Jessie: The day started with Alli and I arguing in the local grocery store about which bag of chips and granola bars to get for lunch. After the initial battle we continued on to Canyonlands National Park, hoping for the day to get better. It didn't. Not knowng which hikes were best for the time we had we went to the Visitor Center to ask for advice on good hikes. Alli and I found a binder which we found very helpful. The title: Short hikes in between 0.3 and 3.0 miles. Alli and I feel in love with this binder and picked out a few hikes we found that would be acceptable. Not to be outdone dad decided on Chesler's Park Overlook, a six mile roundtrip trail out into the middle of the desert. Not only were we not on the same page we weren't even in the same book when it came to acceptable hikes.
Oh, how the death marches continue. There were three things I noticed when we started the hike. One: there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Two: they trail had very little shade. And three: it was stupidly hot. The trail itself was pretty level at the beginning, but even so, 15 minutes into the hike Alli felt queasy and off-balanced. We took a 10-15 minute break in the shade we found, letting her recover. Alli decided she would stay in the shade and dad and I could continue the hikeand meet her on the way back.
Dad and I hiked up until we were 0.6 miles away from Chesler's Park and then decided that we didn't want to leave Alli by her lonesome any longer. We hiked down the slope of the canyon 0.2 miles before crossing paths with Alli. Apparently she was feeling better, but I must say I was not excited to backtrack the 0.2 miles up the side of the canyon we had just come back down. In terms of effort, this was one of the times when I was not happy to see my sister. But we continued on, and now it was my turn to feel queasy. The last 0.2 miles of the trail up to the overlook was the worst part of the hike. But we all made it to the overlook where the view was pretty amazing, though I was just happy to sit in the shade face first in the heavy breeze. It was the best feeling ever.
The good part about the hike was that it didn't take long to get back to the car, though that was probably because Alli and I had more motivation that time. I have to say seeing our car in the parking lot was almost as beautiful as the overlook we hiked to. We were all thankful it was finally done. Not wanting to do any more hikes we decided to stop at Newspaper Rock on our way to the hotel, an overlook of Petroglyphs that was right off the road. It was only fifty feet from the parking lot, but even so that was plenty of a hike for us. When we finally got there though it was pretty cool. It was just a slab of rock covered in ancient petroglyphs dating from B.C. times to 1230 A.D. It was really interesting to see the stories and lifestyle of the peoples through their drawings, except for the current-day jerks that added their own names and dates into the rock face.
We didn't stay long however, we wanted to get to Moab, UT and visit a few thrift shops and Wendy's. Both Alli and I approved of this plan as Alli got what she was promised: shopping, and I got what I was promised: Orange Soda. We filled up on souvenirs, food, and may I say the most delicious drink of all time. We returned to our hotel, relishing in the fact that we didn't have to wake up until 10:00.
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