When I arrived at
My campsite. I think I got the best one in the whole grounds.
The road that the campground is on one of the branches off of the main road, so I started by visiting the end of that road. It wasn’t a canyon per se, but rather something that they called “Upheaval Dome.” There are a couple of competing theories about how it was formed, one of them has to do with salt and the other a meteor. The meteor theory seems a bit more exciting to me, but it seems like science is a bit more supportive of the salt theory. I did the hike up to the rim so that I could look into it and it was pretty neat. After I returned to my car I started back towards the main road being sure to pull off at all of the view points and sights along the way to take pictures. The only other “major” attraction along this road was Whale Rock. I stopped and took a picture. I also debated doing the hike to the top, but I was feeling pretty tired and wanted to be able to do a couple of other hikes, so I opted against it.
Once I got back to the main road, I drove all the way out to Grand View Point, and it was a grand view. From here there was a one mile (2 miles out and back) hike along the rim of the canyon out to a point (I don’t know what the technical term is, but it was a peninsula-type thingy that jutted out into the canyon). The view was well worth the hike. It was amazing to be nearly surrounded by such a vast canyon.
After completing that hike, I continued making my way out towards the front of the park. When I made it back to the turn-off to the campsite I realized that I would likely be able to see the entire park that day. It wouldn’t include any long hikes, but I was so tired at this point that I was totally okay with that. I decided that I would head out to the front of the park and start working my way back towards the campground turn-off. There was one more hike I wanted to do and it was near the turn-off, so I figured this would give me a bit of a rest.
Schafer Canyon
The last hike I completed was approximately a half mile loop that took me out to Mesa Arch. Yes, another arch. It was a nice arch, with a view of yet another arch through it, so that was cool. The second arch was called Washer Woman Arch and, as I’m sure you have surmised, it looked like a woman doing the wash.
After that, I was pooped and ready for bed, but it was only 5:00. I headed back to my campsite to relax for a bit. I ate dinner and read my book all the while trying to stay out of the sun. It was hot, and I had been out in for the past 10 hours. I really wanted to go to bed, but I knew that if I let myself go to sleep, I would not be able to sleep through the night. I kept myself busy in order to fight off the drowsiness until it was nearing sunset. I then headed out to the Green River Overlook near the campgrounds with the hopes of taking in a spectacular sunset. I did see the sunset, but it was unfortunately less than spectacular. It was a bit too cloudy and the skies never turned any magnificent colors. Oh well…
Sunset at Green River Overlook
I went immediately to bed once I returned to my campsite and had the best night of camping sleep ever. I guess getting up at 6:00AM and hiking nearly 10 miles will make you not notice the hardness of the ground. I think I slept close to 10 hours before awaking the next morning.
The ritual of tearing down camp proceeded as usual and I set off in the direction of
1 comment:
But Erin, I would think that you would've had some water to brush your teeth with? Brush, rinse with a cup? And those arches were nice. Washer Woman Arch, lol. It's fascinating to think how nature created them.
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