It Started Out So Well

and about 4 hours later, it skittered down hill  quickly.

We left about 0700 this morning for our little trip to Moab and Canyonlands State Park. I was happily snapping pics as we moved down the highway. We eventually arrived at Monticello, Utah where we refreshed our coffee and continued on out way. One note here. Pinto beans and sunflowers. They grow both of these in huge fields surrounding Monticello. Fields with rows and rows of huge sunflowers with their heavy heads bowed, swaying with the slight breeze moving around them and across the road more rows but these of short green full plants that would one day bare pinto beans. I had no idea where these things were grown until today.

Grain elevators stood tall to handle the corn crops that too were part of the farming done here.

The scenery started changing soon after entering Utah.

We stopped along the way to shoot these pictures. If you look closely you can see people close to the opening of this arch.

I was having a wonderful time. The weather was perfect.

We started with this temperature at 0900 but by noon we were looking at mid 80's. We entered the Canyonlands Park after paying the ten dollar fee per car and started climbing the incline.

When I say we started climbing, I meant while driving. That's where the trouble began. When we quit driving and started walking, which didn't happen for a while.

We drove to different look out points and along with the other guests there, we shot more pictures.

This was a short walk from where we parked. We both walked out to the lookout. It was a little later that the problem emerges.

We drove around and viewed the arches. One arch required a long walk to get to it though you could see it from a distance if you didn't want to make the great hike and get close.

This is the view from

the distance. I didn't make the hike.

More pictures taken as we drove from viewpoint to view point.

and then we get to here.

This is the entrance to the trail where the biggest arch in the world once stood. It fell a few years ago and the husband wanted to hike to it. He had been here 7 yrs ago and viewed it. Now it was gone.

I looked at the sign posted that stated it was 0.3 miles to the site. I was O.K. with that so we took off armed with our bottles of water.

The trail was busy. Men, women and children trudging up the inclines. What inclines? That sign at the start stated 0.3 miles but neglected to mention it was all up hill on a narrow sandy path.

I knew we should have turned around when a young lady with her fellow on the way down stated when asked by him if she wanted to hike the other trail,"At this point I could care less."

We didn't turn back and soon I realized what an error in judgement I had made. I think the sign lied too.

Soon I was gasping and looking for any place that offered shade. Those spots were crowded. I watched the people meeting up with us on their way back to the parking lot. Not one of them were laughing or chatting. Most were sweating profusely with reddened faces, children being piggy back carried by exhausted parents and most of them hadn't carried any water on their hike.

As I crawled over the rough spots, the husband kept saying "it's just a little farther".

If I heard him tell me that one more time, I swore I would start throwing rocks at him.

I'm not ashamed to say, it was soon time to turn around and stagger back to the truck. I told the husband he could finish this little up hill debacle by himself.

We both headed back and he didn't get to see where the arch wasn't. I tried to tell him it was just a heap of rocks now. I think he was a little disappointed. I was grateful to be back at the truck.