...and tomorrow we shall adventure across the canyon lands of Utah.
We'll put to sight the words that Edward Abbey imprinted in our minds from which before we used only our imaginations of what these lands must look like.
We'll hike across slickrock and red desert sandwhere lizards will dart below our feet so fast they'll never meet the crushing force of a foot. We'll marvel at these lizards at first, stopping for every one that sunbathes on a bare rock to photograph it;
Now we become entranced with something new, Potholes.
The seemingly ordinary small puddles of water harbor micro life. I sit next to one and peer closely waiting for Jesse to catch up. A snail I spot!
A closer look reveals quite a number of snails. Jesse's excitement for the pothole life exceeds mine. He kneels at each one looking for life.
No other ones have snails so this pothole becomes out of the ordinary and thus extraordinary. There are many small worms swimming through out the others. We spot a mountain dew can tossed off trail and carry the half empty can out to the next trash can we come across. This is the first litter I've seen. I think this is because the pothole trail is possibly the easiest hike in the area. The harder trails are usually taken by more experienced hikers who are aware of leave no trace principles. The fault is in the lack of education. The unawareness of the fragility of life that exists in the pothole landscape. I believe whoever left the can there would've acted differently if they were more informed.
We'll see the Colorado River in various locations throughout our drive and hikes.
This wild raging river as Johnny Cash sings in 'You Wild Colorado.'
We will see the Colorado River merge with the Green River at the Confluence.
A special place to see.
I wish we had more time to sit and take in this view. We must make it back before dark though. Time doesn't wait which is what makes it valuable.
We'll pull in late to the campground after a long hardy day of hiking and cook in the twilight evening with a kerosene lamp that attracts the buzzing insects. How many insects do you think we'll eat this meal? It doesn't matter. The bats are having a feast though once we've cleaned up and left only the lamp alight. They swoop in and away quickly. Swoosh Swoosh. Did you see that? Jesse ushers me over. I amble over from the outhouse. I miss the first few until my eyes adjust and then I see a swish too.
We will hike through the Needles District of Canyonlands, a landscape of nature made skyscrapers. As we hiked on trails in previous days we could see these features from afar and you pointed them out to me telling me how we'll be walking within them in a few days, your enthusiasm adding to my anticipation.
They look so far away, but then in a few miles there we are, within them. No architectural plans were drawn for them. No time was spent planning their every curve or point or angular degrees, length width and height. They are wildly born and freely existing, ever reliant on the mother nature that created them to sustain and protect them from the unpredictable weathers of time.
The subtle to dramatic changes of each area we traverse never cease to amaze me and I stand at this outlook and pause to take it in. The linear striations are so different from the smooth slick rock we walked on previously. I run my hand along the walls.
We'll see the characteristic trees of these lands that interestingly have uses in food, such as the Juniper tree. It's berries have been processed for use as a gin flavoring.
The other popular tree, the Pinyon Pine, grows an important ingredient in one of my favorite sauces, Pesto! It is a bit early in the year for the pine nuts to be developed though.
We'll see many desert flowers that are new to my eyes. The Claret Cup is the most eye catching of all
with a hue that burns a brilliant red.
The first flower you taught me of the western landscape, the wonderful indian paintbrush,
sets itself perfectly positioned against a backdrop of rocks. How do they know the perfect place to sit?
The wildflowers are always singular, coupled or in a small group. There is never a large mass of flowers. They are not overcrowded. They stretch in the open space and bloom freely without visible competition.
Bare trees will wave their arms in all directions seemingly in a scream for help to relieve their thirst from the dry air.
We'll drive up north to the famed arches the following day. We've planned a whole day to fit everything in. Civilized time constraints. Not quite the same Abbey experience of living the unencumbered life in the backcountry. But we will see this arch nonetheless.
We enter the park and along the drive there are various arches, too many to count. Most are only a short walk away from the car. The main trails are heavily footed with buses flooding parking lots and tourists snapping photos. Windows arch features a busload of tourists carrying Subway lunch boxes.
Pothole arch is almost the tiniest arch I've seen.
We venture on down to the very end of the road of ANP ending up at the gateway to Devil's Garden. Here we will take one of the more difficult hikes of the park. At one of the campgrounds we stay at we are told of a man who had come here at nighttime for sunset and became lost. He was eventually rescued at 1 am in the morning. This will make me second guess if we should do this trail. There is plenty of warning that this is difficult hiking. Jesse is as always optimistic so we of course will do this hike.
We will start off on a nicely groomed pathway with features such as Landscape Arch
where the trail will start to go on to a more primitive route. We will go up and down and hoist up on seemingly unclimbable large rocks. Is that the trail? Are you sure?
Are those people all the way up there? hmmm
We take a side trail to one of my favorite views thus far. Partition Arch. I keep calling it Primitive Arch and for some reason can't remember the word Partition. I repeat the word a few times until it is ingrained.
