The All American Man

There is a large National Park in Southern Utah called Canyonlands National Park. It covers a territory of canyons, arches, standing rocks, creeks and portions of the Green and Colorado Rivers including the confluence of the two rivers. It is very wild and remote, with much of it accessible only to 4 wheel drive(4WD) vehicles, backpacking or raft. There is also some mountain biking.

Canyonlands was made a National Park in 1964. Sometime in 1964 National Geographic ran a story on Canyonlands, which I saw somewhere, although I was not a subscriber. I remember being very impressed and decided that I needed to explore that area. In 1969 or 1970, while I was in practice in Utah I laid into a Ford Bronco, 4WD. I also got a large scale map of Canyonlands and managed to locate a copy of the National Geographic issue on Canyonlands at a used bookstore. I then started plotting trips.

One of the most striking things in the article was a photo of a pictograph called The All American Man. This is what is called a shield figure, which there are several of in this area. However, this one's shield is in a red, white and blue pattern. It is the only one like this ever found. I decided I had to see him.

I located him on my map, packed up food and water, etc. and went for it. The entrance to the Needles district of the park, which is where the All American Man is located, is south of Moab. A little ways into the park is a sandy wash called Salt Creek. I turned off the park entrance road and drove south up Salt Creek. For the most part I drove up the creek bed. Salt Creek always has water in it somewhere, unless there has been a big storm, when it has water everywhere. The water was never deep enough to cause trouble. I drove past the small side canyon where Angel Arch is located and continued south for about another seven or so miles. The All American Man is located in a cave the mouth of which is about 10 or so feet above the canyon floor. At the point I stopped Salt Creek had stopped running south and there was now a wash running east and west. Not being sure where I was and not seeing a cave, I turned around and went back out. It turns out I was probably a few hundred yards from the cave when I gave up.

The photo above is of the road in towards Salt Creek. Below are kids playing in Salt Creek.

Below is typical scenery along Salt Creek.

Above I believe is Peek a Boo Arch, although I wouldn't swear to that. The photo below is Paul Bunyan's Potty. Both of these are north of Angel Arch Canyon and either in Salt Creek or Horse Canyon, which you get into from the Salt Creek road.

The next time I went down there I only got as far as the Angel Arch canyon; a big cottonwood tree had fallen down across a narrow point in the canyon/creek bottom and blocked vehicle travel. I was not prepared for a hike so I didn't go any further.

In the spring of 1972 I decided to have a real go at finding the elusive pictograph. This time I took some friends, water and food for several days, prepared to camp near Angel Arch and hike in and find this guy. We got up early and ate breakfast. I dug a hole, built a fire next to it, shoveled the hot coals and embers into it, put a stew in a dutch oven, put the dutch oven in the hole, shoveled the rest of the coals on and around and then covered it with sand/dirt. I took a small back pack, my Mamiya/Sekor 1000 DTL 35mm SLR, a small electronic flash, an extra lens, lunch and plenty of water and Kodachrome and headed off. We hiked about seven miles up Salt Creek, mostly in sand and when we came to the east-west wash turned east. Below is a photo of part of the group hiking along the Salt Creek wash and another photo of a flower. I'm afraid I don't know what variety it is.

 After a few hundred yards someone shouted “There it is!” Sure enough, on the north side of the canyon was a cave about 10 feet above the canyon floor and on the west wall was the All American Man. The entrance to the cave is not very big, nor is the cave more than about 15-20 feet deep. The All American Man is probably about four feet inside the entrance. It would be easy to miss the cave and, unless you looked west, easy to miss the All American Man from the wash. At the back of the cave is a small man-made wall, either to delineate a small dwelling place or a storage place.

The old cowboy at  the back of the cave next to the small wall. Sorry about the focus. 

The All American Man is about 5 feet high and maybe 3 feet across at the widest point of the shield. At some time someone had outlined him with chalk .Now frowned on, this was often done by anthropologists/archaeologists to improve photos. Personally I find it quite helpful in these photos. As I remember that's the way it is in the Natioinal Geographic photos. There have been doubts about his authenticity, but he has been authenticated by radio-carbon dating to the 14^th century and is attributed to the Anasazi people. He was not found, or at least not reported by whites, until the 1950's. I met one of the men who ranched and ran cattle in that area who had not seen it. I know this old cowboy has never seen anything like it. There are also a series of hand print pictographs on either side of him. Hand print pictographs are quite common in Anasazi country. 

