Calf Creek BLM and Grand Escalante National Park, Utah

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All I did today was drive, which is not a bad thing at all since I love driving. When camping/road tripping in areas unfamiliar, I can only recommend visiting as many information centres or visitor centres as possible. You meet really nice people from the area who know more than any travel book could possibly tell you, and sometimes they even give you a hint on where to camp for free with the best view. I suppose my natural charm and accent is most intriguing. I must sound so weird by now, having picked up all sorts of dialects of the English language over the years, they cannot place me at all. Pretty cool, actually. Oh yeah, I almost forgot: I met the most friendly police officer yesterday whilst speeding about 10 miles over the speed limit. I thought I was done for sure, thinking I was in a 55 miles per hour area, but in reality in a 40 mph.

It was just like in the movies. The whole shebang with sirens, driving after me … I remember thinking that it will cost me at least a hundred bucks, but when he looked at my driver’s license he goes ‘Australia, nice.’ And we get talking and his wife is a teacher and …. He didn’t give me a ticket. I love US coppers right now. Besides, they look so terribly butch – with the mirror sunglasses and the uniform and I believe they HAVE TO work out to get the job because most of them look like their shirts are collectively too small for their arms.

And then I ended up at Calf Creek Campground. I was talking to the BLM guy in Escalante about some totally unrelated issues when he suggested that I should maybe base myself here at this most magical place and drive to the trekking sites fromt here. Coming from bitterly cold Bryce Canyon (minus 2 degrees yesterday night) to a place where I can run around in shorts and bikini top and, gasp, have a swim in the river is just unreal. I met another high school teacher who had her three adopted children with her skinny dipping and all we talked about was that you guys don’t read anymore. How about that for teacher dedication, hmm? Anyway, I will attempt the Lower Calf River trek tomorrow morning. Apparently there is a fantastic waterfall into the canyon after 4 hours of walking and since the weather report is really dry for the next few days I don’t have to worry about flash floods. In case I slip while canyoning and I get stuck between a rock and a hard place, do not expect the unthinkable of me. I will not have the guts to cut off my arm with a butterknife like Aaron Ralston from the movie ‘127 hours’. That’s freaky. I will perish with my dignity intact J

Day 2: I walked the Lower Calf River track and I really didn’t think I would make it back in one piece. Although I know you all think I look only 29 years old, I’m actually no spring chicken and my knee and back is getting old and creaky. But it was worth it, hope the pictures I took gives it justice and when I returned I spent the afternoon skinny dipping and reading the most amazing hippy book by a guy called Edward Abbey, ‘Desert Solitaire’. He was a National Parks ranger at the Arches NP in 1968 near Moab (I’ll hit that in a few days) and writes about how humans should be responsible about keeping these places the way they are. Remember when some of you laugh when we find a spider in the classroom and I go all crazy about catching it and making sure it’s alright? He does the same with scorpions and rattlesnakes etc. They have a right to be here as well and I love this book. I only picked it out in a supermarket because I needed something to read and all the other books were cowboy romances. When I talked about the book to a guy camping next to me, he told me that Edward Abbey was almost a preservation prophet. Strange how books sometimes choses you, not the other way around.

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