Friday, November 14, 2014

Mars Society, Capital Reef, and Robber's Roost

07 Sep 2014

Flying from Hanksville again.


 Jet contrails on a cold morning.
Busy USA, starting it's day.

What's that contraption down there in the desert???


 Turns out that it's the Mars Society Desert Research Station.
Crews come here to experiment with habitats similar to Mars.
No connection with NASA.

 What a contrast between the lush farms and the harsh surroundings.

But being Mormom country, every bit of useable ground is productive.



 Entering Capital Reef

 This is the road through the Capital Reef...

And this is the country surrounding...
 
Mormoms settled here in the 1880's and planted orchards.

 The area is now National park, so the settlers are gone,
but some of the orchards are still producing today.

 The spectacular drive westward to Escalante.

.............................................................................


Over in the Canyonlands area east of Hanksville.

This is the area known as 'Robber's Roost'
It was used by Butch Cassidy and other outlaws, to hide from the law.
I'm not sure of the exact location of their hide-away, but near here.
Difficult for the law to access.
Lots of caves to shelter in, and grazing for their horses.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbers_Roost


More colourful rocks......

1 comment:

  1. Gorgeous hostile scenery. Not sure I'd have the courage to fly over these lands. Especially with a two-stroke engine as my levitation power. Bet you're already at work figuring out how to fly over the real Mars, too. Way to go!

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