We got out of the van and quickly got lost. I didn't read the trip synopsis and Kris elected not to tell me about the sign we were looking for. She decided we needed to stay right and pretty quickly we were in an unnamed canyon in the middle of nowhere. We turned back and found the trail, mostly due to the amount of other hikers on it.
The canyon quickly tightened up to a few feet wide. Due to the amount of rain we had the night before there was standing water in many places on the trail. The only options were to get soaked, or go above it by wedging your body against the canyon walls and climbing up and over it. We passed several section like this that weren't much trouble and we had a lot of fun going over. The walls were amazing with rock of differing colors swirling into eachother and creating amazing views. The light was also great due to the shadow in the canyon but the light streaming in from above.
We reached a point in the canyon where another family was heading into. I noticed that there had to be feet of standing water in this section so we sat back and waited for them to enter. The father put the son on his shoulders and the mother followed them in. Immediately the father, who was over six feet tall, was up to his thighs in water. The mother was well over her crotch by the time she began asking, "is this a good idea?" The father pressed on in true fatherly fashion and they soon disappeared around the corner out of sight.
It may sound unadventurous but Kris and I both agreed that we didn't want soaking wet shoes for the remainder of the trip, some six days. Instead we decided to eat some snacks and have a break. Shortly after we sat down another family happened upon us. We let them evaluate the situation before we gave any information. Finally the father asked if we were going in and we told him that the water is near four feet deep and we had several days left of our trip.
To their credit they never wavered for a second. The smallest boy, about eight years old, stripped off his shirt and said he would lead the way. The oldest boy had a GoPro digital video cam on his head to capture the footage of their trials. As we watched the oldest began stemming (holding yourself against the sides of the canyon off the ground) across the canyon. The youngest followed and the parents waded in, shoes and all. Before long they were all squealing about how cold the water was, and how muddy the bottom was. The oldest touched down near the end of the tunnel in thigh deep water and the youngest refused to drop down. Finally they called back they were ok and on the other side. We had a good laugh and turned back down the canyon.
We walked another stretch of canyon before we headed back to the car. At this point there was nothing left to see at Goblin Valley so we set the GPS for Canyonlands National Park and started the van. About an hour later we were on I-70 and had our first cell phone reception since we left SLC on Saturday. Kris checked her email and had a message from our real estate agent. We were to fax yet another form by 5pm eastern standard time that day... It was 2:15pm mountain standard time. As we all know there is a two hour time difference between EST and MST. We had 45 minutes to print and fax the form. We were in the middle of east bum fuck (pardon the saying) and going nowhere quickly. We called the agent back and explained our dilemma. Life's a bitch, is pretty much what she said.
We hauled the van down from speed at the next exit and found a key bank. The lady there was kind enough to point us in the direction of the local library. The librarian was kind enough to lend us a computer and fax our forms to our agent. We went from totally screwed to saving the day in a little under thirty minutes. Needless to say our agent was ecstatic!
Back on the road we finally got to Canyonlands and started looking for a campground. We hit the park entrance, which is located 17 miles from the main road. The park ranger told us she had no idea about the status of camping that night and if we wanted to know we should "just drive down and check it out." Well that was another 18 miles into the campsite... thanks for the advice moron. Why don't you and the other rangers get those new fangled walkie talkies and sort this stuff out? Just a thought.
We drove into the campground and quickly noted it was full. Now our option was to drive back to the road some 30+ miles away, or try to sweet talk another camper into letting us poach their site. As we drove through for a second time Kris noticed the handicap site was not filled, or reserved. These sites are reserved until 5pm for handicap persons, but after this time it's first come first serve. It was 4:09pm so we elected to wait in the campground parking lot. Kris was concerned that someone might drive in at 459 and steal our spot so she walked up and got a little closer to the sign in front of the site.
Minutes later she came running back to the van. "It says we can park there until 5pm but if someone handicap comes we have to move. After 5pm it's ours.", she said. Now I had seen the sign. I didn't see any of this information other than it was reserved until 5pm. I figured she was fibbing to me so that I wouldn't refuse moving the van to the site. I reluctantly moved the van into the site and sure enough she was correct. The sign was worded funny but it said that we could be there unless someone hadicap came before 5pm, then we had to vacate. After 5pm it was anyones game. We sat in the van until we were sure things were cool.
After that we walked down to the Green Point overlook. The walking path literally ends where the canyon wall drops off to the valley floor. You're leaning against a post and beam fence overlooking thousands of acres of valley, canyon and river. It's one of the most amazing view points I've ever seen. The pics don't do it justice so you'll all have to go see it for yourselves!
We then drove up to the Mesa Arch trailhead and walked in. The main pic at the top of the blog is from this arch. It was amazing. We were sitting on a ledge that dropped straight down for hundreds of feet. Through the arch you could see snow capped mountains in the background. This was also a once in a lifetime view!
Later that night we were settling in to our site when we noticed the same Subaru drive by again and again. A guy named John happened into the park off of I70 and was looking for a site. Obviously there were none to be found so Kris offered to let him share ours. When he finished setting up he came over to the table. "I want to chip in for the site but all I have is a $20 bill and four $1 bills.", he said. The site was $10 so I told him just to give us the four bucks and not to worry about it. Later that night Kris looked at me and said, "you should have told him you would take the twenty." I love that lady.
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