R2D2 found a bit shorter route on the way to KC that saved some time.  460 miles and I was at John’s house.  We had dinner and a nice evening catching up on things.  John was working today, so I got up with him and made the drive home from KC this morning.  It was odd driving on the interstate again.  So many cars!  I had gotten quite used to my nice empty backroads highways.

Final stats on the trip – 3,866 miles driven, 59 miles hiked, 9 states visited (4 with one step!).  I hope you enjoyed the blog!

Shallow Thoughts to Today:

• Western Kansas has a lot of cows (so does eastern Colorado).  Luckily they have closed ranges, so I didn’t have to worry about cows in the road.
• Central Kansas looks a bit flooded.  Not like the rivers were out of their banks, but there was a lot of standing water in fields.
• I didn’t realize there was as much oil drilling as there was in Kansas.

After spending some time last night recalculating plans, I was on the road by 7:30 this morning. While I hadn’t originally thought about it much, I did stop at Four Corners (the point where Colorado, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico connect) since it was on the way.

After that I stopped at Mesa Verde National Park. I really wasn’t sure what I was going to do or wanted to see there. The park itself was a nice drive up the Mesa with great scenery. Unfortunately, it looked like about half the park must have been burned in a fire a few years ago judging by the dead tree areas. I took the self-guided Mesa Top driving tour.

It was fascinating! I learned a lot about the Anasazi (aka “Ancestral Puebloans”). Mesa Verde is famous for having unearthed homes and villages of the Anasazi. While I hadn’t expected to be that interested, it was a cool visit.

After that, it was time to get driving. I had a long way to go in two days. To save time, I decided to drop the four hour side trip up to Telluride and Ouray. However, I did manage to go over Wolf Creek Pass (10,700 feet) on my drive. It was a beautiful, scenic, mountain drive. The thaw and water run-off created a lot of waterfalls along the way.

I had to make a couple impromptu decisions on my driving path. One that worked out well was using Colorado highway 10 to cut a 70 mile diagonal at one point. I did not see a single car in my lane (easy drive on cruise control) and probably saw less than 20 cars going the other way. After 580 miles driven today, I finally settled down for the night.

Tomorrow – I will drive about 9 hours and spend the night at John Wilkes’ house in KC. Friday morning drive to Omaha and HOME. Final blog for the trip should be posted this weekend.

Shallow Thoughts for Today:

• When I was a teenager, we had a family driving vacation out west and we stopped at Four Corners. I was big into golf at that time, and remember bringing a putter and ball to Four Corners to hit a ricochet shot off a rock so I could say I hit a putt that was so strong it went through four states.
• I also hit a wedge out of the world’s largest sand trap (the desert) and a driver across the biggest water hazard (the Pacific Ocean, okay I was a little short on that one). Thanks Mom & Dad for being understanding!
• The Anasazi built Kivas, which was a spiritual place. One of the stopping points had 3 Kivas built on the same location about 100 years apart from each other. You could see how the architecture evolved over time.
• I am staying at the Cow Palace Inn tonight in Lamar, Colorado. I tell you, life of the road is glamorous!
• I have now driven over 3,000 miles on the trip!

(NOTE – I have a very slow internet connection at this hotel, so I will have to upload Day 12 pictures later).

Kind of a crazy day. Before I explain the headline, let’s start at the beginning…

I checked out of the hotel and was on the road before 9. I was heading east across Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. The scenery started with mostly prairie, but then returned to beautiful painted buttes.

I went past the Glen Canyon Recreation Area. I don’t know a lot about it, but I have the sense it was related to Lake Powell and the water is basically man-diverted. It really looks odd with white sandstone rock formations and blue water. I also saw the Glen Canyon dam, which was rather impressive.

The trip continued past Page, Arizona and I hit some more western prairies and valleys. Then I started seeing the buttes in the distance. A sure sign that Monument Valley was near.

As I turned up the road to Monument Valley, something felt wrong. What looked like a visitor center wasn’t, and the sign said it was 4 miles up the road. A couple miles up, a makeshift entrance stand was there for admission. Unfortunately the booth was on the PASSENGER side. Not good when you are driving solo.

Up the road I went to the visitor center and The View Inn (a hotel near Monument Valley with a great view). Unfortunately, what I found mostly was construction equipment. A makeshift parking lot was there, and when I walked up to find the visitor center I couldn’t and basically the place was completely disorganized. I took a few pictures, but decided Monument Valley was “under construction”. I had planned on taking a $75 Navajo jeep ride into the valley, but the “jeeps” I saw going in looked so touristy I decided just to let Monument Valley go for this trip. Maybe next time.

