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Show V . . -y l . - " ' TV, ;TV A 'tit' v-- -'J",- - ' .' . ' d . , ; : 4 ;:r jvj,,;r ; . " " - -"-'?rr .."'.-'- - -...Wi .'V.- . ''; .--; - - " JT - .f.y;?r . - ?yC S O i1 ' t'"' - ,.vv:; ..f - , trf '-yv - -v r ' m'fS. 'iSing trail through jc Fisher Towers is like no other trail. It passes through cavernous, echoing alcoves of colorful rock eroded into towers and mon strous shapes. ling Trails Give Intimate Look at Fisher Towers By Fran Barnes Ft an intimate look at ire etv no"el and brealh--t iSerent scenon- in rjrciads countn-. take a irc-ah the Fisher Tew- irailead for this out-rrv out-rrv hike can be reached iy sfeary passenger car by ?n of caved and graded dirt Three miles nor:h""of " ti U:ah 128 leaves U. S. 3 travels the deep Co-irjj Co-irjj River gjrge for some teen miles before enter- ing the wide and picturesque expanses created by several broiid side canyons reaching toward the distant LaSal Mountains. Here, just beyond the turn-off turn-off into Castle Valley, the pavement ends but Utah 128 continues as a well-graded dirt road. After about five more miles, a sign points east 'toward the Fisher Towers Tow-ers and a short spur road leads to a picnic grounds and the hiking trailhead at the base of the lower towers. -vCUt $P ) km fcA im: r : ; V Iff aifh ' 'v'li!; mr-' . : . --:,.,-. f iltan, the tallest of the Fisher Towers, soars JUU Ct mi the clear canyonlands air. Rain erosion has The trail and picnic grounds were built ' by the Bureau of Land Management as part of a program to encourage recreational, rec-reational, usage of the public lands under BLM administration. admini-stration. The soaring Fisher Towers, formed of reddish Cutler sedimentary sed-imentary stone and topped by remnants of younger Moen-kopi Moen-kopi formation, are knife-thin knife-thin and skyscraper-tall and their sides are deeply scored by rain erosion. The tallest of these Brobdingnagian mon oliths, theTitan, measures 900 feet from base to top, yet several of the shorter towers rival Titan for beauty of shape. A Better View From the viewpoint ai; the end of the spur road, Fisher Towers are awe-inspiring, but from along the two and a half mile hiking trail that begins there, the impact of these majestic formations is almost overpowering. The trail is well marked, and after the first few hun- . scored some rocktowers unui uiuy iv-inv. uSaiit-uan uSaiit-uan Pipe organs. a , dred yards climbs with a fairly steady grade. There is no water in the picnic grounds nor along the trail, so hikers should carry canteens. can-teens. As it ascends into the labyrinth laby-rinth of towers, the trail enters en-ters one rocky amphitheater after another, and in between be-tween these echoing avenues it skirts around the bases of the skyscraper rocks that form them. Up and up the trail goes, past tiny arches carved by the wind and rain ' from the resistant stone, beneath be-neath impossibly balanced rocks, and above descending gorges lined on both sides by the grotesque shapes of gargoyles gar-goyles and turrets and shorter short-er towers, all created by the persistent elements from Cutler Cut-ler sediments the color of dried blood. Living Things Along the way, and in the deep canyons that drain away aw-ay from the Fisher Towers, living things have made their homes within this seemingly inhospitable world of rock arid sand. Pinyon pine and juniper trees cling to the slopes, together with a wide assortment of desert shrubs. In moist places and in t!Te canyon bottoms, other types of trees and plants prosper, and in sheltered places desert des-ert wildflowers brighten the colorful landscape with still more vivid hues. Here and there, the lime-green leaves of deciduous trees stand out in contrast to the redrock grottoes in which they grow. ' The animals that live in this vertical land are largely nocturnal and thus seldom seen, yet the careful observer can spot traces of them everywhere. Tracks left in soft sand or moist soil can tell a story of deer, coyote, fox, skunk, and several species spe-cies of rabbit and squirrel. A gnawed tree branch can indicate a porcupine, and a pattern of tiny tracks jn dust can tell the story of an encounter en-counter between a lizard and a crawling beetle. As the trail tops out behind the Titan, it swings southwesterly south-westerly along a high ridge. From various places along this ridge it is possible to enjoy sprctacular panoramic v.ews The incredible labyrinth laby-rinth cf Onion Creek spreads to the south and east, and beyond the creek are the immense gypsum squeeze and high upper meadows of Fisher Valley. Toward the southwest and w-est, the vast, coloful expanses ex-panses of Richardson Ampi-theater Ampi-theater and Professor Valley Val-ley border the greon-and-brown ribbon of the Colorado Colora-do River, while beyond the river and to the northwest stand high escarpments of Wingate sandstone. North of the ridge, the majestic Fisher Fish-er Towers stand dwarfed by still higher sheer cliffs, of Wingate sandstone. Photographers will find morning and early afternoon light best for pictures along the hiking trail, but from the picnic area and valley below, the late afternoon sun gives the towers the most dramatic drama-tic lighting. Around sunset, these soaring red monoliths stand out like immense fingers fin-gers of flame against the blue sky and the distant peaks of the LaSal mountains. moun-tains. But whatever your special interests, try the trail hike up through the Fisher Towers. Tow-ers. It's like no other trail you have ever taken. |