July 1, 2004 - Moscow, ID (Arches National Park, UT--3 & Canyonlands, N.P.)

We're now sitting at the fairgrounds with a bunch of the Life On Wheels staff getting reacquainted with some and meeting others for the first time.  This is our first time as part of the staff (volunteer parking crew), so we're sort of wide-eyed most the time.  We'll move to the campus of the University of Idaho on Monday it sounds like.  So, in the meantime, I'll be hammering the keyboard trying to get the southern Utah stuff posted.

The little squirrel made it over to visit Barb just fine, and then went to investigate my headgear and hat.  And Barb had enough ambition to scramble up higher than me (that little white dot  in the lower left of the right photo is me peering out the lower "O") to get a shot of both holes at the same time.

I'm not really getting ready to be a Matador, I'm just drying off my headgear--there's a lot of sweating going on don't ya know!.  There was a nice cool breeze blowing through this shady area, and we were a bit reluctant to leave.  Our hiking in this area amounted to about 6-7 miles.  Great exercise!

The "kids" on the trail didn't have near the challenge us old fogies had in climbing up and sliding down the slope to get on the shady side, but it was worth it.  The view was great, with all kinds of textures to enjoy.  The bald head on the left is` Dave.

The "fin" that is our trail out of here, so we got up there once again.

We weren't alone up here by any means.  And then on the way to the Navajo Arch, we found a new kind of graffiti.  Lots of it.  And we loved it!

Clever little cairns built in the many holes in the rock, and then a bunch of them all built on a flat rock nearby.

Some were pretty clever and looked like it took some time to build.  The arch particularly pleased us.  Usually man-made stuff around the natural beauty tends to irritate me, but in this case it was just the opposite--quite delightful!

We did a fair amount of shade sitting when we could.  And under these arches it was always cooler than other shade sources we found.

Gee, no wonder we saw other people on the trails!  A couple of shots of the parking lot at the trailhead.

Next day we drove into Canyondlands National Park.  Not to do any hiking, but just to look around (needed to recover from prior hike).  Had no idea what to expect at this point, but figured there would be more red rocks.  And there were some, but mostly a lot of canyons.  DUH!

And what's with the Balanced Rock thing, anyway?  See?  Even an old guy like me can do it.  And then John wondered what was down this road, so we did a little off-roading.

Why is it that the doing of a thing is more exciting than the picture of it would show?  But we keep trying anyway.

The Raven was enjoying the view, and not about to let a bunch of tourists disturb him, either.  Barb's standing by the Mesa Arch Trail, which we did take (aw, it was just a short hike), while John waited for us in the car.

We're actually working our way down slowly (knee giving me fits) to that arch in the distance.  And, of course, we made it, and the view was well worth it.  The climb back up was easier, actually, than going down.  Stupid knee.

The etching of the erosion takes different patterns wherever we go.  The simplistic view of all we've been looking at here in southern Utah is the effect of water on dirt & rocks.  The broader view (which we prefer) is that the beauty of God's creation is endless, not to mention spectacular!

The contrast in these 4 pictures is just a tiny example of the differences we've been enjoying throughout these different national parks.

We could actually see the Green River down there, too.  John had done a scouting trip of this area for us while we were doing the Devils Garden trip, so we knew which overlooks to stop at and take time to enjoy.

We opted for the 300 ft overlook rather than the 1 mile rim walk.  Figured we'd better leave something to come back to.  Actually, we left lots.

So we left the Canyonlands knowing that someday we'd like to come back, do some driving around on some of those unpaved roads (being VERY careful with the switchback so close to the edge--see photo), and lots of hiking.  That's Barb, of course, sitting up there where the red and white are joined.