Undaunted, I decided to move my plans for tomorrow to today. So I continued on to Medicine Hat, Utah and checked into my hotel (“The San Juan Inn”) around 3. I headed up to see Valley of the Gods. It was like a smaller version of Monument Valley. 17 miles of dirt and gravel roads. The Acura hated it, but I enjoyed the valley and it was quite interesting.

Valley of the Gods surprised me by starting on Highway 163 and ending on Highway 261. I thought it was going to be a loop. This was a good thing, because it saved me time. So I turned on to 261. A half mile in, there were warning signs about 3 miles of gravel road, 5 mph turns, and a 10% grade up. What? Did I have the wrong road. I checked with R2D2, and he confirmed this was 261. So on I went.

It was crazy. A highway with a speed limit of 55, suddenly climbs a cliff on a gravel road with a series of switchbacks, with NO guard rails. I meant to find out if it was under construction (no equipment present) or if it had always been that way. Anyway, I made it up and continued on to Natural Bridges National Monument.

There were three natural bridges at the Monument. They were quite like the arches at Arches NP, however, water sometimes flows under them so technically they are classified as bridges. They were big. I took a short hike to the base of the last one.

It was getting close to dark and I still had to deal with going through 261 again. However, at the top of 261 was a sign pointing to Muley Point. That was my last area I planned for tomorrow so off I went. 5 miles of dirt and gravel again. But at the end, the view was incredible. It was extremely windy, and these cliff edges had nothing to stop a person from blowing off. I took a few pictures, enjoyed the view, and headed back to town.

I survived 261 and had dinner at the Swinging Steak. When in Mexican Hat, you have to eat at the Swinging Steak. The steak is cooked over a wood fire on a literally swinging grill. You could smell the wood smoke and the steak cooking. Yum!!!!

Today’s changed plans puts me way ahead on my return trip. I am hoping with some luck to hit KC and visit John Wilkes Thursday night, and get home Friday.

Shallow Thoughts for Today:

• I took four pictures of another rock formation before I realized it wasn’t Battleship Rock. Looking at the pictures now, I feel pretty silly.
• My poor Acura ended up with 33 miles on gravel or dirt roads today. It looks terrible. It will get a nice bath when it gets home.
• Think of Natural Bridges National Monument as an inverted Arches NP. The bridges were in canyons instead of above them. Interesting.
• Remember those signs I wrote about a week ago that said “Open Range – Loose Stock”? Today I found out what that meant (see pictures).
• Interesting observation – calves are afraid of cars, but cows are annoyed by cars. The older cows just gave me dirty looks and wouldn’t move.
• 400 miles today, including the monument trips after I got to Mexican Hat.

After that, I took the Pa’rus trail from the visitor center. The was basically a bike trail (paved) that followed the Virgin River up the canyon. Along the way I stopped at the “Human History Museum” and watched the Zion introductory movie. I also took a river access path to the Virgin River and had an apple and enjoyed watching the current. After that I continued to the end of trail (about 2 miles) and then took the shuttle to Weeping Rock.

Weeping Rock is interesting. The sandstone absorbs water from rains. At Weeping Rock, the water is basically being released. So it creates a wall that drips without requiring rain before or a stream.

After that, I had a late lunch at Blondies up the road in town. It was basically a converted house, but the food and service were good.

I decided at that point to drive back to the East entrance to hit the Canyon Overlook trail I missed on the way in. I took a picture of the Zion Arch on the way. It isn’t really an arch, but is a nice formation as you clear the tunnel and enter the canyon. I had to go back through the long tunnel to get to the trail.

The Canyon Overlook trail was great. It had a little bit of all the trails I had been on. Rocks, a half cave, nice views, some narrow ledges. And at a mile, it would be a great trail for a family to start their vacation on.

The formations on the east side are truly mammoth. You feel like a dwarf around them. I also got another couple pictures of the Checkerboard Mesa that fascinated me when I first saw it.

Tomorrow starts the return trip home. I’m not sure if there will be some interruptions in the blog, because I will not be on the beaten trail and internet access might be harder to find.

