It’s been a week since I graced these pages. Poor WiFi in Park City and a very busy schedule didn’t give me much of a chance to update so here goes. Wednesday started with sunrise over Strawberry Lake southeast of Park City, Utah. And then… a good life lesson… if you are adventurous, set your GPS for fastest route but beware, the GPS can lead you to a few dead ends – especially in the great outdoors! As I worked my way south towards Arches National Park, My GPS decided I needed to travel down National Forest roads. At the top of a rather beautiful mountain road, the GPS asked me to make a right turn. Apparently it wanted me to drop off a cliff! No right turn. So, I drove a little further, said Hi to a couple of curious young Mule Deer bucks still in velvet, turned around and tried to once again find where I was to turn. This time I found it. A tiny motorcycle trail that wound down this very steep slope and disappeared in the Aspens. Needless to say my Ford Fusion was not built for that so I asked Ms. GPS (she’s Australian of course!) to ignore that particular road and she found a longer dirt road that wound its way through a couple of herds of Black Angus until finally letting me out at the bottom of the mountain.
Arches National Park was beautiful. Awesome rock formations glimmered under the 100 plus heat as I hiked down “Park Avenue,” traversed the sparse desert to Broken Arch and joined the crowd at Delicate Arch and then Landscape Arch. After hiking about five miles to various arches and other formations and downing six bottles of water, I left to go cruise Canyonlands National Park. While not as deep as the Grand Canyon, this is a spectacular natural wonder. Even at 108 degrees, I enjoyed the beautiful vistas from every lookout and trail; whether it was looking down from a roadside overlook or hiking the short trail to the arch and the massive canyon that was framed in its precarious form. This massive arch has split away from the cliff and actually sits like a huge picture frame on a ledge far below. it is amazing it is still there.
After the heat and visual overload of Wednesday, I spent the next few days exploring Salt Lake City and Park City. On Saturday, I decided to travel up Cottonwood Canyon, southeast of Salt Lake City and hike up to Donut Falls. This unique falls features water rushing through a hole it carved in the shelf it used to flow over. The hike is relatively easy so it was fairly crowded with families of ages and nationalities. The falls itself sits above a cascade of broken rocks and boulders. Everyone scrambled up the falls with parents teaching their children how to carefully climb the rocks and how to choose their path since there wasn’t one designated. Frankly it was fun to watch and everyone seemed to be careful and polite to others. The falls itself features a small cave created by the water rushing through the hole it drilled through the roof. Believe me, at 100 degrees, there were quite a few people who braved the ice cold water to duck into the cave. While there, the sky filled with storm clouds and being a photographer that knows that waterfalls are best shot on an overcast day, I sprung into action. I have posted a couple of my shots here.
On Sunday I hit the road and traveled to Grand Teton National Park. I will continue this blog with my Wyoming pics tomorrow. My pillow awaits!
