Alien Talking Heads.
Sedna’s Queens. Obviously we are not in Sedna, but we may as well be. I also made up these names.
The surface of Sedna. Sedna is thought to be the most distant dwarf planet in our solar system and was discovered in 2003.
The enthroned Queen. We are in Arches National Park in Utah which looks like a cross between Petra, Egypt, and some alien world.
The Four Pharoahs.
Valley of the Kings.
Tower of Babel.
Munch’s Balancing Brain.
Climbing Devils Thumb. (Click to enlarge the photo and you can see the technical climber about thrity feet from the summit.)
Anteojos. (Glasses in Spanish)
Six-shooter.
Cheers to you from Arches National Park in Utah~
We are traveling between Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, and Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, so internet is spotty, but I will touch base with you when I can.
Share this:
Discover more from Cindy Knoke
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Stunning photos Cindy and love the blue blue sky! Here it is so smoggy and hazy 🙁
Smoggy and hazy is no fun at all for us photo-nerds. You have my empathy. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain, so we are going to go look for petroglyphs.
Had to look that up! Have fun – look forward to joining in from afar 😀
<3
Wow, what amazing formations. As usual your photos are fabulous! 🙂 <3
Thank you Natalie. Our world is pretty confoundingly complex and beautiful.
Tis so true Cindy‼️❌⭕️
It does have an Egyptian look about it. Amazing rock formations and a crazy person climbing! 😉
I think he was learning, which would be a challenge because all his teachers were on the ground!
Smart teachers!
<3
The trouble with rock climbing is, once you get to the top, you realise you’ve got to get down again.
What a stunning place to see.
At least in this situation, he could probably rappel straight down, but in other more difficult climbs, the descent could seemingly be worse than the ascent, in both cases, gravity is not your friend. But what do I know? I have never done a technical climb.
My advice, don’t even think of doing it, technical or non-technical!
Today I got close to a non-technical but challenging cliimb. It was steep and had cables bored into the mountain to hold on to and foot holds carved in the rock. There were even ladders going up the faces. This would be my limit in climbing!
Great pictures! We are planning on going to Utah next year 🙂
It has the most beautiful concentration of National Parks. We had never been to Arches or Canyonlands. This was our loss.
These rock formations have always amazed me – great share.
Ahh, thanks & hugs to you Antionettte!
Really a different place this time Cindy and everything looks so red, but fun to see, thank you for sharing your great photos 🙂
It’s called Red Rock Country, and as soon as you enter it, you know! I was struck by the green soil though in Arches. I am guessing maybe biological decompostion of rocks coupled with copper sulfate oxidation, but I haven’t had time to look it up yet. I haven’t figured out the black layer on much of the rock faces yet. I’m assuming leaking fossil fuel, but am most likely wrong. I am used to Red Rock Country. I have been going there since I was really young, but Arches is different, and I have never been here before, and there is a lot of geology here I don’t understand which is wonderful, because it means I have more to learn~
I do also love to learn 🙂
It affirms we still need to live! <3
truly stunning, so amazing those formations, on my bucket list already, I just had friends visit there recently
Why I have been to so many of Utah’s National Parks repeatedly, and never Arches or Canyonlands, makes no sense. These places are quite unique on the planet.
they certainly are unique and spectacular
<3
Yes! VERY other worldie!
And, just here, next door, in otherworldly Utah!
I know of both of those things in Bryce, but I had no idea about Zimbabwe. I quickly googled some photos, amazing! Thank you for showing me.
You know interesting stuff. Stick with that. I always want to learn. It is the best reason to keep living.
I was just thinking that actually, Like a family portrait hah 🙂
Yes! Alien families, just like ours! <3
haha! 😀
Wow, Cindy, these pictures are awesome! I love your comparisons to an alien planet LOL. I apparently visited Utah but I was only 5 years old so I don’t remember much. I certainly won’t be doing any climbing like that with my arms and legs but it is fascinating to see. I would like to visit again one of these days.
You are awesome Lydia and I know it! <3
The place itself is always better than the photos, in much the same way that books are always better than the movies made about them.
Yes, it is true that nothing beats the real thing. But with my wonky body sometimes I only get to see the pictures! And you made me blush BTW.
I am happy you are traveling with me virutally Lydia & cheers to you!
WOWZA!!! u just blew me away with these pics, Cindy…such beauty, color and amazing composition…the spirituality emanating from these sculptures by mom nature is stunning–i had to catch my breath😳😃🤗
ALL I can say is YES! Thank you for knowing. Mother Nature in unfathomable in her brilliant creation.
Wow! Fantastic photos of Arches, Cindy. I really enjoyed seeing this in lieu of being there myself, and wish you lots of fun~~
I just wish we were going together tomorrow on the hike to the Petroglyphs even though it may rain. <3
♥ have fun!
these sculptures truly speak to u…it’s amazingly awesome…
It is. I am left perplexed by them.