Shallow Thoughts for Today:

• Important tip for the kids. When staying at a hotel, when you put the sign on the door, make sure it shows the “Maid Service Requested” side, not the “Do Not Disturb” side. It tends to work better and your room actually gets cleaned.
• I thought on the Watchman trail I would find a Watchmen, like the movie. I was hoping to see Silk Spectre II, but there were no Watchmen anywhere.
• The Zion-Mt. Carmel tunnel (“the long tunnel”) was built in 1930, and at the time the 1.1 mile long tunnel was the longest in the world. See, I actually paid attention during the film at the museum.

I left the hotel around 8:30 and shuttled in to the park. It was in the 40s, so I was in jeans and a jacket (as opposed to yesterday). The hike to Angels Landing starts off fairly flat. I ran into a gentlemen from Golden, Colorado and he and I chatted and the time flew. He had gotten about 50 yards ahead of his party so he stopped and I continued on. Next things turned uphill, and eventually we hit the side of the cliff. A series of steep switchbacks were tiring, but I took a break or two and made it past this part.

At the top of the switchbacks the trail goes down Refrigerator Canyon. That part is relatively flat, and completely shaded, hence the name. After the canyon, a series of switchbacks started again. At that point, Walters Wiggles appeared. It is 21 consecutive switchbacks. I was surprised that they were shorter than I thought and with some effort managed to make it up without stopping.

Near the top of the Wiggles was a resting area – Scout Lookout. 2 miles down, the hard half mile to go. I drank some water and had a granola bar and was ready to go. I could see where Angels Landing was going, and it was mostly straight up. Things had been going very well, so I summoned my courage and started.

I was surprised that the trail wasn’t as narrow or scary as I thought. The “step of faith” was wider than advertised, and I was across it before I even thought about it. I kept my eyes on the trail and didn’t look down. The sense of danger wasn’t really an issue, however, a very steep climb was. I did stop a couple times to rest. But in general the steel chains were there to hold on to at any scary parts and up I went. Finally, I reached the top!

It was a little anticlimactic, but I guess sometimes the fear of something is worse than the thing itself. I had an apple and enjoyed myself on the top of Angels Landings. I probably could have gotten some scarier pictures, but decided it would be a bit foolish at this point to test the edges.

There were 3 other groups at the top, for a total of 11 of us. We decided to kind of “wagon train” down. The trail was getting busier, and passing people is a bit dangerous. Having a big group go by allows people coming up to rest and also lessons the number of passes. The trip down was easier than I thought and in no time I was back at Scout Lookout.

The rest of the trip was a smooth downhill trek and running on adrenaline still I made quick work of it. Overall, it was about 2 hours up, and 1-1 ½ hours down.

I shuttled back to town and was feeling great. For the afternoon I decided to drive to the northwest part of Zion NP – Kolob Canyon. Most people seem to stay in the main canyon near Springdale, but I wanted to see the other part. The drive was 38 files. The scenery was nice with colorful hills and cliffs. Kolob Canyon itself had some large cliffs and was quite scenic. I drove to the end of the scenic drive and did an easy one mile hike to Timber Creek Overlook.

Angels Landing was the highlight of the day and the trip. I’m not sure what is on tap for tomorrow, but I have accomplished my main goal at Zion.

Shallow Thoughts for Today:

• Altitude makes a huge difference in hiking. Zion is around 4000-5000 feet above sea level. Bryce Canyon was 8000-9000 feet. I got tired much quicker at Bryce than at Zion.
• I saw an ostrich farm on the way to Kolob Canyon. I thought about buying one since its head could stick up through the sun roof, but the price was too much.

After a good night’s sleep (I guess the kids checked out!), I was on the road by 9. The drive from Bryce Canyon to Zion is only 85 miles. I drove through Red Canyon and took a picture or two. Yes, it was very red. Then it was a nice drive through a series of valleys, hills, and small towns. I did get sprinkled on from time to time.

Then, Zion National Park kind of exploded around me. Most of the other parks have had a steady change in the landscape as you get to them, but Zion just appeared around a corner. Huge cliffs, massive rock formations. Being a Saturday, things were busy so I wasn’t able to do much stopping on the side of the road, and a hike that had an overlook before the park I had to pass because there was no parking.

Just before the official park entrance is a tunnel that is a little over a mile long. It was interesting driving through it. If you have a wide vehicle (like those rented RVs) you have to arrange for an escort because it won’t fit with oncoming traffic.

I found the Canyon Ranch Motel easily. It is actually about ten cottages. Think of them as mini-duplexes. Getting around the main drive in town (Springdale) and in the canyon part of the park is primarily done by shuttle. There is a shuttle stop right across from the hotel. I shuttled to the park visitor center, and then got the park shuttle for the scenic drive up the canyon.

