Escalante and Moab, Utah adventures

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We arrived at Escalante, Utah on March 30, and set up at Petrified Forest State Park. There was a great trail right in the campground that was loaded with huge pieces of petrified wood - tree size pieces - BIG trees. This area was once a flood plain and also located near the equator, a VERY long time ago. It was tropical then with ferns and palms and huge coniferous trees - and that is what we were looking at - seems incredible.




To get to one of our hiking areas we took Hole in the Rock Road for about 27 miles to Dry Gulch Trail. This was the beginning of two slot canyon trails. The first, Spooky, got so narrow between the canyon walls that it was too spooky for us. We did hike through Peek-a-Boo though. That was a very challenging hike through narrow canyon walls with drop offs and slide throughs. When we got to the end there was a 25' drop to the canyon floor. It seemed at first that we would have to turn around and retrace our steps. But four 20 year olds appeared at the bottom of the 25 foot drop and with them telling us where to place our feet and hands we were able to climb/slide out. What an adventure that was!
There isn't much in the 'town' of Escalante, the attraction is the hiking in the area with trail names like Devil's Garden and Death Hollow Box Canyon.



Our next stop was Moab, Utah, where we waited for Kris and Ed to join us. We all visited Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park and Fisher Towers. LOTS of hiking and walking and oohing and aahing and saying how absolutely beautiful this area is. Canyonlands is an enormous park with 3 separate areas. We went to the one known as Island in the Sky. This is a 2,000' high mesa that that has been carved by the Colorado and Green Rivers - an area so different from Arches N.P. Take a close look at the Fisher Towers picture - there are actually people climbing to that very narrow piece of rock at the top!!


At the end of their visit we were happily exhausted. One final adventure for Kris and Ed was sleeping on our new hide-a-bed couch with the new air mattress. Apparently it leaks, so at 3 in the morning they were pumping air into it again and by morning they were once again feeling the frame. It was great to see them.

There are lots of pictures that follow - 2 pages worth - be sure to click on them to enlarge

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Photos

Escalante-Petrified Forest State Park
An overview of the park - that is our campsite down below looking from the Pertified Forest Trail

Petrified Wood
The colors in this petrified wood are incredible - it is a good thing it is so heavy or visitors would have carried it all away by now,.

Ron
self portrait

Spooky Canyon
High sandstone walls carved by water.

Peek-a-Boo Canyon
I had just glimpsed the rock 'slide' I was supposed to take to get down the drop off.

Fisher Towers
Climbers on the Towers

Fisher Towers 3
Stopping for a snack

Kane Springs
Ed climbing the American Indian way

The 3 Gossips
Arches National Park
This is one of the first named formations in the park

On the Trail to Delicate Arch
On the trail to Delicate ARch Kris and Ed climbed up a side wall to get a picture of Delicate Arch through another smaller arch.

Delicate Arch
This is the Arch featrured on all the souvenirs. This trail is too narrow for Ron so only Kris, Ed and me are in the picture.

Window Arch
A group of people chanting

black and white
Kris's picture... I can't remember which arch

Comments

[Cindy]

Cool!
The photos are beautiful! It looks like you had a great time. The pix of Arches sure bring back fond memories.

[Kris]

My sunburn is remembering the Arches trip!! the black and white is Pine Tree arch... miss ya already!!

[Car]

Maybe next year, we should head to Utah during our time in Arizona. We sure had a great time with you in Page, AZ for the 4 days and enjoyed the canyon raft ride and the slot canyons. What wonders of the world out there. Have a safe trip home. See you soon!