When a window or arch is approached the excitement exists in the view you'll see through and beyond. What will there be? We leave Primitive Arch and soon thereafter arrive at ...
Double O Arch.
A beautiful scene where a raven flies above.
We're not done yet. We are only still arriving to the hard parts. We hike on.
Ravens abound and fly freely.
The trail continues in this way until we reach the main path again.
We make it back satisfied with the many arches we've seen already, but there is still one more we need to view.
We head on over to the Delicate Arch parking lot. It is busy, but not overwhelming. We find a nice place to park that allows us to heat up some quick leftovers for dinner. Pizza from Moab. I am a bit disappointed in the garlic knots, but the pizza passes pretty well in my hungry belly. We gobble it up and rest for a few minutes at the back of the truck before starting the last of the many hikes we were fortunate to get to do today. All of a sudden we feel the car lurch. What was that? Jesse shoots up and sees a car has backed into us. Oh my. An older man gets out of the vehicle and immediately apologizes. He then asks if Jesse can back up his car for him into the parking space beside ours. Jesse seems a bit surprised at the request, but he parks the car perfectly. Vlad is an italian man visiting the states from Venice. He talks to us genially in a strong italian accent and gestures widely with his hands giving Jesse a friendly attaboy knock to the cheek. His mannerisms remind me of my grandfather and thus I warm to him more so. He plans to wait in the car while his wife hikes the trail. It is only a small unnoticeable dent that is left and Jesse lets it go. In exchange, Vlad offers us a place to stay if we ever come to Italy and gives us his email address. I wonder how many times he's invited people who's cars he has hit and if his wife knows. Jesse and I plan to take him up on this.
We go on and begin our last hike.
We go up a steady incline of slick rock on the way to Delicate Arch. We keep going and going and going up....not a long 1.5 miles away....
Reaching a narrow bend we turn the corner...
And there it is.
It stands much taller than I've ever imagined. It's magnificence is hard to grasp from the pages of a book or a photograph on the internet. It surprised me still despite all I've heard of it. The wind roars strong here and I keep having to swipe my hair out of my eyes. A hat blows off a gentleman not once, but twice. A younger chap volunteers to go after it and succeeds. Professional photographers ready their tripods awaiting the soon to be sunset. We sit and bask in the view for a half hour then set out again. We pass a young girl coming up the steady incline who doesn't hide her feelings on the difficulty of the climb up. I chuckle to myself remembering the climb as well and glad to be on the other side coming down. This Delicate Arch that so many travel so far to see, that Edward Abbey described in his book 'Desert Solitaire' is a view that doesn't need words, but only a trip to see for oneself.
“A weird, lovely, fantastic object out of nature like Delicate Arch has the curious ability to remind us - like rock and sunlight and wind and wildflowers - that out there is a different world, older and greater and deeper by far than ours, a world which sustains the little world of man as sea and sky surround and sustain a ship. For a little while we are again able to see, as the child sees, a world of marvels. For a few moments we discover that nothing can be taken for granted, for if this ring of stone is marvelous, then all which shaped it is marvelous, and our journey here on Earth, able to see and touch and hear in the midst of tangible and mysterious things-in-themselves, is the most strange and daring of all adventures.”
We'll drive back home the next day, already planning our next trip back.
This is what we'll do when we go to Utah.
The seemingly ordinary small puddles of water harbor micro life. I sit next to one and peer closely waiting for Jesse to catch up. A snail I spot!
A closer look reveals quite a number of snails. Jesse's excitement for the pothole life exceeds mine. He kneels at each one looking for life.
No other ones have snails so this pothole becomes out of the ordinary and thus extraordinary. There are many small worms swimming through out the others. We spot a mountain dew can tossed off trail and carry the half empty can out to the next trash can we come across. This is the first litter I've seen. I think this is because the pothole trail is possibly the easiest hike in the area. The harder trails are usually taken by more experienced hikers who are aware of leave no trace principles. The fault is in the lack of education. The unawareness of the fragility of life that exists in the pothole landscape. I believe whoever left the can there would've acted differently if they were more informed.
This wild raging river as Johnny Cash sings in 'You Wild Colorado.'
"...Oh you wild raging river from the fountains of the mountainsThe river doesn't seem wild or raging to me, but I have not seen it in it's entirety. It is peaceful and calm, unmoving today. Nature knows that temperaments change and maybe today the river doesn't want to show me this facet of it's personality.
You ripple down the valleys growing wide and swift and deep
With what power you cut your canyons how long ago..."
We will see the Colorado River merge with the Green River at the Confluence.
A special place to see.
We'll pull in late to the campground after a long hardy day of hiking and cook in the twilight evening with a kerosene lamp that attracts the buzzing insects. How many insects do you think we'll eat this meal? It doesn't matter. The bats are having a feast though once we've cleaned up and left only the lamp alight. They swoop in and away quickly. Swoosh Swoosh. Did you see that? Jesse ushers me over. I amble over from the outhouse. I miss the first few until my eyes adjust and then I see a swish too.