It was cool when I arrived, mid-50s. It was supposed to warm up to low 60s before possibly raining tonight. Seeing it was sunny, I went with shorts. I had done that in Omaha when it was in the 50s for my walks and it felt fine. Unfortunately, the temperature dropped as opposed to rising, and it was a bit cold. That encouraged me to walk fast!

I hiked the Emerald Pools trails first. They weren’t really that emerald (or full!) but the scenery was nice. I took the long route and ended at the next shuttle stop after about a 3 mile hike. Back on the shuttle and to the Riverwalk trail. It was at the end of the canyon as the canyon narrowed. It was very cold at this point, and I did get a few looks in shorts. I hustled the 2 miles.

On my mind is tomorrow. I was planning on doing the Angels Landing hike, but to be honest there is a little fear in my mind. Take a look at the links in the Blogroll. The first is a general overview, the second is a first hand account of one person overcoming their fear on the trail. At one point, the trail shrinks to 3 feet wide with a 1200 foot drop on one side and a 800 foot drop on the other. There is a chain to hold, but there is a step up at that point called the “step of faith” that some people can’t cross.  Hopefully I will have the nerve to do it!

Shallow Thoughts for Today:

• Speaking of Red Canyon, I hadn’t mentioned before how red the soil is out here. Every day my white hiking socks tend to end up pinkish.
• I saw a hiking guide for the park in French!
• Qu’est dessus assorti à tout le Français ici ? L’Europe n’a-t-elle pas n’importe quoi de pareil ? Je crois qu’il y a un certain type de conspiration. Vraiment, je suspecte quelque chose sinistre.

Hiking first. I took a delightful 3 mile hike. I started at Sunset Point on the Navajo Loop trail. This descended 300 feet down a series of switchbacks. There was one small challenge – it was muddy in spots (no snow!) but I managed. At the bottom were a couple huge trees at the base of the hoodoos. This area was called Wall Street. The hike continued on the bottom of the canyon where there was a lot of trees. Nice walk. Then I connected to the Queens Garden Trail. Lots of hoodoos (see pictures). Eventually that led to the Sunrise Point Trail with more hoodoos. At Sunrise Point, I followed the rim trail back to Sunset Point with a nice view over where I had just been. Overall, a bit over 3 miles. The cool weather made the hike much easier (even the 300 foot climb back up at the end).

I then hit all the overviews I had missed the day before. See pictures. Bryce Point had grottos on the sides of the canyon wall which was a little different. The Natural Bridge overlook had a very large arch (not actually a bridge by definition).

A question could be asked, is Bryce Canyon a “one trick pony”? Looking at the pictures, you see a lot of hoodoos and things start to look similar. The answer is not really. The park itself is mostly a forest, similar to Yellowstone and other national parks. So what else do you do at national parks than hike and take scenic pictures. You picnic!

Yep, I pulled over to an empty picnic area (too cold for most people) and had a late lunch. Sun chips, an apple, a granola bar, and some water. Yum! Yes, it was cold. Yes, it was very windy and my chip bag almost blew away. But yes, it was very enjoyable and I liked my picnic.

Could Bryce Canyon NP have been done in a day? Sure. However, as it works out this is the “halftime” of the trip. Having a lighter day helps heal the body and gets the mind refreshed.

Tomorrow – On to Zion National Park.

Shallow Thoughts for Today:

• I was spoiled at Rustic Inn in Moab. It was a block off main street, so no street noise. Solid walls and quiet neighbors made it very peaceful. At Ruby’s mega-Inn (there are apparently 4-6 different buildings just with rooms) it is different. Thinner walls, MANY more kids. Lots of cars, people coming and going.
• Speaking of kids – parents, do not let you children run up and down halls in a hotel. I wondered what all the screaming, yelling and running was in the (outdoor) hallway late at night and early in the morning. It was a pack of kids from TEN rooms down!!!
• FYI – the people in the room next to me are French.
• Cruiseamerica.com apparently rents RVs. I have seen a number of them. Observation 1 – these people don’t know how to drive. Observation 2 – they ask the ranger at the entrance station 20 questions for 10 minutes instead of going into the Visitor Center. I cringe whenever I see one of these vehicles.
• On the 300 foot descent starting Navajo Loop, there were 30-40 people there. They were ALL speaking French. I am not making this up!!! I did manage some Bonjour’s and Pardonnez Moi’s.
• One other note. Apparently my brother turned me in. I received notes from both wordpress.com and the Utah Department of Decency regarding the pictures of my unshaven face. They were deemed indecent and I had to remove them. I will instead include a nice picture of me from this morning.

