Decided to take a trip

While there was summer left

A few people had mentioned

That Sedona, Arizona

Was spiritual and high-energy,

Yet peaceful and pretty,

So that was the destination

Original planning had

The trip taking four days

To do Sedona and continue

Up into Utah

To visit the national parks

Day 1 --

Pebbled hills

Flickering counties --

Imperial and San Diego --

Crossing back and forth between them

Five times within a few miles

Hundreds of dayglo orange road cones

Lining the road like wizards' hats

Butterflies like yellow dandelions

And railcar-sized rectangles of

Rectangular bales along side fields

Salmon/peach-colored dunes

Of beach-like sand near Yuma

Tempe and Cheryl

Dinner and conversation

Day 2 --

Sedona and the red rocks

(Red mountains really)

Set out to hike to Thomas Point

Figuring that would fill in the afternoon,

With a shower and dinner afterward

And then traipsing the town in the evening

(To check out the shops and galleries

And the general good vibes

That folks had spoken of)

Nearing the trail head

Black thunderstorm sky loomed

Over the Oak Creek Canyon mountains,

So it looked like it was going to be

A drenching, soaking hike

Though thunder boomed on all sides

For the four hours of the hike,

Only at one point on the way back

Was there any rain,

And that was a light drizzle

Starting out, a trail turn was missed,

Right after proud thoughts

Of having good trail sense,

And there were many minutes

Of anxious floundering

Through mountainside trees and brush

With concern about the storm

Breaking during this disorientation

The trail was regained

With no major mishaps

Besides some scratches

Expecting at some point

To find an open summit

With a great view of the canyon

And the mountains near Flagstaff,

Which the trail description

Had indicated was the case,

The walk led on and on

Little cairns (piles of rocks)

Marked the trail from time to time,

And this kept up for a long, long time,

The end never coming into sight

The trail was supposed to be a mile long,

But this was getting ridiculous

Finally, after two hours or more,

It was time to give up on

Ever coming to the elusive vantage point

About to turn back,

Thinking it would be nice to

See another person

And ask them what was going on,

A four-wheel drive vehicle was spotted

Off in the distance

Walking up to it,

It turned out that no one was there,

But at that point

Another vehicle appeared on a side road

Hearing a hail,

The people stopped and changed course

To come see what was wanted

They said that this spot

Was six miles from the starting point,

That there were bears and mountain lions here --

Yikes!

Needing no further urging to turn back,

The trail there was retraced with haste

With thankful thoughts to the thunderstorm

For threatening

But holding off the whole time

Back near the beginning

A ledge with a fine view

Of the length of the canyon

Provided a peaceful seat for a spell

There was a lot of trouble

Finding a room for the night

But one was finally found

A shower and then into town

For dinner and seeing Sedona

Welp, turns out that they

Close up shop by five there

And nothing was open after dinner --

Very disappointing

To compound this,

With the ambitious itinerary

For the following days,

There wasn't time to hang around

The next day waiting for

The shops and galleries to open

Day 3 --

So, it was off on the road again

With the break of dawn

After breakfast and T-shirts

In downtown Sedona

North up the canyon to the top

And a lookout point

Where Indian women were selling jewelry --

Got orange-oriented earrings

From among a host of turquoise items

From old Alice Turquoise herself

For a certain life-purpose person

East on I40 to Meteor Crater

And neat minerals in the gift shop

Many stops in the Petrified Forest,

Including more mineral exhibits,

But some potential walks and stops passed by

And some curtailed due to schedule constraints

Onto U.S. 191 heading north

Into Utah and Monument Valley at sunset

No vacancies in Mexican Hat,

Nor in Bluff, nor hardly in Blanding,

But settled for a cot for $10

In an empty room with no bathroom

(Compare with Embassy Suites

Suite for $79 the first night)

Day 4 --

Up at dawn for the ride to

The Natural Bridges and back

On to the road to

The lower Canyonlands and back --

Disappointing because

The many arches mentioned on the map

Turned out not to be visible

From the paved road in the park --

Seeing them requires

Hiking or four-wheel drive vehicles

Up through Moab to the Arches Park

And slight disappointment --

The famous arch must be hiked to

And is only visible as

A small arch near a mountain top --

The ride in was fun

On a dirt, washboard road for miles

With places where the sand was bluegreen

On to the upper Canyonlands,

Called "Island in the Sky,"

