Sweathog and Mountain Woman: April 26-30

Part two of trip!

Off river on Thursday, April 26th. Drove to Page. Took a tour of Glen Canyon dam. I know how controversial it is and was to some people, even me, at one point, but I have new understanding of its multifunctions now. The river is so much prettier after the dam. Beautiful and green not red, silty and thick. Stayed in a good RV Park, did a lot of laundry. We were very tired, had a beer and Cheerios for dinner!

Friday
First Starbucks in 15 days! Had our usual oatmeal breakfast there. Stocked up on groceries for the next 3 days in Canyonlands. One of the many highlights of the trip was a trip through Antelope Canyon. An amazing short canyon, twisted, turned and sculpted by wind,water and sand. Pictures will probably not show the true beauty to you. It is located on an Indian Reservation and you can only see by advanced registration being led through by an Indian guide.

They pack groups of 14 into the back of a modified pick up truck at $60 a head. There were probably 80 people in the quarter mile canyon. It kind of took away from the beauty and difficult to get a picture without someone in it. Well worth the effort.

Drove on 250 miles to Needles District of Canyonlands. Stayed the next 3 nights in a small private campground outside the Park, which was in an amazing setting but was a dump. Facilities were really bad, barely usable. Lots of wind and red dust. Had a nice campfire and ate burgers and beans.

Saturday
2 short hikes today and a walk up Elephant Hill Road. Road is a misnomer! It is full of large rocks and slanted 30 degrees or more. A place for macho men in Jeeps to test their testosterone. Ed and Andy drove it on the 1999 graduation trip and Ed did again on the "brothers trip" in 2005! Really crazy. Returned back to camp and had a beer and spaghetti and meat balls. Had to put our little fire out due to wind.

Sunday
We worshipped in the Cathedral of the Confluence. This is where the Colorado and Green rivers come together. Got up at 6:30 got on the trail by 8 am. Wonderful rock formations, too many to count. Shaped into cupcakes, stacks of pancakes, mushrooms, McDouble burgers! Or anything you could imagine! It was a wonderful surprise and treat to see so many wildflowers. Lots of rock slab walking following cairns. Also lots of large boulder climbing with some red sand paths. Fortunately it was not super hot and there was a breeze. With only 1/2 mile to the confluence and after 4 1/2 miles hiked, 3 Jeeps pulled up and unloaded 10 people! I thought I had accomplished something special. Needless to say our lunch at the top was not serene and quiet. Oh well. Took us 3 1/2 hours in and a struggle back. Not for Ed, of course. We ran out of water (carried 7 quarts in) with about 2 miles to go but we did it. This was Ed’s 3rd trip in. I know you have all heard me say this was my hardest hike yet, but it was. Not sure I have ever been more exhausted.

Monday
Eggs and toast with marmalade for Ed. Heading out, will stop at Newspaper rock which has lots of petroglyphs. Took a side tour to Ed’s most favorite Campground, Hatch Point. He has been there times once each with Sandy, Peg Andy, my sister. It is truly out in the middle of nowhere. Next was the Needles Overlook, very impressive. We arrived in Moab at the Canyonlands RV Park about 2:30 pm and washed our sheets which were full of sand and dust. Ed worked on downloading pictures to the blog while I did the laundry and straightened up the camper. While eating dinner I saw a mouse run under the driver’s seat. I had seen some droppings but couldn’t imagine a mouse was still in the camper. We went to the local grocery store to by a trap. Hopefully tomorrow morning no more mouse.

Glen Canyon Dam Power Generating Station