Canyonlands: Day 3

Day Three at Canyonlands National Park we needed some supplies from town so we headed into Moab. The daylight trip to Moab revealed to us a very interesting road side attraction. A lovely place called 'Hole 'N the Wall'. It seems these rocks with holes in them see to be every where we venture so we decided to check it out. Turns out this hole was a man made one, and quite interesting. A man inherited the property from his father, and instead of building a typical home, he decided instead to build his home inside the large rock on his property. With dynamite, time and a loving and sympathetic wife he blew away the stone and carved his home into the rock. I wont get into the whole story, as we had to pay for the tour, so should you.

To be honest it was a bit cheesy and the guide had one too many rock puns, but the house is amazing, and there are more than a few interesting artifacts that make it worth the $3 admission. Even more amazing however is the vast and eclectic array of Americana on display. Everything from Big foot - to Mater from the Cars movie. Definitely a good place to hop out of the car and stretch your legs.

Somewhere en route to Moab we decided to head all the way up to Island in the Sky, the Norther District of Canyonlands. The park has four districts, The Needles, Island in the Sky, The Maze and The Rivers. We figured we couldn't justly say that we experienced the park if we didn't at least see half of it. We originally intended to see Island in the sky on the way home but as we were so close we figured hey why not.





Island in the Sky is a perfect name for this district of the park. As you stand at the Shafer Canyon Overlook you can see down and outwards for what seems like forever. The pebbles that slid over the edge give you a firm understanding of how far the fall really is. We never saw the bottom from the edge of the Cliff, as I adamantly refused to let anyone with four four feet of the edge, Kevin included. (this was one place my camera quit working

The Hikes we completed here were both very short. The first was Upheaval Dome Overlook (1 mile round trip), we went to the second viewpoint. Upheaval Dome is Standing proof that we don't know everything. It is a curious upheaval of salt that is surround by a crater like rim. The first theory is that some projectile from space hit the earth at upheaval dome and created the crater and an resulting pocket of open space in the earths crust which eventually filled in with the salt that was compacted beneath layers of sediment. The second theory suggest that the layer of salt being less dense than that rock compacted on top of it, shifted and buckled under the enormous weigh and that created  Upheaval Dome. Either way its pretty remarkable geology at work, the stark grey salt a blazing contrast to the red, amber sandy tone of the entire area.

The Second trail was to Mesa Arch a short o.5 mile loop. The trail is supremely easy and leads to an amazing Arch that is set against a very steep canyon. This trail was probably one of my favorite, Emma and I had a race to the Arch. It was extremely fun running over the slickrock down steps and around curves, the whole tone was playful exactly what a vacation hike should be. On the way back it was Kevin's turn to race and even got Lulu in on the games. Jack and I just hiked back at a normal and mellow pace.

The last stop we made at Island in the Sky was the Green River overlook. An amazingly expansive view of a canyon eaten away of centuries to reveal the hidden river tucked away safely at the bottom.

Then we headed back to The Needles. Once there Kevin and I decided that two mini hikes just wasn't enough so we headed down the Colorado Overlook road. We parked the truck at the first rock you have to drive over. We didn't want to risk any four wheeling, as we were quite a ways from home, cell service and any help. So we figured that a nice four wheel drive road would be a ridiculously easy path to hike and set out. A few minutes into the soft dirt trail Kevin had an amazing idea, and took off his shoes. Myself being an enemy to all footwear as a general moral rule, quickly followed suit. As you can imagine the bright and observant minds of our children caught on fairly quickly and before we knew it we had our first barefoot hike. Which was spectacular. The sand of the dessert is nothing like any sand I have ever felt, its not sandy so much as dirt, but not soil. and the red warm dirt/sand felt amazing on toes that have been barricaded in winter boots for so unbelievably long. After about 30-40 minutes we forced the kids unwilling back into their shoes (the trail turned to rocks and packed dirt) and kept on.We hiked about a mile and a half then stopped for oranges and water before heading back. We didn't reach the end of the road or the overlook on this hike. But it was fun and amazing all the same. As Kevin said it best "The journey is often better than the destination." Once again holding true on this hike.

After we ended this hike we headed back to camp for diner, campfire and smores.