On the good advice from Scott Rouse, we headed to Arches National Park in Utah to enjoy some hot, dry weather after our cool Colorado nights. We camped about two hours from the park the night before to ensure we would arrive early enough in the morning to claim a coveted tent camping space in the park. Our site was by far the sweetest campsite either of us have stayed at.
We prepared for a hike after setting up camp, but were sidetracked by two chatty fellow campers that couldn't take the hint that we wanted to go. After about 30 minutes of shooting the shit, we went off on a hike of Delicate Arch in the park. Mayor McCheese was there to explain the formation of the arches (an endeavor he took on shortly after the success of McDonald's, otherwise known as the "Golden Arches".
The park used to be an ocean but dried into salt. On top of the salt, layers and layers of rock and sediment formed. Salt is unstable, and the heavy rock caused parts of it to fall. Some areas of rock stayed together and formed the arches. Or so they presume, they don't really know. All we know is that it was gorgeous - some of the most unique landscape either of us have seen.
Balancing Rock:
Delicate Arch from Navajo Arch (Delicate is on the Utah license plate)
Navajo Arch
The Mini - yay! Still running!
Our favorite formation is a little something we nicknamed Cock Rock, see if you can figure out why:
After our hike to Delicate Arch, we were spent. The sun is intense and it was hot hot hot out. Jeff started getting the shivers and I got a massive headache. This was all compounded by the storm front that came through that caused our tent to flip over and dust to be blown elbow deep into our sinuses. Our tent stakes took a beating with the ridiculous rocky hardness of the terrain.
The wind died down around dinner time, we fried up some halibut with brown rice and broccoli and had our next door tent neighbor Zack over for dinner.
The silence of the park was what really got me. It's too dry for a lot of noisy wildlife like frogs, we just heard the gentle swooshing of bats as they swept into camp to nab tasty moths. It was a windy night and there weren't any showers so we smelled lovely. We broke camp in the morning and went to Durango, CO to visit Jeff's friend Danny.
Danny, a god among men, allowed us to use his shower. Bless him. Although I'm sure it benefitted him as well since he didn't have to smell us anymore. Danny cracked my shit up, he and Jeff haven't seen each other since college and when Jeff asked him what he's been up to, it went something like this:
D: Did you know that I lived in Boston?
J: No, didn't hear that
D: Did you know that I almost lost my leg?
J: No, man, didn't know that either
D: Did you know I was in a wheelchair for two years?
J: Jesus, no
They had a lot to catch up on, Danny has moved to two cities and stayed in both for less than two weeks. We're aiming for 1 day in LA before moving back so as to top him.
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