Day 31. This Weather is For the Birds!

Wednesday February 8, 2023

Wow that was a cold one!!

It went down into the teens as I slept in the roof top tent. I had gone to bed with fingers so dang cold I couldn't even feel them when I licked the cheese dip off - and I didn’t warm up for about an another hour even with the fifteen layers of stuff I had on! Eventually I passed out.

Come morning time I stayed inside until almost 8:30am when the sun felt like it was hitting the tent pretty good. I unpacked the breakfast foods from the jeep - today's menu is a bagel, butter and some Kashi Berry cereal along with the chocolate milk. I was starved. Probably burned off Eight Guys Burgers-n-Fries just staying warm last night. Seemed a lot colder then that nineteen degree night in Tennessee for sure.

I had company for breakfast too! This cute little bird kept wandering up to me, within four feet or so looking for some grub. Amazing how friendly and beautiful he was. Or she. I think in the bird world the males are actually the "prettier" sex? The colors were awesome on this chap in the morning sun so I'm thinking he is a chap. Not a chappess? Or a chappette? Not sure. Wow blogging does bring up some interesting questions huh!?

That natural beauty definitely doesn’t carry over into the human world does it? Have you ever really looked at us males? I mean if we're the prettier, ok more handsomer of the two sexes (I think there's still only two!? : ) - I don't think the human race woulda lasted very long. Most of us guys have beer bellies-n-butt-cracks and hair growing out of the exact places there should never be any? I mean ears were made to collect sound waves right? Why in God’s creation would He start growing hair inside the ear right when your hearing is tanking anyway? Right when you reach the age where you can't hear a darn thing because of all those Whitesnake concerts in your twenties, and you need nothing in the way of any bit of sound getting in there, He plants a veritable vegetable garden! Not only that...how do you weed a garden you can't even see!? Well maybe if we spent some time checking it out we would. With reading glasses on and all...cuz now it's hard to even shave without a pair on.

The only time we do see it is when we're looking at the dude with the Dwarf Fountain Beach Grass growing out from inside there. Then it’s super obvious and you’re like ‘What’s wrong with this guy!? Why doesn’t he mow that or something!?"

On top of that, to make matters worse, He takes the hair right from where you used to have it, right from where you used to slick it back with a comb before heading out to see AC-DC live at the Garden!

So wrong.

Ok, the bird. Right. The blue in this birds feather kinda shone n the morning sun and though that may not stand out in the iPhone photo below, it was gorgeous. Maybe he was thinking the same of my feathers? Wow look at how those darker grays blend right into the almost white ones! If he had an iPhone he woulda grab a couple shots of me I’m sure.

Within a hour the sun was warming me up and I walked about thirty yards behind my tent site up a little hill and holy cat (day 14 : ) what a view! I could see for miles! I actually started getting dings on my phone here too! So with the reception I actually face-timed my daughter and chatted for a bit. So cool to share the view with her! Coming back I decided to pack up the tent site and hike the last remaining trail I didn’t do yesterday.

It was called Devil's Garden and was actually a little more challenging than I thought it would be. It had some technical parts, but there were also area's where I was walking along one of those rounded top thin walls that stretched upward with sheer drops on either side. So much more of a "holy cat this is scary" challenge. A newly implanted knee doesn't always bend as much - right when you need it to also. Adds an element of X games to the hike lol. To note...going up is way easier than descending. The footings seem easier and you are looking at the rock step in front of you. Going down your footings seem to slip out from under you and all you tend to look at is the hundred foot drop on either side and down in front lol. I did the "sit on tail feathers" move and kinda slide down in a few spots. Felt better anyway. There were a couple of off-shoots from this trail too... Double Arch trail, Navajo Arch, Partition and Landscape Arch trails. All just stunning. Hopefully the photos give some scale to the climb and the views...

I got back to the jeep and was pretty shot. Totally drained actually. I thought I slept decent but maybe just so much traveling, trying to stay warm and not all snuggly in a king size Marriott Ultra plush mattress leaves you kinda spent. Not to mention quite a few miles last night of hiking and then more this morning with some technical/stressful/vertical stuff in there too. I thought I’d get an afternoon mountain bike in but it’s already 1:30pm and without a specific trail in mind I didn’t want to put myself in a compromising situation of being tired and rushing into a trail with no plan.

So…?

A latte!

I headed back into town and first stopped at the Visitors Center in town for some pamphlets, a little book and a chat with the local guy about places to ride and camp. Then I grabbed a Toasted Marshmallow Oat Milk Iced latte from Moab Coffee Roasters again and just plopped my tired butt down to both blog and plan the next twelve hours anyway. I needed a rest and to find a home for the night.

I blasted thru a rough blog draft and then started googling some of the campsites. I’ll usually write up one of these blogs and then have a look at it later to smooth out the edges a bit. I'll also have to load the photos into it which can take a half hour or more sometimes.

