An a-mazing experience...

was had by all in the Maze District last week; that is, all the one of me. Here's the trip report from my solo excursion that starts with hitching a ride down the Colorado River from the Potash boat ramp, just downstream from Moab (click images to enlarge):

The boat pilot, a mechanic, and myself were on board for the ~ 50 mile meandering journey that took about 1.5 hours, despite a couple of hiccups with the fuel pump:

The confluence with the Green River, the main tributary to the Colorado, is rather unremarkable at river level. At nearly peak discharge during the runoff season the diffusion boundary between the two sediment laden rivers was indiscernible:

Donning life jackets as we entered upper Cataract Canyon per regulations, we arrived at Spanish Bottom just a few minutes later. This is the daunting view of the 1,200 ft high escarpment I had to climb up to the Doll House and into the Maze (yes, countless short switchbacks run up the center of the image):

So I set off alone on my trek, snapping this rare self portrait that includes free advertising for a Spokane-area geotechnical firm with whom I do some consulting:

After climbing the Doll House Trail only a short distance this was the perspective as I watched the jet boat charge upriver, with Red Lake Canyon entering in the center of the image from the Needles District on the south side of the river. That's the gypsum caprock of the Paradox Formation in a domal outcrop at river level:

And here's a broader panorama of the sunken Spanish Bottom, an enlarged graben, from higher up the steep trail. The lower, lighter colored rocks are mostly carbonates while the upper, redder strata are shales and sandstones of the Cutler Group:

Fallen blocks of limestone from the Honaker Trail Formation littered the trail and were chock full o' fragments of crinoids and brachiopods, and gave me a convenient excuse to take it slow:

After ultimately reaching the top I entered a different world, and set out to find a suitable site to establish a basecamp for my explorations in this pinnacled and complex terrain:

I never figured out which of the Cedar Mesa Sandstone outcrops was the Doll House, nevertheless I selected an east facing sheltered ledge, and here's the view from my aerie perch toward the distant La Sal Mountains:

Sunset over the Needles the first night was sublime:

The next day was devoted to a long hike out to the overlook of the Green River, passing Beehive Arch along the way:

The end of the trail yielded a seldom seen (and seldom photographed) spectacular view of the incised confluence. The Green flows towards the viewer from the left, with the confluence with the Colorado just right of center in the distance:

A telephoto shot from nearly the same vantage point confirms that the Meander anticline really does exist and the Colorado River flows along its axis. Note that the rocks dip away from the river on either side due to the removal of overburden pressures through erosion of the canyon, thereby allowing the buoyant salts of the Paradox Formation to bulge upwards:

On the return hike a bright pink prickly pear cactus (Opuntia erinacea) caught my attention, as well as that of several pollinators:

And yellow beeplant (Cleome lutea) was abundant in the meadows:

While skunkbush (Rhus aromatica) was beginning to yield its hard fruits of the season:

And prince's plume stood erect among the sandstone pinnacles:

Dusk yielded another exquisite view of the Needles this next night, followed by a spectacular lightning storm:

The following morning hike to the south carried me along Surprise Valley, another sunken structural graben:

The trail ultimately terminated at several well preserved granary structures in a deep alcove (a fourth one is off the image to the right):

Sand verbena (Abronia fragrans) was blooming in profusion:

And the silvery-green roundleaf buffaloberry (Shepherdia rotundifolia) still glistened with water droplets from the blustery late night storm:

Water and food eventually dwindled, and I returned to the river to catch the jet boat at an appointed time. Having arrived 90 mins early at Spanish Bottom I poked around the boulders examining the sedimentary structures and fossils they contained and found this cherty treasure hidden among them:

A fantastic end to a fabulous journey. In sum, adventures such as this distill the essence of life down to the very basic. I must start planning the next one with only a couple of more weeks left in canyon country this season.