Miners of some years back consruct-ed consruct-ed the trail and in places it was almost too narrow for Mitch's International. A mile from the main road and outside out-side of the park boundary the road comes to the edge of a small elongated valley. "This would make an excellent ex-cellent primitive campground," camp-ground," Williams stated as he descended into the valley and soon pulled his vehicle to a stop. Photographer Edwards desired de-sired a picture of the Island in the Sky with the river in the foreground. He found his "best picture so far" at the end of a short hike from the above mentioned valley where one bend of The Loop can easily be seen. Though part of the trail and valley are outside the park boundary the impressive impres-sive view from the point within the park is something that should receive attention. "It would be relatively inexpensive in-expensive to mark a hiking trail out to Tire Loop," Wil- hams said. "And the jeep trails to the Colorado Overlook Over-look and The Loop ought to be publicized," he added. |