Day 15   -   Friday, September 21^st

Moab, Utah

        The morning sun brought with it the color of red. Everything was red. Dirt, rock, sand, even the sidewalks were red. Welcome to Moab the land of the red rocks.

        30 miles on a paved road and jerry took a right onto a bumpy, rocky, winding dirt road. With all 4 wheels turning at 3mph and I felt like Ace Ventura – missing a hard hat while being thrashed around in the car. We made it up and over the ridges and into an alcove among some steep rock walls.

        Jerry stopped the car and we got out to prepare some food. The table was set up on a ledge where Jerry cooked some breakfast – grits, just so we won’t forget where we came from ya’ll. The sun finally made it up above the walls and bathed us in the warm sunshine – it felt so good.

        Back on the rocky road again we passed a rock formation called The Goonie Bird and it sure did look like one. We, Jerry, me, and the truck, all made it out to the paved roads again and so we started to head towards town, as our camera memory cards were getting full. At the local library we had internet access and a plug so we could transfer all the photos onto Jerry’s laptop. It was quite a library and rightfully it had won an award for being one of the best small libraries in the US. Armed with 10 GB of memory cards we were now ready to tackle any rock formation that the Arches National Park had to offer.

        The rocks were so beautiful and strange at the same time. How could all these pillars stand while others eroded and tumbled? Jerry let me out of the car at Park Avenue – quite the name for a dirt trail leading into a desert landscape. Jerry went around the area in his car allowing me to take the short hike on the trail through the area. The trees were really short with crooked roots shooting out from the underground in an attempt to absorb as much moisture from the air as possible. Everything looked incredible dry, nothing was a fresh green color instead all the bushes had a faded sage color. I saw the famous rock formations: The Three Gossips, The Sheep, and The Dark Angel. All rock formations that had been given names according to their appearances.

        We went to see several other different rock formations such as the balanced rock. This rock looked like an egg placed on the high end on a tee. It is amazing the rock has been able to sit in such a precarious position for so many years. There were other rock formations that created windows and arches and we were headed for one of the more famous ones.

        The treat of the day was hiking up to the Delicate Arch, where we took at least a couple hundred  pictures and we stayed there to see how the light changed from a bright yellow to the warm soft glow of a setting sun. It is absolutely amazing how an arch like that can still be standing after so many years of wear and tear from the weather and tourists. It looks so fragile and yet there it stands after thousands of years. We stayed at the arch watching the sun glide down past the horizon, the stars showing up in the sky and the moon came up. It was a gorgeous place. The moon light provided enough illumination that we could hike down without the use of our headlamps.

        In the dark we found a campsite and set up the Hubba Hubba tent without the rainfly, so we could fall asleep watching the sky.