Thor's Outdoors!

Visit from ‘Up North’ - Dec 22, 2014

Sunlight was already peeking in through the curtains when we woke up, but we still managed to see a beautiful sunrise over monument valley from our balcony. After packing up we drove into the monument valley navajo tribal park and saw the incredible iconic view of the mittens and Merrick’s butte. We drove the self-guided tour around the park, admiring the remnants of rock formations formed by erosion with time. Although I now know what the US southwest looks like, especially Texas, this is exactly what I had grown up thinking that the wild west of spaghetti western movies looked like! Heading north out of the valley we stopped about 10 miles north of the park and took some pictures at the iconic spot on route 163 facing south where the road dips down in a long straight away, the scene just about anyone will ever have seen on a travel brochure to the US. As we continued north and climbed up onto a plateau just behind Bluff, UT, the weather turned bad as the temperatures dropped and it started sleeting. We had to slow down and I was worried we wouldn’t get to hike up at Arches after all. However, the minor storm only lasted about an hour and as we approached Monticello and then Moab the sky was blue, and the sun was shining. We had made great time so we turned off the main road and followed the colorado river for a bit as it snaked around some impressive cliffs where we saw plenty of rock climbers. We stopped at the trail head for Corona arch and set out on our first proper hike of the trip! Crossing some train tracks and then following a trail marked with cairns, we arrived to the slick rock portion and had to scramble a tiny bit but there was a ladder and some steel cables which made it easy. Then! Around the bend we saw the incredibly astonishing Corona arch prodding out from the side of the canyon. It was huge! And orange and just amazing! We passed the also impressive bow tie arch but I was just in total awe of Corona arch. We set up a time-lapse with the egg timer and had a snack enjoying the view of the arch and the rest of the canyon with about 5 other hikers who were there. We soon had to turn back though, not before admiring the sea of cairns that had been set up along the trail and after a quick hike back were in the car again heading to Arches national park. There it was windy! The flags were not even flapping, just standing straight out as if frozen. The friendly ranger told us we’d have plenty of time to hike up to delicate arch so we took our time and saw the windows and balanced rock as well quickly on the way up into the park. This hike was a bit more crowded and the bottom portion reminded me a little of enchanted rock back in Texas. However, it seemed as if we were climbing and climbing up into nothingness as the summit was never visible and we kept going around different turns. My favourite bit was the last section where the trail hugged the cliff wall and then around one last bend the sky opened up and delicate arch was there in front of us beyond a stone bowl in the mountain. The view was terrific, we stayed for about 30 minutes and saw the light turn as the sun was setting. As we were sitting there we somehow had service on the phone and received a text from Johanna and replied back with a ‘selfie’ from delicate arch! Such a crazy contrast, the beautiful formation having taken millions of years to create, and the modern technology of being able to whiz away a photo through the ether all the way across the ocean to the Netherlands. As the sun was setting we struck down back the trail as the first drops of rain were hitting and as we drove out of the park we could see the dense rain clouds dropping off the hills to the east. We’d set Salina, UT as our destination for the evening, a few hours further down the road. I’d mentioned this to my dear friend Ashley (who lives in Houston but from Salt Lake) and she decided to drive down for the evening rom Salt Lake where she was spending Christmas with family! The drive over to Salina started off easy but in the mountains just east it began to snow and temperatures dropped to about 25F so we had to slow down while double trailer trucks were screaming by at 75mph unconcerned about the snow and what I thought were slick conditions. We made it though! With the car barely recognisable with all the grimy dirt kicked up off the road from other cars coming down the mountain. After checking in at the Econo Lodge we went out to the Mexican restaurant next door and sat down for a meal waiting for Ashley to arrive. It turns out her family was from this town of less than 3000 residents! It was great to be reunited and Filip was also happy to hang out with someone else besides his uncle for a while. After Ashley gave a quick tour of the town showing off where her father grew up, we retreated in from the cold and went to sleep, excited about a hot breakfast the next morning in town and looking forward to more hiking in Zion!