From Needles, we drove north to Moab in order to stock up for another dry camping experience at Goblin Valley State Park. Moab had very nice weather, so we got up early on Tuesday and went to Canyonlands’ Island in the Sky, an enormous mesa that is 2,000 feet above the Colorado and Green Rivers. It was much chillier and windier than we expected, but the light with the clouds was spectacular; it always is. The remainder of the day was spent grocery (and wine) shopping, but we went to the Moab Brewery to get a good burger and fish and chips. In the restaurant, we were entertained by videos of people whose off-road experiences didn’t go so well.
Currently, we’re ensconced in Goblin Valley State Park. This place is filled with strange sandstone formations that assume all types of weird shapes. The weather is extremely pleasant – around 78 outside with a little breeze. We got up early today and went down a couple of dirt roads into the San Rafael Reef (Isn’t that a great name?), a 2,000-foot-high, 30-mile long, spectacular ridge of multi-colored rocks in various states of erosion. There are natural bridges, arches and ancient rock art strewn about the deep canyons running through the Reef.
Today, we got up very early in order to drive east for 40 miles on a dirt road so we could begin the 7-mile hike to Horseshoe Canyon at a time to avoid the heat of the day. The hike worked out very well. When we got to the parking area, two married Park volunteers were getting ready to go down into the canyon. This was good because we could get a lot closer to the pictographs with them around. There was cloud cover and the first couple of hours were very pleasant hiking. By the time we got to the Great Gallery, the sun was out and it warmed up considerably. But the Park volunteers were great. They spend every spring there for a week or two, acting as docents for the Great Gallery. We got to go up very close and they were pointing out all kinds of details we had never noticed before.
Afterwards, we sat in the shade and talked to Blaine, the volunteer, for a while. It turns out he is a golf pro, who retired early, along with his wife. They’ve done what we have: cutting back on some expenses and spending more on travel. As we were talking, a small bird landed on Blaine’s daypack and appeared to be looking for a way in. Then he fluttered directly in front of Blaine’s face, almost landing on his shoulder. A few minutes later, he landed on Blaine’s neck and was pecking at his collar. It was very strange to see a bird do this. We finally began to hike back, and though it was only 3.25 miles, it was much hotter and the 750-foot rise out of the canyon at the end was a slow, sweaty enterprise. But we had plenty of water (unlike a father with 3 young sons, who looked like he had one 12-ounce bottle for everyone) so we were fine.