And magnificent views

At the far end of the highway,

Down again and on

To Green River for the night

As the sun set on the way ahead

And induced satori

As icing on the day

Day 5 --

Up before dawn,

On the road to Hanksville

With moonset on the right

And sunrise on the left

Through Capitol Reef Park,

No big deal and minimal stopping

From out of nowhere,

After bone-dry canyon land

For the past myriad miles,

A high hill covered in

Thick green forest,

Dixie National Forest

Up and up for mile after mile

Through outstanding woods

In midmorning sun and blue sky,

Occasional unfenced cattle

Roaming along the road

This stretch at its highest point

Along the endless flank of

The unprepossessing treed ridge rising

A couple of thousand feet on the right

Rises to 9200 feet,

And that humble hill,

Unpeaklike,

Turned out to be 11,322 feet high

Bluebell Knoll of Cocteau Twins fame

Descending to Boulder and beyond

Now come the Escalante canyons

As grooves in the ground below

A couple along the road

Catches the eye

And shortly a turnoff

For Calf Creek draws the car in

Back to Boulder for sandwiches

Then Calf Creek for a mid-day hike

Almost three miles each way,

The weather warm and dry,

In a creek valley between

Incredible towering, smooth rock walls,

A waterfall at the end of the trail,

Purple, yellow, and red flowers

All along the path;

Almost no one encountered

During the shirtless hike in,

Then a couple of dozen

Outward-bound teenagers

Appear out of the blue

And jump in the ice-cold pond

At the foot of the falls

Hustled trek back

Because of much still to do,

Though time to walk

With palms more horizontal

Like antennas for feeling

The energy from the ground

Now to Bryce Canyon

And out to the end point

In the late afternoon

Great scenery but not quite

What was remembered from

Brother Marshall's pictures

From his trip in the fifties

Working back toward the beginning,

Each stop nice but not yet amazing

Seeing some of the same people

At the stops

A stop to see and

Photograph deer

Inspiration Point:

Ah, this is it --

It lives up to its name --

Up to the top observation perch

And Loren from Oklahoma is there, too

It's sunset and the daytime shots

Have not been gotten --

What to do?

The good camera's batteries die to boot

There's nothing left to do

But stay overnight,

Score some batteries,

And catch the scene again

During morning illumination

Sunset and moonrise

At the solstice on 9/23,

The Park lodge has no rooms,

Back to Ruby's Inn

To try to get a room

There is one room

In the whole huge place

And it hadn't been free

A couple of hours earlier

Dinner and then a stroll through

The great gift shop --

More minerals, scenery photo books,

Sandstone scenes and spheres,

Indian-style shirts

And fantastic sandpaintings,

The larger intricate and over $1000,

Some featuring actual turquoise stones

Embedded appropriately in the figure

Day 6 --

Up before dawn again,

Back to Inspiration Point again

In the freezing cold wind

Sunrise and moonset again,

Photos in daylight finally

A brief stop and walk

At Fairyland point

Back for breakfast at Ruby's

And sandpainting purchases

On the road for the Grand Canyon --

The route into the North Rim area

Is 100 miles one way

Along the way, cyclists keep passing

Going the other way,

Then it's lunch at Jacob Lake

And T-shirts and

More sandpaintings

Finally, the North Rim --

But there's more driving to do

To get to the vista points,

So a dozen-or-more more miles

Of tortuous forest road

Until arrival at Cape Royal

Terminates the seemingly unending

Afternoon ride from Bryce

For one tired buckaroo

The ride was worth it --

The view was breathtaking

And shifted from vantage to vantage

Back to a fork in the road

And now off to Point Imperial

And more spectacular views

Now for the long ride back to

Civilization,

No way now to catch Zion

Before daylight disappears

As it turns out,

The road taken cuts through Zion,

So part of the majesty

Is seen in the dying light,

Though the main route into

The depths of the park

Cannot be traveled this time

And is incentive to return

The thought of bedding down

In the Zion area for the night

Tempts but is nixed

Because only one day remains

Before class starts for the fall

And there are several hundred miles

Still to go to get home

So, it's on to Nevada in the dark

To see how far can be gotten

Before exhaustion forces a halt

Las Vegas would be nice

But is too far as it turns out

And the night is spent

Maybe fifty miles shy of there

Day 7 --

Not much to report,

Though the San Gabriel mountains

Looked excellent

On the way in towards L.A. --

Just cruising the 400+ miles home

To arrive mid-afternoon,

Earlier than projected (for a change),

And thoughts of

Zion could have been visited after all

Well, that and the desire to

Hike more Escalante canyons,

The kind where the walls touch,

And any number of other tugs

Will probably mean a return trip someday,

Perhaps with a kindred spirit

To share the wonder with