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Published: January 25th 2008
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Posted by: Onaxthiel: As the dawn started to break over the horizon, I dragged myself out of the bivy and moved up a nearby rock formation for some sunrise shots. In the cold the camera didn't focus well, a complaint Obfuscator lists as his biggest single complaint about the Fuji. After a few minutes of unsuccessfully trying to snap a shot of the mountains and canyons around us, I gave up and headed back down to the camp site to start the break down. Obfuscator was getting out of the bag now and took the camera with him when he went to put in his contacts. The heat in the bathroom usually helps the camera focus better in the mornings. One day we will have to investigate why a few minutes of heat has that effect, but for now it is one of the great mysteries of the drive. Naturally, as soon as I gave up the camera all the coyotes in the area started howling and gave away their positions. Even without the ability to capture the moment, I figured I had a good chance of getting a look at the scavengers, so I ran for the ridge line that
seemed to be nearest the most local of the howls. After a few minutes of scanning from the rocks, I spotted a coyote loping along about 100 yards to my left. He was skirting the base of the ridge line I was standing on, and noticed me about the same time I noticed him. I tried to think of a way to signal Obfuscator to get over here with a camera while indulging in a staring with the canine, but his cell was off and he had left the area, so I couldn't wave him down. After a few minutes, the coyote became bored with the game and moved off towards a mesa in the distance. When I finally could get Obfuscator over with the camera, we could find no more coyotes. His loss.
I had been unable to pick up my foam ground pad earlier, as it was frozen to the ground when I first woke up. The morning hours didn't seem to change this much, so we determined to head off to the devils garden trail and have a look around before coming back in the afternoon on the hope that he sun would help melt some
of the ice and not tear much of the pad. So we began the hike around Devil's Garden. (again, note that now that we are in the west once more, everything is satanically affiliated.) Along the five mile route that makes up most of the hike are seven arches, and a few other ones that are simply ignored as too small or close to others to bother giving names to. There were a few other tourists out for the day, from an assortment of other countries judging by the languages we caught snippets of when we would pass them. The trail has a few different sections, with labels identifying which are harder or easier to hike. After leaving the “moderate” section for the “difficult” portion, we questioned the judgment of those who get to determine difficulties of these hikes. They seem to be the same kind of people that get to label on/off ramps on highways and always advise a safe speed that is fifteen miles an hour under what you should take the turns at. By moderate they mean “ if you are capable of walking the given distance on flat, level pavement, you should be able to do
the same here, though perhaps with a bit more exertion.” and by difficult they mean “as above, but you might have to use your hands to pull your self up onto rocks at least once or twice.” For anyone in moderately good condition, the hike is quite worth the time and effort, with some nice arches and panoramic views of the mountains and canyons around the park. The walk also gave Obfuscator and I to have long, in depth discussions of a variety of topics, including cardiology, science fiction, whether we could rename the number four “arch” and regulation of the contracting industry in Iraq. Once we made it off the trail we went back and retrieved my ground pad. I still lost a significant portion of the bottom to the ice, but not nearly as much as I think I would have without the sun helping.
Driving out we stopped at the largest arch in the park, -----. This arch nearly doubled in size back in 1940, when a 180 ton boulder broke free, smashing to pieces below. Even as the Japanese planed Pearl Harbor, so did nature plan it's attack on humanity. But being that it's timing
was poor, this assault didn't manage to crush any tourists. It was not the first time that arches had tried to kill, nor would it be the last.
Our last stop in the park is called Delicate Arch. This is one of the more famous points in the park, and has an easily accessed view point a mile or so off, as well as a mile and a half hike up a rock formation that rises about 1,000 feet and is in the words of our guidebook “as smooth and polished as the back of a whale.” Naturally, you can guess which of these routes we opted to hike. Calling it as smooth and polished as the back of a whale is an overstatement. If it was that smooth I don't think we would have been able to clamber up with all the snow and ice. I would imagine it would be more like the previous days climb up the ice stairs. Also on the way up is a detour to see some petroglyph's, dated as from between 1650 and 1860. This scientific sounding conclusion is based on the fact that the Indians in the image are riding horses,
introduced to the area in 1650, and were first noticed by white people in 1860. That is some brilliant deduction, and why the archaeologists are payed the big bucks.
At the top stands an arch on a ledge. Large and accessible by foot, it is well worth the walk out to see. Just don't look down, as one edge is on a two hundred foot bowl of steadily increasing steepness, and the other is an approximately 800 ft. shear drop. Luckily, we were able to get to it on the bowl side. Then we moved around to another cliff to get some distance shots and moved out to Moab.
We went and got a room for the night on the promise of WiFi and to watch the Packers play in the NFC championships. Well, the Packers decided not to show up for the game, despite having some points given to them, but at least our rooms wireless didn't work. Obfuscator went down to the main office a few times to try to fix the connection, but to no avail. Because of this problem, we couldn't do any uploading, so when this goes up, if will be among about
a half dozen other daily updates. Since we were angry at our chosen team, and the internet wasn't working, we went to see the movie Cloverfield, which we had high hopes for. This also turned out to be a bust, with a monster that was basically an unlicensed Godzilla knock off and a shaky cam view. By the time it was over I had a headache and Obfuscator was making snide remarks about pretentious directors, so it was time to go to bed. Tommorow: Bryce Canyon.
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