I wanted to try more of a remote camp feel vs. the National Park vibe in Arches Park and was hoping I could find something by poking around the BLM area's (Bureau of Land Management) for a site that would challenge, but not overwhelm me. This turned out to be a little difficult since you're going by a description in a pamphlet. I settled on a strip of campsites along the Colorado River called Hunter Canyon. Real close to the Dead Horse State Park area of Moab and it's supposedly pretty remote and surrounded by Canyon walls. Sounds perfect. It’s about 4:00 now and I would love to get set up in the site to be able to have dinner with some sunlight so as not to start the night off freezing again.

Omigosh the road down into the campsites along the river…? What!? Started out paved but not for long. Dirt switchbacks with sheer drop-offs and covered in ice in some areas. Whoa! A lil’ sketchy here! But oh-so cool at the same time.

The Hunter Canyon sites are closed so I venture another couple of miles and decide on the Ledges area...not a soul around. There is literally no one else camping out here and any injury or getting lost kinda weighed on my mind. I'm just a bit new at this too! Hope the jeep starts tomorrow lol.

Cliffs towering above me in every direction! Not up close like in Palo Duro Canyon but they are a bit further away providing walls at a distance - other than the way in and out of the canyon which followed the river (and road). There was a dried up creek bed off the little ledge below me too and this feels good. I'm actually a little higher than all the surrounding land here...I don't know why but I feel safer here. More like Mufasa on Pride Rock or something lol. Not a soul around and no fancy camp here either. A little shed with a hole in the ground for letting the cat out but that's it.

After putting the tent up I grabbed my dinner meal and had myself a cocktail hour, minus the cocktails. That’s also a weird word. I mean cocktails? Why did we name our libations after a chickens tail feathers? Anyone got something on this? Inquiring ducks wanna know.

Anyway, I had pretzels, hummus, leftover cheeses, and tortilla chips - just awesome. Made myself a huge Ham and Cheese sandwich and just loved life right there. Sitting in the middle of this massive area surrounded by these craggily, ancient, standing still against the test of time canyon walls while I’m eating dinner. Wow! I’m really doing this aren’t I? I mean I’m out here, all alone, tenting, riding, hiking in the middle of Utah! Just crazy!

I hope the pictures do it justice because its pretty darn incredible right now.

As the sun dipped I figure I’ll head into the jeep and type up a little of this before heading upstairs to bed. With the jeep running I can keep the laptop charged and I could warm myself a bit before going upstairs into the cold bedroom.

The stars are also beginning to show themselves and I’m hoping for an amazing display tonight!

I headed to bed about 8:00 and by 8:30 was beginning to doze.

That is until the wind began to catch my attention.

There hasn’t been wind all day and now the rain-fly flaps of the tent are flapping against the side walls. Well, I guess thats what flaps do though right? They flap? Closed my eyes again.

Within ten minutes the whole tent shakes pretty sternly with this gust of wind that had a discerning noise to it also. What in tarnation was that! (You talk like that out here). Five minutes later it happens again! Now it’s intermittent like every three minutes or so but much stronger. The flaps are doing their job spectacularly too. Remind me to send their boss a letter. Nice job boys. Sounded like they might almost flap themselves right off the tent.

I poked my head out the door to see if I could batten them down a bit and wow the stars were amazing. Yeah I got distracted a bit but you could see the Milky Way haze that stretches across the sky when light pollution is low. Whoa! A shooting star! Another one! Just incredible! I gawked for near ten minutes while the flaps kept doing their thing probably looking for a raise or something, but they were on it for sure. Or maybe like that guy at work around the water cooler who just keeps flapping his jaw for attention. Just annoying most times. But then they usually come off with something super funny and that keeps you listening even longer. Right?

I also noticed off in the distance over one canyon wall now that there were no stars, a cloud base layer of some kind I could make out. Didn’t look threatening but just the same the forecast had said nothing about rain, or wind for that matter. This came on pretty sudden actually. I told the flaps to pipe down and fastened them up a bit and went back inside.

I lay awake just deciding if I should be out here any more.

Then the tent, and the whole jeep shook, violently.

Like I thought it might rip at its seams and I might be doing the “There’s no place like Homewood Suites, there’s no place like Homewood Suites” thing again.

Decision was easy now. No way I can stay up here in this tent. It'll be tearing apart if these winds keep up.

It’s about 9:30pm when I get all my gear from the tent out and place it in the front seat and begin to bring down the tent. The wind is so strong I’m taking one item at a time out of the tent because if I drop anything the wind will take it away and into the canyon in a flash. I know because I think I lost the sleeping bag ‘bag’. Something just flew away at like forty mph lol. It's so dark I can't tell what it was other than a small bag. The wind is hallowing. Like it’s whipping through the canyon. Not from over top, but coming in and traveling along the path of the road and creek.

