Lake Powel and Natural Bridges NM

Tues, May 19 – In my dream, I was eating something very gritty. Then I realized I really was eating something gritty, woke up and spit out some sand. The wind had continued all night and the blanket I was sleeping on was half covered in a sand dune. The sun was still down, and I watched it rise from my sandy bed.

I got the camp cleaned up and got into the van. Tyne was still sleeping, (it was still before 630) so I just started driving to the arch trailhead. Dogs weren't technically allowed, but the trailhead was bare, so we took her with us. The trail was pretty level, and the sun didn't peak over the canyon walls until most of the hard hiking was done. The arch was really beautiful, and to have it before anyone else that morning was great. We took some pictures and started back to the car. It wasn't until we were more than half way back before another person passed us heading to the arch.

Driving west out of the park, we came to the town of Hanksville and tried the grocery store again. No artichokes, but they had some deals and we got some canned mushrooms and mandarin oranges.

The next stop was Glen Canyon and Lake Powell, which is a huge lake made from damming the Colorado River. We slowly wound down to the lake and stopped at an overlook. The sign said that water was pretty muddy and smelly, and we really didn't feel like we wanted to swim in it. There wasn't really any good access anyways, so after crossing the Dirty Devil River, we began the long drive back up from the deep canyon.

Tyne fell asleep and I was getting tired myself from the early morning, but before long we arrived at another National Monument, "Natural Bridges." This park was pretty small, the loop was only 9 miles long and had viewing of three Natural Bridges. We stopped and looked at the overlooks of them, but didn't feel like climbing all the way down into the canyon to look at them closely. We also did a short hike to an overlook of another 700 year old Indian ruins. My stomach was hurting so we didn't stay too long.

On the road again, we stopped and checked out two more sets of ruins. Indian ruins are all very difference, but a lot of the architecture and pottery are similar. The second ruins required a mile and a half hike to get to, and although it was hot, there were a lot of scattered clouds to help block the sun now and then.

Finally we came to another junction. There were a lot of cars again, real grocery stores and fast food chains. We finally bought our artichoke in Monticello and continued on another 30 miles to Moab through the first rain in about a month, since Katy Texas. The electric storm was amazing, with red rock canyons and snow capped mountains in the distance.

Coming into Moab, we were tired of driving and just wanted to relax and find camp for the night. Before heading to the woods, we went to the library to get internet and was able to get a hold of my buddy Tim who lives in town. We met him at the restaurant/bar he works at (Eddy McStiff's) and he gave us directions to his house.

We relaxed indoors, made dinner (artichokes, spaghetti-o's and garlic bread) and enjoyed ice water and TV while we waited for Tim to get out at Midnight. At 11pm, I was half sleeping on the couch when Tim walked in with a 12 pack.

We ended up staying up until after 4am, drinking the beer and some Black Velvet. The three of us walked up a hill overlooking the town and looked at the little resort town of Moab and the stars. We drank and talked and philosophized until nearly dawn.

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