Island in the Sky
It was decided that in order to visit the Kenslers again, Island in the Sky would have to be tackled at a dead run, taking the shortest hikes to the best views recommended by the local Park Rangers. This is a shame because there are some truly amazing vistas to be seen, and we would miss some great hikes that lead to a number of native ruins.
We did take the time to stop by a local geological controversy: the infamous "Uplift Dome". One can see from the surface that this strange site contains rock discontinuous with that in the rest of the park: the stone flows have been twisted in concentric rings, and these are the only tilted strata in the area. Geologists disagree whether this appearance was created by a salt dome pushing up from an ancient sea that has since eroded away to reveal only the rising core, or if perhaps these convolutions are the last remains of a heavily eroded meteor crater.
My father, resident geological authority, dismisses the ancient meteor impact-site theory as so much nonsense. Academic controversy thus observed, we continue onwards and spend some time staring over the edges of many sharp cliffs.
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It can not be stated enough that this place really is an Island in the Sky - an uplifting of elemental earth into the airy heights - it feels like one is looking down onto the landscape as if from an airplane. Perhaps this was the first chance for many of our pre-flight predecessors to truly feel that they were flying without ever actually leaving the ground.