Canyonlands: Island in the Sky
Mesa Arch was very cool.
Definitely a place I would love to see at sunrise!
This canyon is definitely a place worth exploring!
Words and pictures don't do justice to the beauty of this area.
We also enjoyed the views of Aztec Butte
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed
by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do."
- Mark Twain
More views from Aztec Butte
After Aztec Butte we enjoyed a hike up to see Upheaval Dome
Mesa Arch, a couple photos from Aztec Butte and this beautiful desert.
Some of the views on our way out of the park
"Let your brilliance shine! Even if everything around you is withered and dry!"
quotemaster.org
"For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go.
I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move."
- Robert Louis Stevenson
There is nothing like exploring in a place you have never been before!
“The desert is so vast that no one can know it all. Men go out into the desert,
and they are like ships at sea. No one knows when they will return.”
- Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio.
“If a flower can flourish in the desert, you can flourish anywhere.”
- Matshona Dhliwayo.
More views of the Upheaval Dome
“Like water in the desert is wisdom to the soul.”
- Edward Counsel
"We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us."
- Anonymous
On the way into Monticello we were travelling in a big snow storm.
Thankfully it is spring so the snow didn't last too long.
We enjoyed views of the Monticello temple, enjoyed singing along
with the radio and took in dinner at Zax in Moab. It was a good day!
Beautiful evening skies near Monticello
Canyonlands: The Needles
“The desert does not mean the absence of men, it means the presence of God.”
- Carlo Carretto.
Day number 2 included a visit to Elephant Hill and a hike to Chesler Park.
The drive to Elephant Hill left a lot of dirt in the tail pipe of the truck.
These rocks stacked one on top of the other helped us find our way along the trail.
They lend themselves to lots of life metaphores.
The boys had a good time going on this beautiful 8.6 mile hike
(4.3 miles in and 4.3 miles back).
"I don't see the desert as barren at all; I see it as full and ripe. It doesn't need to be flattered
with rain. It certainly needs rain, but it does with what it has, and creates amazing beauty."
- Joy Harjo
We were impressed with their ability to hike that far
on a hike that was up and down the whole way.
We enjoyed the beautiful slot canyons & the carved out rock stairs!
While we were on the hike Cort started asking
all of the other hikers that we passed where they were from.
Must have some Holdaway blood in him! 😆
Marshal told everyone on the way back that, "We had a great adventure!"
For a kid with very tired legs I was happy to hear Marshal's outlook.
Indeed, we had enjoyed a great adventure!
“If the desert is holy, it is because it is a forgotten place that allows us to remember the sacred.
Perhaps that is why every pilgrimage to the desert is a pilgrimage to the self.
There is no place to hide and so we are found.”
- Terry Tempest Williams.
With beautiful windmills and cows crossing the road our trip
away from society was everything we needed.
We saw beautiful winter willows on the way home and did a quick stop to the temple.
One of the highlights of the trip was counting over 150 jeeps that were in Moab for the Jeep Safari that was beginning. Looking for jeeps has become a favorite family game because of this trip.
“But in the desert, in the pure clean atmosphere, in the silence – there you can find yourself.”
- Father Dioscuros
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