The photo below shows a wider angle view of the All American Man. In this view you can see the number of hand prints made around him. The cave entrance is just out of view to the left; the small wall just out of view to the right. The second photo below is another shot of the All American Man.

After photographing and looking around the immediate area, we hiked back out. We got to our campsite just at dusk, pulled the stew out of the ground and had dinner. It was delicious!

The Park Service has become quite secretive about the existence of the All American Man. He does not appear on maps anymore and there is no mention of him on their website. In addition they have virtually locked up Salt Creek with a locked gate and permits needed to go a little ways by 4 WD or all the way by Shank's mare, roughly 21 miles. I understand the need for protection of artifacts, but at times it feels like they are trying to “save” this and other things for the elite. In any event I am glad I saw it; it was well worth the effort.

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

 Shown above is a photo taken of the Basilica i Temple Expiation de la Sagrada Familia, in English the Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family. This church was begun in 1882 and taken over by the Catalan architect Antonio Gaudi in 1883. He guided it until his death in 1926. The money for its construction is from donations and admissions. It is not a cathedral; it was dedicated by the Pope in 2010. It is estimated that it's completion will be in 2026.

There are three facades: the east facade, shown above, depicts the Nativity; the west facade depicts the Passion of Christ; the south facade, now under construction, depicts the Glory of the risen Christ.

The photos above show the four towers of the east facade and  some  fruit or flowers on the top of some arches on the east. Below is a tree with birds on it located between the four towers on the Nativity facade.

Below are three photos of sculptures from the Nativity facade. The middle one with the children is my personal favorite.

Below is one of he towers on the west or Passion facade.

The photos below are all of the west or Passion facade. The style of these sculptures and layout is very different from the Nativity facade. It is very stark and modernistic. This is the work of an artist by the name of Josep Maria Subirachs.

 The photo below is of one of the towers.

If you are in Barcelona the Sagrada Familia is well worth the metro ride. You  can purchase tickets and go inside and go up at least one of the towers. We did not due to time constraints. It is a fantastic building and well worth a look.

Florence...Italy This Time

Florence(Firenze), Italy is in Tuscany, Italy. It is the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance, home of Michelangelo and many other great Italian renaissance artists. Unfortunately we were only able to spend one day there, a day that was extremely crowded and cloudy. Knowing what I know now, I would have done things a little differently. More of that later.

Florence is dominated by the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, also known as the Duomo or the Cathedral of Florence. Begun in 1296, the dome was designed and built by Brunelleschi and completed in 1436. The exterior is of polychrome marble panels. The front facade was not completed until the 19th century and is Gothic revival. Below is  the front of the Duomo, with the dome with its lantern visible in the left  background.The second photo shows some of the facade a little closer.

The photos below show the central portal and a closeup of it's tympanum.

 Below is sculpture from the facade.

Shown below is some of the facade, Giottos campanile from the 14th century and the dome.

Brunelleschi's dome is shown in the two photos here. The dome is made of brick, and is the largest masonry dome in the world. It was built without scaffolding; he designed and built hoists to bring materials up to the dome. His drawings of these pieces of machinery were falsely attributed to Leonardo da Vinci for many years.

There are three rather remarkable structures packed together in the heart of Florence--the Duomo, Giotto's Campanile, and the Battistero di San Giovanni, more commonly known as the Florence Baptistry. The Baptistry is directly across from the front of the Duomo. It is an octagonal building constructed between 1029 and 1128. All Catholic Florentines were baptized here until the beginning of the 20th century. It is shown below.

There are three sets of doors by which the Baptistry was entered. Two of these were by Ghiberti. The north doors, by Ghiberti, are one of the most famous pieces of art in the world. They are gilded bronze, called by Michelangelo "The Gates of Paradise." Ghiberti spent 21 years on them, between about 1401-1422. The north doors were removed in 1990 and placed in a museum for resatoration and preservation. Replicas now stand in their place. There are 28 panels on the "Gates of Paradise;" twenty depict scenes from the life of Christ. The remaining depict scenes of the Evangelists and other parts of the Bible. The photos below are of the Gates of Paradise.

