Thursday 8/28 - Utah, Arizona

Day 3

We woke up early to pack up our things and go see the rest of the Arches.
It was exceptionally hot. We drove up to the next hiking trail and walked through to see several more arch formations, all gorgeous and mind blowing. The landscape almost made you feel as though you were on Mars - reddish orange rocks on sand, small shrubs and tumbleweed. First thing that came to mind was actually the opening scenes of Total Recall, which I'd seen for the first time weeks before.

After making our way through the park we stopped in the nearby town of Moab for some groceries to make sandwiches for lunch - salami, cheese, mustard, parmasean bread, some giant juicy nectarines, and lemonade - yum.
After sitting in air conditioning at the gas station to map out our route, we continued on and stumbled across a lake where we considered bathing again. Pretty setting, however the water was still so we decided relative cleanliness was not worth the risk of catching the brain parasites Kyle had heard were present in lakes in that very region.

Most of the rest of the day involved a long, hot drive through the desert to the Grand Canyon. In southern Utah we passed the Mexican Hat Rock, somewhere called "The Hole in the Rock" though at the time we saw no apparent attraction to be seen, and near the border, the Kayenta Navajo Reservation, which was sadly pretty impoverished-looking. We stopped by a little roadside stand in the middle of nowhere where some Navajo were selling handmade jewelry - all of them were very friendly and interested in where we were from, where we were going...

Once we entered Arizona, the landscape took a number of different forms, many unexpected - throughout the northern part of the state, it shifted from desert, rocky mesas, and colorful sandy hills, eventually to forests, mountains, and green pastures. It's no wonder Native Americans are so in tune with their surroundings and treat the land as sacred. Living in an area where you're surrounded by so much awe-inspiring beauty, it's so humbling that it seems only natural to be spiritually affected by it.

We arrived at the Grand Canyon camp site shortly after sunset, thus got to evade paying the entrance/camping fee since no one was at the gate and the campsite pay system was automated. It was pretty much pitch black by the time we found a spot, except for other camper's fires and RV lights. They'd stopped selling firewood by then so we went around asking whoever was out if they had any extra we could buy so we could grill our corn, but no luck. So we gave up and just snacked on more crackers/peanut butter and carrots before going to sleep. At least we were now experienced tent-pitchers, so setting up with the car headlights blaring wasn't so difficult. But it was a far cry from the night before - the air was warm and the ground was hard and rocky, so no one got much sleep. Aside from some crows (or ravens?), no spirit animal sightings this time.