Utah
I arrived in Las Rageous on Wednesday night after a pleasant and non descript flight. I was greeted by warm weather and the warm smile of my darling friend Lynnaeous. The next morning, after pausing for coffee and food (apples, a slimfast that was never drunk, whiskey, and almonds) we set off for a Utahian/Utopian adventure. It was certainly the pleasuredome we expected it to be (and I think that’s why it was…we had no real plans for how it was to turn out…it just did.)
The adventure began in Zion National Park. Before we even began hiking, Lynni’s enthusiasm for the steep hike requiring the use of chains to pull one’s self up made me nervous. However, Angel’s Landing proved to be delicious. I overcame my fear of heights and of hiking in general and with the help of a few puffs of albuterol I was wheezing up the mountain with great ease. At the top we met a couple from Florida who warned us not to sleep in Bryce as it was 27 degrees out at night.
With that in mind, we decided to skip Bryce the next day and head to Moab instead to go to Arches National Park. Before we departed, however, we did a hike to Hidden Canyon. We were all alone on the trail as it was early in the morning. The trail eventually takes you to a gorgeous hidden canyon where there are pools of water and the rock has been washed smooth by years of weather erosion. We continued on on the “not” trail, climbing over rocks and enjoying the trees before turning around and hopping in Lynni’s car, Nikki.
We zoomed on 15, to 70. It was gorgeous. We passed towns with funny names: Browse, Sulfurdale, Beaver. Lynni fell asleep at one point. At another there were many signs telling us that there were no services for 100 miles. Luckily we had enough gas. Unluckily, I drank too much water and as I’m renowned to do, had to pee really really bad. Luckily, there was a scenic overlook. I meandered off the beaten path and went while enjoying the most beautiful view ever. Someday I’m going to get that picture blown up and I’ll hang it in my bathroom…the next time I have a bathroom.
At Moab we cursed ourselves for not being able to find a campsite and we drove around for ages looking for one. The park rangers at Moab had given us a sheet recommending campsites and one that was listed was called “Negro Bill’s Canyon.” We were interested in learning more but it was very hidden and so we drove up and down the Colorado River looking for it for about an hour. When we finally did, it would have been perfect, except it was all full. So, we settled at this generic RV site on the highway. At least it had amenities (showers, hot tubs), which we made full use of.
That evening we went for a lovely stroll to Windows Arches, saw the sun set, and tried to avoid the other tourists. Dinner was unremarkable except for the speed at which we ate: 17 minutes all in all (the beginning of our speedy meals).
The next day we did our first really long hike: Devil’s Garden. It was a 10 mile loop that took us to 8 different arches. We kept running into a nice fellow who we later learned was named Aaron. We climbed up tree stumps like a ladder, visited “the dark angel,” which we christened “the lone phallus” because it was all alone off to the side and because…
That night we hiked to Delicate Arch which is prominent on the Utah license plate. We enjoyed the light and the La Sal mountain range gleaming behind it.
Park 3 was Canyonlands, not too far off from Arches. On an isolated hike, just past the prairie-esque miles of the start of the hike, an infamous conversation occurred at a resting point. Zil: “I think I hear someone on the trail.” Lynni: “Who?” Zil, standing up,: “It’s not someone, it’s rams.” Indeed, there were 3 rams (male big horned sheep) standing there, watching us in the Star Wars-esque landscape (you know the part where they’re in the desert and it’s all white and wind swept). We ran, the rams stayed and all we could talk about for the rest of the hike, despite the gorgeous canyon views below, were the rams.
Onwards, we drove to Capitol Reef. What is most startling about Utah’s national parks is their diversity. Capitol Reef is part of a water pocket fold (I don’t know exactly what this means) but basically it is full of holes scooped out by water freezing and expanding and has striated colors (red purple white green orange). It is incredible. We hiked up to Cassidy’s Arch (after that unsavory character Butch Cassidy perhaps?). The views were insane. There was a rock formation called “Fern’s Nipple.” We were happy that finally someone in the Utah National Park’s Service was being honest. We were again alone on the trail and again, on the way back down we had another ram encounter, making the ram total of the day 6. Lynni also saw three snakes. She shrieked at every one.
We slept that night in Capitol Reef, had dinner at a cute little patio restaurant in Torrey (the town 11 miles away) and enjoyed a deep sleep. The next morning we did a short little hike that included shimmying through a canyon so narrow you had to go sideways.
Machines, we went onward to Bryce. Highway 12 is gorgeous. Everyone told us so. They were right. It was filled with pine trees and amongst the pines, thousands of birch trees–those tall, straight white-barked creatures whose leaves turn gold in the fall. They were beautiful, shining, flapping their leaves like children waving pennies.
Bryce Canyon was crowded, the ranger was not very pleasant, but she gave us excellent advice: go counter clockwise. We did an 8 mile loop called the Fairyland loop and if we had gone clockwise it would have been uphill for much more. We still dropped and gained a fair amount of elevation, had amazing views of the hoodoos (more earth pillars) and were threatened with rain. Around mile 41 of our five day extravanganza we were starting to get tired. We spent some time looking upside down and that gave us energy to go on. We finished in a spectacular 3.5 hours. As the Montessori teacher I work for always says, and as Lynni and I said throughout the entire trip, “Good job!”
From there it was home. I drove us back to lost wages and we encountered Hatch, Utah as well as two rainbows, one on top of the other.
If Central America is 1/10 as beautiful, I will be thrilled.
See my pictures: http://www1.snapfish.com/photolibrary/t_=7988811
Tags: hiking, hoodoos, rams, Travel, utah
ejaeger
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