Day 6

---

We got up in the morning to go exploring in Arches National Park. We started seeing arches and designs right away-there were rocks that looked like buildings, a herd of elephants, and one very phallic rock. The actual arches were amazing. They were formed hundreds of millions of years ago, when a sea would flood and deposit salt, over and over again. Then the flooding stopped and the erosive force of the Utah winds drove holes in the rock. We decided to see the delicate arch via the upper viewpoint instead of taking the 3-hour hike. Once we climbed up all the stairs, we saw that we could walk a few hundred yards out onto the slickrock for a better view of the arch and the canyon beneath it. You could see how pioneers would take shelter there- it looked like a hospitable place down in the canyon. The beautiful blue sky turned to a dark grey thunderstorm instantly. The light 10 mph breeze quickly turned to 50 mph gusts, nearly blowing us off the canyon rim. Needless to say, we got off of the slickrock as fast as we could. Next, we went to the “Devil’s Garden”. This had a lot of neat monuments—including one that looked like a runaway truck ramp, a pinecone, a tunnel arch, and a giant boulder that only the brave (including Jenn and I) climbed. The funny thing is, as soon as we got to the top, it started raining again! Whenever we get into a vulnerable spot up high, the rain starts pouring! So, we hid the camera away in the backpack, and sprinted the mile back to the van. On our trek back to the van, we saw a really colorful lizard, and got some pretty amazing shots of it.

After a PB&J, we headed out of the park. Our next stop was the Canyonlands National Park. We got to use our brand new “America the Beautiful” National Parks Pass (thanks for the recommendation Kenny). The ranger at the gate was very friendly, and reminded me of what Kenny is soon to become. We only drove ¼ mile in to the first lookout point, the “Island in the Sky” lookout point. It was beautiful, you could see for miles, and the colors were so different than what we had just seen in the Arches Park a few miles away. There were some German motorcyclists who were climbing out beyond the viewing area, so, naturally, we waited for them to stop schnitzing around and stepped out ourselves. The view just kept getting more incredible.

We then headed back to our campsite, reheated our Gram Special, and began to settle in for the fireworks. Our new camp neighbors were from Portland, OR, a father and son headed down to San Antonio where the son was starting his new job working for the Alamo Bowl. Crazy. Jenn and I made coffee and were then invited to sit with our neighbors at their campsite to watch the fireworks across the canyon. In honor of my father, I videotaped the whole thing! It was a pretty awesome show though; when the big fireworks went off, the whole canyon floor lit up like daytime. Also, the sound took about 2 seconds to hit us, then another two for the echo off of the eastern canyon wall, then another 2 for the echo off of the western canyon wall. A sound guy’s dream! After the show, we wished our neighbors well on their trip, gave them some advice for the Arches park that they were visiting the next day, and then hit the tent.

---