Life's been a bit hectic of late so things have been kind of quiet around here. I only had one day off last week and it was spent finishing up my "K.S.A.'s" (knowledge, skills, & abilities) - 6 pages worth of bragging about myself necessary as part of my application for the winter position I would like to have at Bryce. I should know in a week or 10 days . . .

Today I got out for a few hours and explored some of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument with a drive down a portion of Cottonwood Road. A road in name only for a good portion of the year - it is impassable when wet and was, in fact, closed for much of the month of August - it leads through a section of the monument known as The Cockscomb. This feature is a monocline, a sharp fold in the Earth's crust and the image here is a rather large chunk of Navajo Sandstone jutting upward. I had hoped to find a way to a different camera angle to show its wedge shape when seen from either end - maybe when I have more time than I did today.

I found this formation near the parking area for a slot canyon called Cottonwood Narrows. I believe it is also Navajo Sandstone, but can't say for sure - I'm learning my Southern Utah geology but have a long way to go. The tree on the left is a 2-Needle Pinyon - no sign of a Pinyon Jay, though. I had hoped to trek part of the way into the narrows but my 4-legged traveling companion wasn't too keen on the 8-foot drop down the sandstone into the wash.

Last fall I paid a visit to Grosvenor Arch when I was out this way and stopped there again since I was in the neighborhood. Last time i was there it was very late in the afternoon and, while the pale yellow glow from the setting sun was nice, it was actually a little more colorful, I think, in more natural light.