Wow! Sensory overload! Too many sights, too much incredible scenery. But let me start at the beginning of today.

I was checked out of the hotel, fueled up, and on the road by 8. The first 50 miles were basically backtracking to the interstate and driving a little west, so nothing exciting there. Then I got on Utah highway 24. It was pretty, but mostly flat prairie to start. The stray butte or mountain in the distance was nice.

About 100 miles into the drive, suddenly it was back to rock formations, canyons and other great scenery. “Swivel head” time. Then I was barraged by all types of shapes, patterns, textures, sizes and colors of the countryside. Black, brown, red, orange, yellow, green, purple, white were mixed in combinations and layers. Rocks were next to sand piles. It was wild! What was God thinking when he put this together? Every time I turned a corner something new and different was there and all I could do was to utter “Say WHAT!” over and over. It was fabulous.

After that, a sign said “Scenic views next 14 miles”. Are you kidding? Actually it was pretty, but not quite as wild as what I had just gone through.

I rolled into Capitol Reef National Park and took the scenic drive. It was 10 miles and quite nice. In the early part of the park, there was a pretty, large, well maintained camp site. While you would be around other people, it was very well taken care of.

Next I entered Dixie National Forest. Trees! It had been a while since I saw that many trees. There was also snow on the ground in places (more on that topic later). I stopped at the Larb Hollow overlook (who couldn’t with a name like that) and took some pictures. The summit (Boulder Mountain) was at about 9,600 feet.

I started heading back down, and here was the Utah scenery again. But this time, it was different, It was called the Hogsback region. Hard to describe, you will have to look at the pictures.

Eventually, with my senses overloaded, I got to Ruby’s Inn at Bryce Canyon. It was about 280 miles of driving and I arrived around 2:30. I hadn’t realized that Ruby’s was a mega-Inn. Stores, gas station, laundromat, liquor store, about anything you could imagine is here.

I went into Bryce Canyon NP to get a quick feel for it. I drove to the end and did a one-mile hike at 9,100 feet. It was called the Bristlecone Trail and had snow over 75% of the trail. A couple times I plunged up to my knee in snow, but eventually figured out the solid parts of the trail and made it through. Quite a difference from yesterday and dieing in the heat!

I stopped at a few overlooks and they were fabulous. Bryce Canyon has “hoodoos”. They are tall colorful (kind of orange, pink and white) rock formations. I decided to leave more hiking and some of the better overlooks for tomorrow.

Shallow Thoughts for Today:

• I really thought about skipping the words today and only having pictures. They really speak for themselves.
• The French and Germans followed me here. Actually a van of four Germans followed me to four different lookouts before I gave them the slip!
• In Moab, the internet signal in my room was bad, so each night I went down to the lobby and uploaded the blog. At Ruby’s, the internet signal is solid, but I cannot get a phone signal. No bars, do you hear that AT&T!

The alarm (yes, I cheated and set the alarm) went off at 6 and I am ready to go. It’s a 75 mile drive to Canyonlands National Park. The drive was beautiful. I drove through canyons, in valleys surrounded by buttes and cliffs, and overall enjoyed the ride. Unfortunately, I didn’t get many pictures. I arrived shortly before 8. Once again, it was the honor system at the entrance.

To get to the trailhead I wanted, I had to eventually drive on a gravel road for about 3 miles. The Acura cried the whole way, but we made it. So I hit the trail at 8:30 with the temperature in the upper 40s.

Okay, this is dumb but this isn’t the idiot part. I missed the very first turn on the trail, and then found two “fake” cairns, so I went about 50 yards off track into a dead end. After being baffled for about 5 minutes and looking around, I retraced my steps and realized what happened. The fake cairns were funny, but wrong. Kids, don’t do this!

I got on the trail and was cruising. I ran into a gentlemen in his late 50s, Dave from Detroit. He and I chatted as we walked and in no time we were at the 3 mile point. The trail was beautiful. Up, down, and around the Needles. There was even a narrow section between two Needles. Beautiful! Now here is the crucial decision. I could call it good and head back, or add the 5 ½ mile Joint trail loop and then retrace the 3 miles. I was feeling good, the foot felt okay, so on I went (Dave stopped at that point).

