A New Favorite!

 I think I have a new favorite National Park!  It’s Canyonlands in south-eastern Utah.  I had a small idea of what it might be like since I have been reading Dessert Solitaire by Edward Abbey.  It’s a book about the summers he spent in the area as a park ranger.  While, I had read about what it looked like, I was certainly not prepared for just how spectacularly gorgeous it is!  It is unlike anything I have ever seen before in my life!  There are huge rock formations everywhere!  They’re so strange and beautiful; it’s like an outdoor, all natural, sculpture exhibit! 

I also very much appreciated that it’s all very much wilderness!  They really did simply preserve what was already there and then just let you loose to go explore the wild beauty for yourself!  The tails are only marked by small piles of stones (since you can’t see the path because most of the hiking is done on rock), so it feels like you’re one of the first people exploring the area, since you really have to make an effort to find and stay on the trail! 

The first hike I did was a loop that started right next to my tent!  It started off by getting to climb up and over a huge ridge of rocks.  At that point, I was totally surrounded by the orange, rock formations and had fantastic views of the mountains in the distance!  I was totally swept away by the stunning magnificence.  I was also surprised by how many plants and animals are able to live there!  I saw many lizards and rabbits!  I also saw a shocking number of flowers considering it’s the desert!  I had the good fortune of being back up on the ridge when the sun started setting.  The setting sun lit up the rock formations!  They looked like they were glowing from within! 

The next day, I went to a more remote part of the park (actually the whole thing is pretty remote).  After driving for a while on a very bumpy and twisty gravel road, I got to the parking area.  Then I mistakenly started hiking on the four wheel road.  After just a little while of walking on the road, I can’t believe that anyone would dare to drive on it!  It seems like you would certainly die!  I found my way to the hiking trail and hiked about four and a half miles into the canyon.  I was headed to see a remote rock formation, but after I got pretty deep into the canyon, I was having a hard time finding the rock piles, so I decided to turn around.  The idea of being lost in the remote, dessert, canyon didn’t sound like a plan to me, and it would be extremely easy to get lost there, so I headed back to the trail head. 

The drive back out of the back was quite enjoyable as well!  I really didn’t realize how far down I was until I started driving out!  I also had a chance to see the Newspaper Rock.  It’s this section of rock with tons of pictographs!  It’s quite an amazing sight!