DAY 1
Utah has it's own "Little Grand Canyon" with stunning views of the various geologic eras visible throughout the depth of the rock face. In order to get there you drive for ten miles through nearly flat ranchland, take a left through the campgrounds, then whoa!! It's right in front of you! Almost out of nowhere and breathtaking.
A real dinosaur footprint:
We drove out to an old Ghost Town through some absolutely magnificent scenery: gorgeous buttes, washes and rock formations. The town itself was a little bit of a disappointment with only one building standing and another recently fallen down. Due to the number of broken beer bottles it seemed more of a high school Friday night hangout than a ghost town. Ed did find an old rusty car he wanted to tow home.
Wild burros near our campsite:
Petroglyphs from about 2000 years ago
and pictographs from the Fremont peoples about 1000 years ago were created on the same rock face:
DAY 2
The second day was spent hiking to, in and out of the Little Black Box, a slot canyon portion of the San Rafael river. We only saw two other people the entire day. We hiked in two miles on an old jeep road that's now closed to traffic (due to scientific study, but perhaps due in part to mishaps such as the one illustrated in the picture below), dropped down into the river, then hiked/floated through a beautiful canyon rising at times fifty feet above us. The water felt wonderfully cool and we wished the water level had been a bit higher to make for more floating and less wading.
After we finished our course through the river, we climbed out to the top and hiked another two miles back to the starting point, crossed the river (taking time to wash the dirt out of our shoes), and headed up the other side to hike back to the car.
As we were leaving the river it began to rain from clouds we had been urging towards us ever since leaving the shady shelter of the canyon. The rain quickly turned into a torrential downpour, and before we reached the top of the cliff we had to hide out in a small crevice in the side of the rock. The rain was pouring diagonally one way, then the other, then straight down, and pretty soon it felt like the cliff was coming down with it. The river began to flood, lightning struck the buttes all around above us, and water gushed from the middle of the rock face in a flash flood. Of course it was a little scary, but one of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring moments either Ed or I have ever experienced.
We were grateful to be safe in our little (and I do mean little) cave, but we couldn't help but worry about the car key we had hidden under a rock near the trailhead. We didn't want to carry it in the river for fear of it getting wet and the electronic part getting ruined. Funny joke on us, eh? Since we were about twelve miles from a main road, we began discussing our options, including racking our brains to remember ever hotwiring job we'd ever seen on TV. We were overwhelmingly grateful when we finally got back to the car and the key was still there, a bit muddy and the ground all around it washed away, but still there and working. Hallelujah.
DAY 3
We had intended for there to be a Day 3, but we felt like we had seen and done so much, and it was late when we finally got out of the river and back to the car. We didn't want to be searching for a campsite in the rain in the dark, so we stopped for dinner at a terrible diner in Price (should have eaten our dehydrated camp food instead) and got home for hot showers and our own comfortable beds. I didn't regret coming home early until the next morning when Ed went off to work and I was back on duty with the kids. After spending every minute of two wonderful days with him, I missed him a lot. Still do sometimes. I'm grateful to be married to such a loving and attentive husband who likes to take me on great adventures.