Tired? How about a treat and a ride?

I love this building; it is near the main sights.

Below is the Fountain of Neptune, by Bartolomeo Ammannati, done between 1563-1565.

Below is the Lion of Florence.

This of course is a replica of Michelangelo's David. It sits in the Piazza della Signori, where the original stood. It was sculpted between 1501 and 1504. The David was moved to the Academia Gallery in 1873 for it own protection.

Below is the most famous bridge over the River Arno, the Ponte Vecchio. A bridge existed here in Roman times; the current bridge dates to 1345. It still has shops on it, as it did in medieval times.

The photo below shows just Giotto's Campanile and Brunelleschi's dome.

We had one day to spend in Florence. We got on line and got tickets to the Uffizi Gallery, with a time to enter, and to the Academia, also with a time to enter. The David is at the Academia while the Uffizi is supposed to house the greatest collection of Italian Renaissance art in the world. Florence turned out to be extremely crowded and the Uffizi opened three hours late. And they kept selling tickets despite all that. You had to wait in a line about three hours to get a ticket to wait in another line to actually get in. After finally getting in you were crowded and rushed. The only thing I remember from the Uffizi was the painting of Venus on the Half-Shell. The Academia was better and the David is absolutely magnificent. However, because of all this nonsense, we didn't get to walk on the Ponte Vecchio or see the church of Santa Croce, etc, etc. Oh, well. Live and learn.

Florence...Arizona, That Is

Florence, Arizona is a town of about 25,000 or so located about 40 miles south east of Mesa. It was founded in 1866 by a man named Levi Ruggles, who was an Indian Agent. Historically it was a ranching and agricultural area. Currently Florence is home to nine prisons--state,county, Federal and two private. Below is a photo of the county courthouse, recently restored, which dates to 1895.

 Florence has a lot of old houses and buildings still standing. Many of them are adobe. The house shown below is one such place, although remodeled. The verandah porch is typical of many of these houses that date to territorial days.

Thick adobe bricks make great insulation, very useful in the hot southwest. I had friends in Tucson who lived in old adobe houses; they were much cooler than our house, which was built with fired brick in the late 1940's. Sometimes they would make a "double adobe."  A double adobe had walls that were two adobe bricks thick-about 18 inches. They were literally way cool.

The house shown below is another territorial house. It originally had a flat roof, since covered with a gable roof. The plaque in the second photo refers to this house.

I know nothing about the house shown in the two photos below. I think it is very interesting because of the additions. Who knows what was original?

 The house below is intriguing because of the door. Why a sunken entrance?

 In 1875 silver was discovered in the mountains near Globe, about 35 miles from Florence. Florence was the nearest town of any size so it became the headquarters for the Silver King Mine. One of the partners in the mine, William Long, built the Silver King Hotel in 1876. It was originally adobe, but burned in 1893 and was rebuilt using fired red brick. It was abandoned in the 1970's and a section on the back, still adobe, burned in in the 90's, I believe. The current restoration was completed in 2009. The building now houses some shops and offices. The photo below is the Silver King. The section that burned ran west lengthwise starting at the southwest corner of the current building.

The photo below is taken from the northeast corner looking south under the porch and down Main Street.

One of the most intriguing things about the Silver King is the outside staircase shown in the two photos below. I guess I've seen too many Westerns. I can just see the gunfight with guys falling down and off the stairs, as well as off the balcony. The stairs start on the second floor, north side and end up of the west side, first floor, outside.

The photo below is on Main Street showing a few businesses. The bank has the smallest front I think I've ever seen for a bank. Typical of the Main street businesses.

Below is the window of a bar on Main Street. I've never been mooned by Kokopelli before. For the uninitiated Kokopelli is the hump-backed flute player found on  ancient Native American rock art in the Southwest.

The house shown below has seen better days. I don't think that evap cooler is going to do much. The guy doesn't seem too worried; just relaxing in the front room.