Some of them look like priests and holy people in the process of worship…I just get this sense of reverence from them
Thank you for being my friend. You sense reverance.
I’ve looked at lots of pics of rocks like these but never have a felt such a strong reverential connection…it’s a most beautiful and healing vibration…thank u Cindy for being my friend too..I know u sense reverence and spiritual energy too..we r both blessed to be given the awareness & sensitivity to appreciate it.😍❤️🙏🏼
Yes I do have this spiritual awareness that adds so much beauty and reverance to life. I am happy you have this too and glad you shared it with me. It is important to find people who understand. <3
Yes..I really have no friends who share in this heightened awareness…but I continue to express my perceptions with them, whether they’re “on board” or not-I believe speaking UR truth is essential to actualizing it…
Good for you. To think own self be true~
I’m very happy I have u to share it with..yesterday I was out hiking and encountered some turkey vultures..we just sat and watched each other, then one flew up into the sky and I mimicked his flying pattern and we wound up circling around each other for about 15 mins..it was a form of connecting and communicating-I’m sure the other Homer’s thought I was nuts but I’m not bothered by that anymore..
“Hikers” not “Homer’s”😳🙄
Wild animals definitely interact with humans. You just need patience and respect to experience this~
And u have to send very positive energy..I “fly” with my crows too..they will go in circles till I’m tired and dizzy 😵 😸but it’s so spiritually uplifting it’s well worth it😁
And it’s wonderful to feel connected with other living spirits…it’s communicating with goddess too
these formations are iron rich banded sandstones that have been eroded by the wind.(alluvial) The wind basically sand blasts them.Sandstone is a sedimentary rock & as a result is naturally soft. The bedding looks like it’s pretty much stayed in the same position & has had very little uplift. Water can do the same thing,but I don’t think this area gets much rain?
I’d love to shoot these right near sunset when the colours would be even richer!
Great find & shots Cindy!
Yes, you are right. it would have been so much better to shoot them in optimal light, but since the clouds moved in, this was the best I could do. I think they are pretty amazing in even poor light. And you are right about erosion in the South West Us, it shapes all sorts of masterpieces, like The Grand Canyon.
sorry Cindy,I didn’t mean to sound like you had not photographed them in good light.I only shoot during the sunset for that golden light. You take excellent shots!
<3 <3
Hoodoo you know? Great series.
Laughing, and hope your blood cells are growing a victorious army my friend~ <3
I’m going great!
Yay!
stunning pictures Cindy
Honored & thank you Hillechien!
Extraordinary shapes/landscape. A touch of Easter Island in there too. 😉
It is hard sometimes to believe some of these pieces weren’t constructed and placed as in Easter Island!
Reblogged this on TINA FRISCO and commented:
Cindy Knoke comes to us from Arches National Park in Utah, sharing her exquisite photography. Southern Utah is red rock country, and the red earth always calls me home… ❤
Thank you so much Tina. You well know how gorgeous this country is and it is especially appealing in November when the crowds are non-existant and the weather cool. Hugs to you my friend~ <3
Sure does look extraterrestrial to me! This place has so much character! The landscape diversity on our planet is amazing isn’t it? These rock formations along with Painted Rock in Utah have been on my list of things to see, so thanks for this great reminder Cindy!
I have never heard of Painted Rock. I will google it to wee where/what it is. We are going to look for Petroglyphs today near Canyonlands National Park. Cheers to you Lynn~ <3
Gosh, Cindy, all this wonderful and exotic places and spaces you visit! 🙂 We love your take on this one. Sedna, discovered by Cindy Knoke. America has got so much beauty and amazing views to offer.
“Benedicto: May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. May your rivers flow without end, meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells, past temples and castles and poets towers into a dark primeval forest where tigers belch and monkeys howl, through miasmal and mysterious swamps and down into a desert of red rock, blue mesas, domes and pinnacles and grottos of endless stone, and down again into a deep vast ancient unknown chasm where bars of sunlight blaze on profiled cliffs, where deer walk across the white sand beaches, where storms come and go as lightning clangs upon the high crags, where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you — beyond that next turning of the canyon walls.”
Author: Edward Abbey
That quote is profoundly beautiful as are you my friend! May hugs, love, laughter and wonder be with you on your travels my friend~ <3
Great natur, great photos !
Very happy you enjoyed and thank you~
I love these rock formations and your pictures are fascinating! I
Merci beaucoup mon ami!
Wow. Now there is a certain addition to the bucket list.
I have never been to any of the three places we are going on this trip and now I can’t imagine why! You will be amazed~
Stunning colors.