We will hike through the Needles District of Canyonlands, a landscape of nature made skyscrapers. As we hiked on trails in previous days we could see these features from afar and you pointed them out to me telling me how we'll be walking within them in a few days, your enthusiasm adding to my anticipation.
They look so far away, but then in a few miles there we are, within them. No architectural plans were drawn for them. No time was spent planning their every curve or point or angular degrees, length width and height. They are wildly born and freely existing, ever reliant on the mother nature that created them to sustain and protect them from the unpredictable weathers of time.
The subtle to dramatic changes of each area we traverse never cease to amaze me and I stand at this outlook and pause to take it in. The linear striations are so different from the smooth slick rock we walked on previously. I run my hand along the walls.
The other popular tree, the Pinyon Pine, grows an important ingredient in one of my favorite sauces, Pesto! It is a bit early in the year for the pine nuts to be developed though.
We'll see many desert flowers that are new to my eyes. The Claret Cup is the most eye catching of all
The first flower you taught me of the western landscape, the wonderful indian paintbrush,
The wildflowers are always singular, coupled or in a small group. There is never a large mass of flowers. They are not overcrowded. They stretch in the open space and bloom freely without visible competition.
Bare trees will wave their arms in all directions seemingly in a scream for help to relieve their thirst from the dry air.We'll drive up north to the famed arches the following day. We've planned a whole day to fit everything in. Civilized time constraints. Not quite the same Abbey experience of living the unencumbered life in the backcountry. But we will see this arch nonetheless.
The back view is a more secluded view point.
We will start off on a nicely groomed pathway with features such as Landscape Arch
where the trail will start to go on to a more primitive route. We will go up and down and hoist up on seemingly unclimbable large rocks. Is that the trail? Are you sure?
Are those people all the way up there? hmmm
Moments later we become one of them looking down on those about to come up. Let's rest here. Pictures are a good excuse for resting.
When a window or arch is approached the excitement exists in the view you'll see through and beyond. What will there be? We leave Primitive Arch and soon thereafter arrive at ...
Double O Arch.
A beautiful scene where a raven flies above.We're not done yet. We are only still arriving to the hard parts. We hike on.
Ravens abound and fly freely.
There are a few difficult spots to cross. A few spots that one can easily be thrown off track in the wrong direction. A husband easily jumps across a crevice to the opposing rock aside a gaping hole. I'm not doing that she says. A wife sits down and carefully slides across the rock on her butt.
A turn here. Two small groups ahead of us miss the turn. They see us atop the rock and laugh aloud at the missed cairn. Glad to have spotted us and not to be lost in the maze of rocks.
The trail continues in this way until we reach the main path again.
We make it back satisfied with the many arches we've seen already, but there is still one more we need to view.
We head on over to the Delicate Arch parking lot. It is busy, but not overwhelming. We find a nice place to park that allows us to heat up some quick leftovers for dinner. Pizza from Moab. I am a bit disappointed in the garlic knots, but the pizza passes pretty well in my hungry belly. We gobble it up and rest for a few minutes at the back of the truck before starting the last of the many hikes we were fortunate to get to do today. All of a sudden we feel the car lurch. What was that? Jesse shoots up and sees a car has backed into us. Oh my. An older man gets out of the vehicle and immediately apologizes. He then asks if Jesse can back up his car for him into the parking space beside ours. Jesse seems a bit surprised at the request, but he parks the car perfectly. Vlad is an italian man visiting the states from Venice. He talks to us genially in a strong italian accent and gestures widely with his hands giving Jesse a friendly attaboy knock to the cheek. His mannerisms remind me of my grandfather and thus I warm to him more so. He plans to wait in the car while his wife hikes the trail. It is only a small unnoticeable dent that is left and Jesse lets it go. In exchange, Vlad offers us a place to stay if we ever come to Italy and gives us his email address. I wonder how many times he's invited people who's cars he has hit and if his wife knows. Jesse and I plan to take him up on this.
We go on and begin our last hike.
We go up a steady incline of slick rock on the way to Delicate Arch. We keep going and going and going up....not a long 1.5 miles away....
Reaching a narrow bend we turn the corner...
And there it is.
“A weird, lovely, fantastic object out of nature like Delicate Arch has the curious ability to remind us - like rock and sunlight and wind and wildflowers - that out there is a different world, older and greater and deeper by far than ours, a world which sustains the little world of man as sea and sky surround and sustain a ship. For a little while we are again able to see, as the child sees, a world of marvels. For a few moments we discover that nothing can be taken for granted, for if this ring of stone is marvelous, then all which shaped it is marvelous, and our journey here on Earth, able to see and touch and hear in the midst of tangible and mysterious things-in-themselves, is the most strange and daring of all adventures.”
We'll drive back home the next day, already planning our next trip back.
This is what we'll do when we go to Utah.
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