"We're going to have a little adventure today," John Holland, our cowboy-hatted driver and guide, predicted as we climbed into a battered Toyota Land Cruiser in Moab.
We were headed into what he described as "wild America" - into back-country Canyonlands National Park, that rugged wilderness of rock and river in the heart of the Colorado Plateau. Our destination: broadly, the Needles area in the southeast section of Canyonlands; specifically, up the Salt Creek drainage to Angel Arch, the park's largest span, and by most accounts one of the loveliest on the planet.This rugged ride extends 14 rattling miles into pristine back country where there are likely places modern man still has not yet set foot. Vehicles and visitor numbers are restricted; a permit is now required from the Park Service.
The journey is not for everyone - those with back trouble, say, or other restrictive health problems. Nor is it for every four-wheel-drive. We had a brand-new one at our disposal, but chose to reserve a seat with Moab-based Tag-A-Long Expeditions.
The trip to Angel Arch takes most of a day and includes chances to see such formations and features as Peek-a-boo Arch, Paul Bunyan's Potty, and ancient Indian granaries, petroglyphs and pictographs along the way.
As the vintage Land Cruiser growled south along U.S. 191 to the Needles District, Holland proved as adept at storytelling as driving. ("We call him the `Connecticut Cowboy,' " a Tag-A-Long employee had said back in town, along with a praise for his skills.)
He told of 19th-century cowboys and robbers, the geologic ages visible along the highway, and those rock layers most likely to harbor uranium and/or dinosaur fossils.
When a van with California plates zoomed by at 20-plus miles over the speed limit, he commented that the vehicle undoubtedly carried a film crew; a while later the Toyota passed North and South Sixshooter Peaks, near where filming of the new movie "Cheyenne" was under way.
Holland has been a Moab area guide, on the river and in the outback, for about eight years. He works on drilling crews at other times of the year.
"I'm pretty lucky," he said. "It's a great way to make a living."
Once inside Canyonlands proper, Holland picked up a permit and received a special gate-lock combination from the Needles ranger station. Soon he and his five passengers were off the paved highway and headed up the Salt Creek "road" - part tire-grooved sand, part splashing pools, part unforgiving step-stone slickrock. On a four-wheel-drive scale of one to four, with four as the toughest, this route rates a three, he said.
Throughout its 30-year history as a national park, Canyonlands has been the subject of controversy, mostly about access and development, pro and con. Salt Creek is the focus of one such wrangle right now. On one side you have those who would prefer unlimited access at all times to these areas; on the other are those who argue this route, which wanders in and out of the creek itself, is endangering a rare riparian area in a desert landscape. Both have points in their favor. The gate and current restrictions are part of a Park Service compromise in a time of booming visitation: 10 private vehicles per day are allowed in Salt Creek, and two operated by commercial outfits.
"Hazardous road conditions: Proceed at YOUR OWN risk," says a sign at the gate. "15 mph" advises another.
Holland dropped his passengers off for a 400-yard walk to Peek-a-boo Arch. The cliff is decorated with ancient Indian art: shield-shaped anthropomorphic figures and a curious line of dot patterns. The trail passes through the span itself; the hikers found the Land Cruiser waiting on the other side.
Cattle and cowboys once ranged through these canyons below the Abajo Mountains, Holland said. Ten years after the park was created, ranching rights expired. Today mule deer, the occasional black bear and mountain lions are the largest mammals that inhabit the area.
"I've never seen the mountain lions, but I've seen the fresh tracks," Holland says.
The Salt Creek road follows an old cowboy path through a sinuous canyon oasis. Water is present year-round - especially in wetter-than-usual years like this. Flowers bloom all summer long.
The Toyota bounced and crawled up banks and over hidden rocks.
Nine-year-old Roger Arave saw it in Disneyland roller-coaster terms. He laughed happily during a particularly persistent sequence of lurches. "This is better than Disneyland," he said - better even than the Indiana Jones ride, he added.
Anasazi granaries cling to the orange and sometimes whitish stone under overhanging cliffs here and there along the route. Odd formations that bring to mind toadstools and, oddly enough, kissing camels, as well as the usual towers, spires and battlements, animate the sandstone cliffs.
"This area is not fully explored," Holland said. "There's a lot of secrets left."
Angel Arch, of course, is no longer a secret. The Salt Creek road, which once extended farther, now ends near this unusual rock rainbow. A side of the span is partly visible from the parking area. While Holland set out lunch, we hiked the 600 yards to the base of the 150-foot-tall monolith.
Discovered as recently as 1955, this arch has inspired several descriptions. Some have called it "Pegasus," inspired by the ancient Greek myth of the flying horse. Chaffee C. Young named it "Angel Arch," seeing in stone a heavenly messenger.
Most now see it that way, and understandably are awed and even reverential in the presence of its majesty. A tremendous angel, great wings folded to the back, head bowed in prayer or meditation, seems to lean against a supportive arch - or is it a harp, as has sometimes been suggested? - atop a steep, salmon-pink cliff.
The trail heads through tangled tamarisk, tall grasses, juniper and sage to the little canyon below the arch. The path continues along the rock to just below the span. The only route to the arch itself is a longer, more precarious climb up slickrock at the end of the main box canyon.
Unfortunately, a day trip leaves little time to thoroughly enjoy and explore the area's striking scenery. There are other arches in the vicinity - Fortress and Castle, to name a few. Backpackers can hike to the pictograph called All-American Man, a blue and white figure with red stripes that is a few miles away.
But time is tight. After a lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches we began retracing our route. Before reaching the paved highway, though, Holland turned into Horse Creek Canyon for a quick side trip to Paul Bunyan's Potty, an eroded and colorfully named cliff-edge pothole. Those with an opportunity to explore this canyon also can make their way to Tower Ruin.
A storm over the mountains to the south and west convinced Holland that it might be best to head out of the canyons. A tour group had been stranded by flash flood just days before and had to spend the night in Salt Creek Canyon. Quick help is often nowhere to be found; two-way radios don't work well in this creased-rock landscape.
"Out in Canyonlands, you're really on your own," Holland noted.
Having said that, he found the Toyota refused to start. The driver fiddled with the battery and its cables for a few minutes, but the approaching thunderhead motivated his guests to give the vehicle a push start.
Holland had forecast an adventure, and an adventure it proved to be.
Young Roger Arave, recalling what he liked best about the trip, remembered his comparison of this wilderness to a Disneyland ride.
"It lasted longer," he said. "It was bumpier. It was `funner.' I also liked the lunch. I liked Angel Arch too - and Paul Bunyan's Potty."
Naturally.
Day trips to Angel Arch are offered from spring to fall, weather permitting, by Tag-A-Long Expeditions. For information, call Tag-A-Long at 1-800-453-3292. For more about other outfitters, tours, recreation services and rentals available in Canyonlands and the Moab area, contact the Moab Visitor Center at 1-800-635-6622 or Canyonlands National Park at (801) 259-7164.