They have all the red spectrum colors which I expected, but they also have green which surprises me!
Fabulous photos! 🙂 It’s been a few years since I saw Arches – it is amazing. 🙂
It truly is and I have never seen it before~
Thanks for an excellent view into another world. 🙂
Amazing what lies around the corner, wonder upon wonder! Cheers to you Graham~
Great pictures. I visited Arches in 1995 so thanks for the memory nudge!
You were wise too. I have no explanation for why it took me so long, but am glad I finally am here~
Breathtaking, Cindy. I love it!
xoxo <3
Merci beaucoup mon ami! <3
Welcome 🙂
Your photos are remarkable,Cindy. 🙂
Ahh, I am honored. Thank you Ranu~ <3
Beeindruckende und wunderbare Aufnahmen Cindy. Chapeau !!!
Herzlichen Dank fürs zeigen. Ernst
Vielen danke mein llieber Freund Ernst und Frohe Wochenede! <3
Reblogged this on Anita Dawes & Jaye Marie.
This rocks are crazy.. but I would love to see them for real!
They are crazy gorgeous and hard to believe at times. Thank you for your thoughtfulness and I hope you do visit soon! <3
I find them quite spooky 🙂 x
I can see why you do. They are eerie looking~
Stunning photos… The wild side of America. Enjoy your travel!
Thank God there is still a lot of wild left in America & thank you!
I very much like that first photograph. And the title for the post is a real goodie. 🙂
Thank you so much Duncan! The first one looked to me like the stone people in Pompeii, but these creatures are huge and look like aliens. The whole places sets your imagination flying. Hope you are well my friend & cheers to you~
The rock formation are amazing. They spark your imagination just like looking at the cloud but they are on the ground. Great captures of the place and these amazing formation. Love “The Four Pharoahs”.
Aren’t the pharoahs incredibe. And I know just what you mean about the formations, some of them look almost purposely constructed rather than nature made, and I think this is what gets one imagination going. So happy you know just what I mean~
Oh my word, how beautiful. I’d be so awestruck to see these in person. I like your descriptions of them.
I am so glad you do & thank you too! Hugs to you my friend~ <3
Such a stunning and unusual place, Cindy. I shall have to visit Sedna myself one day… 😉
Oh I hope you do and post about it too. I imagine the formations have different effects in different seasons.
Someone who runs those pictures flash fiction should borrow one of these pictures of yours. The area is beautiful in color and uniqueness. I see an alien planet with stone people. I would love to see the series people come up with. And interesting place.
I see your alien world with stone inhabitants too and they are tall, regal, thin and wear flowing robes. They are all over Arches and they are stunning to look at!
I could imagine.
<3
Lindo!!! A minha imaginação foi para gigantes pedrificados.kkkk
Sim! Eu vejo seus gigantes petrificados também e eles são lindos e parece inteligente! <3
Isn’t it amazing the imagery that comes from stone formations? Like a consciousness unseen is at work trying to tell us things….a story. Lovely photos as always Cindy! Love to you!
Oh this statement sums this up so perfectly, “a consciousness unseen is at work trying to tell us things…” Things is just what it seems like. Today we are going to see petroglyphs and this is exactly what will be occuring!
This photos are remarkable! Lots of hiking to get to see these spectacular scenes.
Yes, and more everyday. There are dino footprints too!!
The four Pharaohs farthest to the right looks just like a carving of an eagle. Amazing.
I see what you mean. They are like giant Rorschrach sculptures!
So cool! I love the different hues of colors
There are more colors here than in Zion or Bryce because there is this very distinct green!
Another adventure and a great group of clear and colorful photos. You can almost imagine how our earth erupted with plumes of lava billions of years ago. Likewise you can picture the wind and waters carving these beautiful images for the next few millions of years. Thanks for sharing Cindy.
Yes one can imagine this! But how did massive unattached boulders get placed precariously to balance upon massive spires looking just like an alien head!!!!! Laughing…..It is a place for the imagination to fly! Cheers to you Wally & hope you are well~
Amazing shots! They really do look like Aliens. Their size is very impressive when you see the tiny humans beside them.
J.J.
I had to include some people so the scale of these sculptures could be seen. They are massive!
Truly magnificent.
Yes, they are just this! <3
Very cool. The last time I was down there they only had Bryce’s and Zion’s National Parks. I think these two are newer.
There are also Capitol Reef and Canyonlands and Arches. At the end of this trip I will have seen all of them finally, but there are also most worthwhile national monuments too. Utah is amazing country!
It really is. Northern Utah is probably a wonderful display of Autumn color right now.
The fall colors are gorgeous and the sun came out today!!
Wonderfully surreal alien landscape, Cindy.
Thank you and I agree with you!