I’m on day 29 in the state of Utah…who’da thunk I’d be here this long? I expect to leave Moab on Wednesday, day 31and then leave the state on Thursday, day 32. It boggles my mind…I’ve been on the road for two months and half of it has been in Utah. Don’t get me wrong…I’ve truly enjoyed the state, from Antelope Island right on through to Moab, and I’m pretty sure I’ll enjoy Goosenecks State Park on my way to Arizona. But it is a good chunk of time. After six nights in Canyonland, two in an RV park in town, and two at the Devil’s Garden campground in Arches I’ll have my two week follow-up to surgery appointment on Wednesday and move on.
Canyonlands and Arches have vastly different terrains, both spectacular. I’ve been able to do quite a few hikes, albeit fairly short ones. After I arrived at Arches I took my longest hike since my fall (other than on paved trails), maybe 3.5 miles, which included views of the Landscape, Tunnel and Pine Tree Arches in Devil’s Garden and a slog through deep sand in between two columns of fins. Fins emerged millions of years ago from underground pressure. Water then does its thing, creating space between the earth that’s emerging, and then erosion carries on reshaping it further, sometimes hollowing it out to create these arches (my apologies to the scientists who are cringing at my simplified explanation). They won’t remain forever – some have already collapsed and surely more will…how I wish we had time travel so I could come back in 100,000, 500,000, a million years to see how it looks then. Or maybe I’ve got a better shot if I can find my way onto a different timeline or parallel universe. This notion, of course, raises so many questions about time travel. Say I was able to jump to another timeline…would it be 2025? Could I jump to one a hundred thousand years out, i.e. year 102,025. What would that year be called? Ten twenty twenty-five? 900,000 PCC (post climate collapse)?
In Canyonlands I stayed at the Islands in the Sky district, the least remote and easiest to navigate of the four districts – The Needles, The Maze and The Rivers are the other three. Most people there are exploring from the mesa, looking down into a vast, sometimes squiggly canyon about 1000 – 1500 feet below. I stopped at quite few pull-outs to see the different views and hit three of the trails designated as easy. They were and I enjoyed them but was bummed out that I couldn’t do the moderate trails which usually involved scrambling. I love scrambling and every once in a while get mad that I’m missing out…if only I’d worn different shoes, if only I used my walking sticks, if only I had gone right instead of left. (I often quiet that type of negative and unproductive thinking by considering that I don’t know what might have happened instead and it could have been worse!) The campground, Willow Flat, is 1/10th of a mile from the Green River Overlook and that made for a nice stroll at different times of day to observe the effects of the sunlight and to watch the sun set. I was there during November’s supermoon, which was fun to watch as it rose but the illumination made stargazing less rewarding than it might have been. I also drove to Dead Horse Point State Park, not too far from the Canyonlands entrance, and hiked the East Rim Trail for yet another view of the terrain. Just like Mt. Rainier, the beauty and wonder of Utah never got old!
Addendum from Arizona
I hit the road at 9:30 this morning in order to get to my tour of the upper Antelope Canyon in Page, AZ. The slot canyon (and several others) are on Navajo land and access is only through a tour. Five Native owned companies offer the tours and are carefully coordinated to avoid crowds inside the canyon. I went with Tse Bighanlini and thoroughly enjoyed it. We were a group of seven and the guide provided terrific explanations and instructions on getting great photos. He actually took many photos with our phones, producing interesting outcomes that not only showed the canyon, but also images resulting from the interplay of lighting, shadows and the physical structures.
After the tour I found my way to the Beehives Campground, where I’m paying $7 for my spot. I have the senior lifetime pass (for which I paid $80) and which gets me into national parks at no cost and half price on federal campgrounds. It’s a fabulous benefit of age! Tomorrow I’ll head south, stopping at Horseshoe Bend in Page, Flagstaff and maybe Sedona before I arrive at my sister and brother-in-law’s house in Goodyear, AZ.
My wrist is healing well, although I have to admit that looking at the X-ray with a fairly large plate in my arm was a tad unnerving. In a month I’ll see an orthopedist somewhere in Texas and should be back on my bike soon after. If you happen to know of an orthopedist in San Antonio, Austin or Dallas please let me know!
Karen in the Gap 
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