Dead Horse Point

Today I was awakened at 0700 by my phone. Wes sent a text, “Are you up?” I thought for sure it meant something bad had happened overnight. I mean why else do you text that? Was it a tornado? Missing roof? House flooded? I jumped up, responded yes, and then got pissy mad when nothing bad had happened. He was just ready to start the day. I stayed up late reading last night, and I could have really slept another two hours. 

So all that to say we were up at the crack of dawn. We returned to Arches since we missed Double Arches yesterday during the pop up snow storm. Because it was so early, few people had made it this far into the park. 

From here we drove to the state park Dead Horse Point, a park not on my radar when I planned the trip, but we had the time so thought why not. I’m so glad we did. It was stunning! The legend says the point at the edge of the mesa was used as a natural corral for horses until one day the men had to leave and couldn’t take all of the horses with them. They left the weaker horses who eventually died of thirst. Ironically, the horses could see The Colorado River below them, but they had no way to get to it.

This was Utah’s little known version of Horseshoe Bend in Arizona. We hiked almost six miles today along the rim of the mesa. It was an easy hike with just a little wind. A few snowflakes threatened to ruin the day, but it was quick lived. 

Tomorrow we start the return trip home with a six hour drive back to Vegas. I’m ready for home. For warm weather. My boys. My bed. The gym. 

Arches

Today we explored park number five, the last of the Utah National parks affectionately known as The Mighty Five. We slept in, cooked breakfast, and made our way to the entrance for our timed entry. I was excited to have mild weather and no wind! 

We made it to our first stop, Balanced Rock, where we learned the top piece weighs more than 3,500 tons. 

We had a couple of great hikes, saw our first arch, and were super happy to not be freezing. 

A passer-by mentioned that his trip had to be modified due to white out conditions at Bryce. We were so relieved we didn’t have to skip a park and wondered how we always tend to avoid, knock on wood, extreme weather conditions with our planned itineraries. We trekked on to see The Windows. 

Then out of no where big, wet snowflakes started falling! We couldn’t get wet and cold, so we tried waiting it out in the car while eating lunch. However, the snowfall picked up and started coming down even harder. We decided to drive to the bottom of the mountain and check in with a park ranger. Snow was not in the forecast; but white out conditions weren’t in Bryce’s forecast either. We got to the bottom of the mountain and the sun was shining! So we turned around and headed back up to catch a few more arches. 

We were able to see about a dozen of the 2000 catalogued in the park. We were at the back of the park on a hike to see the most fragile of arches when ice pellets started falling. These things stung hitting my face! We got the obligatory pic and raced the mile back to the car. 

Sure enough! The sun came out just as we reached the car! 

We hiked about 11 miles today. We had pizza for dinner; I did girl math and calculated the calories I didn’t burn hiking, I burned shivering the last half hour of the hike.

Canyonlands

We woke up to snow flurries. I have no idea what happened to those predicted temps in the 60s. Wes even asked me before we left how many pairs of shorts he should pack. 

We bought breakfast at a gas station because low season means nothing is opened in the backcountry. But lucky for me, any gas station near a national park caters to the granolas who eat trail mix, yogurt, and protein. I found my Chobani and Muenster cheese with no problem. 

Before we left the hotel in Torrey this morning, I had to stop back by the park at The Gifford house for their famous pie. They were sold out yesterday, and after missing the lemon cookies I wanted to buy at the monestary in Madrid, I told Wes I had to have the pie. It was good but not great. I’m not sure it was worth the hype. But I ate it and pretended it was a lemon cookie made with love by nuns in Madrid.

We drove a couple of hours east and made it to park #4, the Canyonlands. The pictures don’t do the vastness of the canyons justice.

We drove the scenic drive stopping when our online commentator suggested we take a look. One of the first stops was to The Arch. This had nothing on the arch we hiked, scrambled in Sedona, but we took the obligatory picture just the same.

We also hiked three smaller hikes for a total of six miles. I could have done another hike or two if it wasn’t snowing again in late afternoon. 

One more park to go. Two days to explore it. We are sleeping in tomorrow, making breakfast in the condo, and then hoping the moisture doesn’t switch over to snow.

Capitol Reef

Waking up in my yurt to fresh snow was not on my spring break bingo card. I wish it were an April Fool’s joke. 

Our park of the day was Capitol Reef; we took highway 12, one of the most scenic drives in America, through Escalante National Monument. We had breakfast in Escalante in an organic restaurant where every item was made by hand and/or without preservatives. I was not able to purchase my morning diet Dr Pepper. They also had free roaming dogs walking admist the tables looking for hand-outs. If my flaky, buttery biscuit hasn’t been so damn good, I might have left. 

We reached Capitol Reef and drove through Fruita, the Mormon settlement, and down the scenic highway. We stopped midway to hike the four mile trail through The Gorge. The wind was so strong it was blowing me off of the path. It was miserably cold standing still, so I had to walk quickly to warm up. 

I care to hear no more about rock layers, rock formations, or rock colors. I’m over the rocks and geology lessons. I’m over the intense 49 mph winds, too. 

We hit one last short trail upon exiting the park to get a panoramic view of the gorge. I climbed to the viewpoint and then turned around for the car. The wind was vicious standing so high up. 

Would you believe the snow has followed us? Another “dusting”, which is an inch or two in Utah, is forecasted this evening. My friends’ spring break pics of the beach are looking mighty nice right now.