Crawling Through Fin Valley in 45mph Wind

Day 10 National Park 2010

Since my tent faced the horizon over looking a beautiful valley I did not have to leave my tent to watch the sunrise.  I was up at 5:30am to do morning ceremony.  I started to walk up the hill to see the camp host since this camp site #10 was for 1 night only.  Jane took my money and had me move from camp site #10 to #5 which faces an arch and the sunset.  I am hoping this site will put me in a more sheltered spot for today’s 45 mph wind blast.  Jane recommended I don’t put up my tent until later after the wind settles down.  She said tents have been blown off even with things inside to weight it down.  But I really wanted to set up my tent in the morning when I am not tired and when the sand isn’t blowing.



45 mph wind, too strong to stand, crawl across to ensure safety


taking a break from crawling to be continued after some snacks

 

I made sure all the spikes were totally hammered to the ground.  I started my day at 10:30am for Devil’s Garden trail.   This trail was strenuous but fun and adventurous, I used up 4 hours doing this trail.  I had fun with getting my photos taken.  The stretch across Fin Valley on top of a mountain wall with 45 mph sandy wind added a high level of scary challenge.  Goggles were needed for this day and a Sahara worthy scarf for breathing would have been wonderful.  I should add this on my to take list.  Families who also went on this trail had their children crawl across this pass in fear they might get blown over and fall down the mountain.  I feared for them too.  But somehow, no one turned around, everyone just pressed forward and enjoyed the knee shaking jaw biting challenge.  These kids had more nerves than I do. 





Mushroom crisp for snack



 

I got a bit lost today to the Double O Arch.  I lost track of cairns on the way back.  I was tired and hot and winded.  I inhaled a lot of salt and sand.  I also ate a lot of sand too.  This was a good warm up to dangerous of fatigue and heat causing the mind to have difficulty in discernment. 



Check out all her jr ranger badges

I am having a lot of fun through hail, snow, rain storms, thunder storms, sand storms, lots of storms on this trip so far, pretty much one per location. 

There are lots of nice fellow travelers, it is great to see smiles on their faces, the kind I can relate to because I have the same happy one on me too. 

I burned my finger in one spot and it blistered.  I somehow blistered my left toe.  It didn’t hurt or go red, just blistered.  Most likely from all the sand that got into my shoes and rubbed against the sock and shoe.  I was exhausted from the heat and wind plus 4 hours of hiking and lots of climbing with hands. 






 

 

 

I took another hour of scenic route down to Moab after the Devil’s Garden adventure trail.  I wanted to stop and photograph scenic landscapes.  I found Burger King to wash my face and hands then ordered veg burger and a side of fries, apple pie, salad.  I sat by an outlet and charged all my electronics and found reception to call family and catch up to report in that I am safe and alive.  I decided to wash my hair in the sink and blew dry my hair with the hand dryer.  Felt good to have clean hair. 

 

I stopped by the visitor center at Moab and got info on petro glyphs in Moab and wall art.  I hope to get another night of camp at the site tomorrow so  I can spend time looking for petroglyphs and wall art. 

On the drive up to camp I saw amazing sunset colors.  When I made it back to camp, the wind felt more like a tornado with black clouds looming over the valley.  I wondered as I approached my camp site how well my tent held up or did it get blown off the cliff?  I also wondered about the sand issue, how well did my tent block out sand from the sand storm? 

 

I sat in my car and tried to enjoy two Valencia oranges with my sunburned lips that are cut and swollen.  It was delicious and refreshing.  Any fire is a total hazard today, I wouldn’t dare to start a fire in this wind for my herbal tea for the internal heat remedy.  So I just infused it into my water bottle.  I really needed it.  I have a headache from today’s wind and sun.  Finally found my lip balm today, yes after all that and 2 splits and 2 swellings on my lips.  I now have it to prevent from happening. 

Lightening struck tonight just over the mountains behind my tent.  There was no thunder, just flash.  There are lots of empty camp sites tonight in the campground.  I saw quite a bit of groups choosing to not set up their tent in fear of the tent blowing off.  But they have no protection from the wind and the blowing sand this way.  This is when an RV feels like the presidential suite.  A lot of others who camped just stayed in their car as long as possible like me.  I see why the chi is so clean here, the wind takes care of everything, nature sets everything straight. 

There aren’t any bugs out to bite tonight.  They have all taken cover, hanging on their dear life.  My tent to my surprise was still standing and well staked down.  I did find a warp in one of the frame, bent by the wind.  I tried bending it back but I couldn’t.  Other than that there weren’t any damages.  Inside the tent, sand covered everything.  It was powdery sand that got through the mesh.  Oh well, I brushed sand to create enough room to rest for the night.  In any case there might be more sand tomorrow so I’ll deal with it when I am ready to pack out I guess. 

HWY 12, Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument, Capital Reef National Park

Day 8 National Park 2010

Didn’t leave Bryce until after shower which ended up being 10:30am.  The drive through All American Scenic HWY 12 was scenically pretty.  But the mountain curves was exhausting all the way up into Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument.  It’s a good thing I’ve had years of training through HWY 17.  I went low gear through many hours of those miles.  I didn’t do anything longer than a stop at Escalante.

 On the rocks overlooking amazing views

 

I met three bikers who told me about Salt Flats in Utah.  They were really nice and had gone to Canada on their bikes. 

At Capitol Reef National Park, I just pulled over too and went to look at Petroglyphs.  I had lunch outside the campground underneath a big tree.  It was all very pretty in hot heat.  I ate dolmas and tomato, olives, hummus at 4pm.  It was a late lunch.  It had been a long and difficult scenic drive to get there.  I didn’t stop at Boulder to camp or the Burr Trail. I heard a 4 wheel drive or SUV would be better for those roads. 



Petroglyphs

I drove through the dessert over looking Goblin Valley State Park.  All very interesting, the sky with dramatic clouds were amazing. 

I drove to Green River and it stank so bad that I totally wrote off the idea of camping there.  Yup the map don’t tell you such things like, it stinks at this campground or this park. 

So I decided to drive straight to Arches.  I made it to the entrance gate at 7:30pm.  Everything was closed.  I kept on driving past vista points looking for campgrounds.  It was far in Devils Garden.  It took another ¼ tank of gas to climb.  I should have gotten gas but I didn’t know. 

I asked a family by the Ranger Host RV to let me camp with them but they declined me.  I moved a few slots over to another family with two sons one is special needs and the one with special needs named Brandon in 7^th grade said yes because he likes helping people and that was how I found a place to camp for the night.  His brother’s name is Sean and he is 8 years old.  Dad has traveled the world and is in the insurance business and is into photography.  They are not using their campsite since they are all camping out of their RV camper and is parked in the parking spot.

I set up camp avoiding ant hill holes.  It is beautiful here and the sky is amazing in day and night.  This lovely family invited me to their camp fire.  This was my first camp fire for the trip.  It was lovely.  The weather tonight was in the 50’s.  I am so glad it is warm here. 

There is no shower here.  The restroom is solar powered and the water does not taste good.