Around the 5 mile point, there was a fabulous part. I descended rock steps to a 4 foot wide crack in the rocks. It was almost like a tunnel. This went about 300 yards, and then right before the exit there was a room with dozens of cairns (those little rock piles to mark the trail). Cool! So on I go.

Here we go. At about the 7 mile point, I physically hit “the wall”. No, not the foot, I was just out of energy. Uh oh! I played my trump card and ate an apple I brought. That gave me energy for another mile. Then the “hike” became a “trudge”. About a mile later, I was down to a “stagger”. It wasn’t looking good but at least I was back on the original trail. Then I hit the “stumble” phase. I remembered the trail started uphill, so this meant I could at least roll to the end! Finally I saw the parking lot and managed to crash on the trunk.

It was 2:30, so that was 6 hours and 11.5 miles on the trail. It was now in the upper 80s. After somehow reviving, I managed to drive home, limp up to my room, and crashed on the bed.

Tomorrow – Heading to Bryce Canyon National Park. Leisurely drive to include a scenic drive through Capitol Reef National Park, and also see things on scenic byway 12 (see the link in the link list).

Shallow Thoughts for Today:

• In case you are a Utah geography expert, you may have realized that to get to Canyonlands you have to drive within 12 miles of Monticello, UT. I am planning on staying in Monticello in a week. You may ask why I didn’t just visit Needles at that time? One word – “flow”. As I was putting the trip together, I got locked into a path, and Needles was now, not later. Just because it made a better “flow”.
• Lizards like to play “King of the Cairns”. Many cairns would have a lizard sitting on the top. They seemed happy.
• By the end of the hike, I decided I hated rocks, and that someone placed all these here to torment me. I almost hate rocks as much as tomatoes (which are evil)!
• New rule – no hikes beyond 6 miles in length!
• I had dinner last night and tonight at the Moab Diner.  Very meat and potatoes, but the service was good, the food was fine, and the price was right.

Back to today. I did the Fiery Furnace guided tour. Fiery Furnace is a section of Arches NP that is dozens/hundreds of huge rock fins that form a sort of maze. You need a special permit to hike there, or a tour like this. There were about 30 of us in the group. Our park ranger did a good job of telling us about the Furnace, the plants, the formations, the small animals, and was quite enthusiastic. A little preachy about the ecosystem, but that is the park service.

The tour was fun. It went kind of slow since it was a big group. Many sections were quite narrow for a “mature bodied” person such as myself, but I made it through. Since these were basically narrow canyons, R2D2 freaked out so I had to give him a timeout for the tour. There were some arches in the Furnace that were neat to see.

The people in the group were interesting. Jeff Goldblum was there. No, not the real Jeff Goldblum, but a guy who kind of looked and talked like him. Jeff Goldblum never asked questions, he just made statements. Jeff Goldblum was annoying. There were a few Germans in the group, but the French must have been hiding. A couple nature people were there, and they had books and looked up every plant or bird we saw. Talkative group, which I’m sure made it enjoyable for our ranger. I thought about quickly running to Whale Rock and solitude again!

After that, I hit the Sand Dune arch and Broken arch trail. Sand Dune Arch was hidden in some rock fins and the ground was like sand to get to it. Broken Arch was a large arch that looked broken from a distance, but wasn’t when you got up close. Short trail, about a mile and a half total.

So, I was done with Arches National Park. I had seen almost all the major arches in the park. Relaxing tonight. Planning on hitting the Moab Diner for some good old steak and potatoes for dinner. Then an early evening. Tomorrow is Canyonlands, Needles section. It is an hour and a half drive, and is mostly long trails. I think my foot will be up to more hiking tomorrow.

Shallow Thoughts for Today:

• It got up to the low 80’s today in Moab. I’m a wimp and liked the colder weather better.
• At Sand Dune arch, a family of five had brought sand buckets and shovels and were treating the area like a beach. The dirt was like sand and the kids were happy. Good thinking, parents!
• Remember that I said Wall Arch fell a few years ago? I found out today it was actually last year. I think Kyle was out of town at the same time. I’m just saying…
• I did some looking in town for souvenirs. Cait, Hayden have you been good for your Mother? Jan, have you been good with the kids?
• I took Day 1 pictures down. I was trying to save Flickr room before I realized it didn’t matter. I should be fine on space now after upgrading.
• Because of all the “feedback” on my picture, I am now going to post the alternate picture I didn’t post!!!  Take that! (Picture deleted by Eric)