This tent is amazing though. Two clips, compress the ladder and over she goes flat as a pancake. Actually got the cover on too. I climbed onto the hood, stood on it grasping the cover like a sail in the midst of a storm on the seas and got her fastened down. I could barely see now too. The sand or fine clay and dirt was flying across the surface of the canyon floor, I could taste it in my mouth and feel it in my nostrils…gritty like. I also blew up the little mattress that I had bought from REI back in Ohio weeks ago and threw that down in the back of the jeep. The thought of traversing those narrow, icy switchbacks with a cliff off one side, in the dark with dirt blinding the view, in what felt like gusts of about 60 mph now - did not appeal to me. This duck is building his nest right here and saying a prayer. Or three.

As soon as I hunkered down in the jeep it felt safer and was quieter. I mean the wind was still howling but compared to the tent I felt like I was protected for sure. With all the gear piled into the front seats and solid walls around me I felt so much safer than the thin vinyl tent wall towering ten feet in the air. The wind kind of passed over the jeep and took the brunt of the force. Luv this vehicle. It took awhile for my heart to come to a rest but believe it or not I passed out for maybe an hour around 11:30 ish.

Sometime after midnight I opened my eyes and it was almost dead silent. Wow maybe I went to heaven? No not after all those things I did to my little brother back then.. geez I think we talked about this? Sorry Bill.

The storm stopped? Or definitely quieted? What the heck was that!? It’s freakin' pretty calm now! I looked out the windows and though they were pretty covered with dirt, the stars and moon lit the area enough to see that all was good and pretty still and peaceful. So weird? Maybe they have these dust storms that kick up without warning out here? Geez think someone woulda mentioned that in the brochure right lol!? Remind me to ask the travel agent for a couple bucks off for near death experience wouldja?

Passed out a bit more peacefully...

Inside

There's a lot to chat about here. I mean the internal thoughts whilst the dust storm kicked up were a journey in itself, but I felt a sense of peace in my decisions there. I considered options and then trusted my instincts and put a plan into action. Even if that plan was to get inside the jeep and curl up in a fetal position and pray lol. But what was also huge to me today was the - not rushing into a camp - when my body was telling me to just chill for a moment and walk into this with patience. For me to stop and take time out to just grab a latte when there is camping and riding to be done is so not the way I used to be! The ever go, go, go dad in me said to take advantage of every drop of sunlight and bomb a mountain trail or something. It's a little bit of taking care of me thrown in there too. It'll all work out, just as it should, when it should. Breathe for a second and walk peacefully! It was so good to research the sites and trails while I sat there to gain a sense of confidence and awareness of where I would be and what was available.

Outside

WOW! The views again. Can't say it enough! I'm amazed buy all the different textures I can visually grab in one glance. The soft pines, the frozen ice, the powdery clay-like soft sand, the hard sandstone rocks, aged-gnarled branches strewn about and the barely clothed, almost fossilized looking tree that still stands proud...just crazy.

A lil reflective thought here also...

How many times in life have we strived to accomplish things in our lives for the approval of others? Maybe as a kid trying to please a parent, or a teacher, or gaining approval from a boss or peers at work, maybe just for the sheer acknowledgment of it and sometimes to make something better of ourselves.

These arches that millions of people come to stand in awe of? The ones people literally hike into unknown area's just to absorb their magnificent beauty? The ones we pay to just have a look at?

These arches actually didn't do anything. But to just be. To be who they are, without trying to impress anyone or anything. Thousands of years go by. They've fallen apart in places. They're showing their age and their wear which - actually makes them more attractive. It's why we are here. It gives them their character, and here we stand in awe of their beauty.

Be you.

You are magnificent just the way you are.

Even more so if you have cracks in your facade.

Anyone that doesn't see that isn't seeing you..

Luv this.

Upside

Having a little cocktail hour in this canyon and absorbing the view, my life, and the work I did to arrive here was one of those moments that will stick with me forever.

downside

Sixty mph winds for sure! Near death experience lol! Least it felt like it.

Every Which way but east.

Planning on doing some mountain bike riding in the area tomorrow and then heading towards Salt Lake City by evening.

Good morning!

Thirty yards behind my tent...I face-timed my daughter from here....so good

My feathered breakfast friend eyeing me from the bush and then coming in for a snack below

The little guy is off in the bush here also...

Let the hiking begin!

I asked this bush if he would hold my phone for a photo...well he kinda cooperated : )

Yup that's part of the hike! Seems like straight up doesn't it!?

Did a little praying' on the way down lol...

TRhe view from behind the arch....and then the view from in it below...

Probably shoulda prayed here also : )

From insider Navajo Arch

The worn hiking path goes up.... and down lol

Landscape Arch... it had a partial collapse in 1922 I think it said...

Gotta go back down!

Finally leaving Arches National Park in the afternoon

Time to re-group and make some plans....over a latte of course!

Heading into the campsite for the nite... drop-offs everywhere...

Scariest switchback yet.... two hairpin S turns and being in four wheel drive the tires would hop as they do the turn was so tight... sheer cliff on the outside edges of both turns...

Campsite cocktail hour!

Feeling accomplished...

Crazy the view from here...walls around, just me and the cool crisp air!

Feels super remote...