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Published: August 19th 2010
What a beautiful morning here in Escalante, Utah - home of the Grand Staircase National Monument. We checked in early evening last night following our stay in Moab. Let me get you caught up...
On Tuesday morning we started the morning off with breakfast, a seemingly innocent activity that I would pay for dearly. Not thinking that there would be anything further to think about after breakfast, I proceeded to get sick. Headache, queasy and generally not well - but that didn't stop us for heading out to newspaper rock and and the south entrance of Canyonlands National Park and the the Needles District. It was magnificent!
Newspaper Rock always captures my imagination. The petroglyphs tell stories that no one has yet deciphered which is fine by me! I love to imagine what they all mean. The site is protected now by a chain link fence, but you can also see how people over the past 100+ years felt the need to add their names to the rock wall - such a shame. That part always makes me sad. The first carvings were made around 2,000 years ago, and although a few are as recent as the early 20th
century, left by the first modern day explorers of this region, the main groups have been assigned to the Anasazi, Fremont and Navajo indians.
We continued on the remaining 22 miles into Canyonlands. Now the last time I entered the park from this direction was the year that Jim and I hiked to Druid Arch, so it was fun to drive down to that trailhead and reminisce about that triumphant hike. It was grueling but so worth the effort! Seeing Elephant Canyon and the Needles is always breathtaking. And to compare Arches to Canyonlands: Canyonlands always seems to have a much more sophisticated landscape, more expansive geography and more diverse terrain. I think some find it intimidating and steer clear of the park all together. While in the visitors center, I overhead a man trying to find a hike for his family and kept asking - "well, if we do that, can we say we have seen Canyonlands"? Like it is something to tick off of a check off list. What a shame. NO! If you have done one walk or one hike in Canyonlands, you have seen one part -- KEEP EXPLORING!
Because we only had a
The Needles District
Canyonlands National Parkshort distance to go, we decided to drive into Monticello, Utah - a small town outside of Canyonlands. We stopped at the grocery store and an antique shop before stoping at a small shake stand. My husband knows me only too well - he knew that a banana/marshmallow shake would cure my upset stomach and he was right! We shared a shake and a burger and then made our way back into Moab for our final evening (boo!). We decided to take a dip in the jacuzzi once again and there we met a really nice man named Mossimo from Italy (now living in France with his wife and teaching in the university). So fascinating to see our country through the eyes of a foreigner, we delighted in all the details, reflections and reactions he had to many of the same places we have visited - Texas, Colorado, Utah. We said goodnight and settled in on the patio for one more evening at this special place.
The next morning we packed all our gear and went to the grocery store. We knew that our late start time would probably mean that much of Escalante would be closed by the
Elephant Canyon
Canyonlands National Park time we arrived and that we would enjoy a really nice designer kitchen once we arrived at La Luz (
). We decided to get ingredients to cook dinner - something we haven't done in a month!! We also took the truck to Chip's Tire Center for a quick peek as we had continued to lose tire pressure in one tire. No sense in taking a risk on the desert road. Turned out the valve stem had a slow leak and Chip was able to fix it for $17 - probably the best $17 we have spent so far!
Once we were on the road, we decided to take a short side trip to Goblin Valley. Now, I have heard about Goblin Valley from Jim's childhood for years, but had NO idea what to expect. At first, I thought it was just a name of a valley but when we turned into this state park, I quickly realized that the goblins in question were actually sandstone structures - thousands of them!
You hike down an embankment and you are among these strange formations and your imagination runs wild! It is really difficult to not take off running, but as Church Rock
Off the 191 highway en route to Canyonlands you can see, we were minutes ahead of a raucous thunderstorm. The whole time we were playing among the goblins, thunder and lightening was cracking above us. Our visit was short, but with a promise to return on our next trip to the area.
We also drove through Capital Reef and the Dixie National Forest. It was raining almost the whole way and the cool was a nice change from all the heat the past three weeks. We rolled down the windows and enjoyed the smell of fresh rain, juniper and desert sage.
We arrived in Escalante around 6:30 and we got settled. The couple that own La Luz have done a really nice job with this place, lots of little special touches that make you feel right at home. We cooked a pasta dinner and watched a movie, stepping outside several times to look up at the sky filled with stars.
It was actually quite cool last night and sleeping with the window opened allowed for a beautiful breeze and the enjoyment of a thunderstorm early this morning. I could feel the wind from the storm and hear the thunder and lightening and I don't think
I have slept this well on the whole trip! Jim woke me up when two jack rabbits came up close enough to see their enormous ears! We watched them until they jumped onto the driveway and ran away.
No denying that the final days of this blissful trip have arrived. We are trying really hard to stay present in the here and now, but thoughts of work and life are easy to come by. I don't think I will be the same person after this trip. Even though we covered a tremendous amount of ground, I return with a sense of rest and balance and am actually looking forward to arriving home.
But not until Sunday!!
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Susan Seale
non-member comment
Goblin Valley
I have so enjoyed reading your blog. I especially like the last few- you really make me want to take a trip to these parks with the family! See you soon. S.