All Hands on Deck!

Our Fourth of July was relatively quiet at Hovenweep National Monument. We were about thirty miles from the closest town so fireworks weren’t even audible at dusk. The stars were amazing though!

We woke up early the next day and hiked around the Square Towers Group from the visitor center at Hovenweep. The path led around ancient Pueblo ruins that were quite different from those at Mesa Verde. Instead of the cliff dwellings there were mostly stone houses and towers that served as town centers near water sources. However, the people disappeared from the site at the same time as those at Mesa Verde. After a snack, we headed to the Cajon Group, another group of ruins located a few miles south of the visitors center to view buildings up-close.



Heading north, with Moab, Utah as our destination, we stopped at the Needles Overlook for a view of Canyonlands National Park. We couldn’t help taking tons of pictures that fail to show the scale of the canyons that extend into each horizon.



We also stopped and climbed into Wilson Arch - a sandstone arch a few miles south of Moab.



When we arrived, we headed to Arches National Park for the sunset. We stopped at the Balancing Rock Overlook and enjoyed the changing oranges and reds in the rock while we cooked couscous on the sidewalk for supper.



Since we were awed with the scenery the night before, we woke up early the next day and went back up to Arches NP to hike the Park Avenue Trail. The sandstone monoliths that border each side of the trail blocked the sun and gave us a leisurely walk in the shade. After a stop at the visitor center, we headed towards the Moab Adventure Center for an afternoon of white-water rafting with Amy, Tom and Mike.

The rafting on the Colorado River was an excellent way to stay cool since we were soaked from start to finish! Our raft proudly flew the Jolly Roger in the front with our rag-tag group of Vermonters, Brits and Alabamans. Between rapids, the water fights between boats were savage and we were lucky to have a bucket to splash other rafters (except for a short period when it was stolen....but we got it back). Soaked, we got back on a bus toward Moab, where we were camping for another night!

We had michigans for supper and headed to bed early (sun makes you sleepy) so that we could explore Arches and Canyonlands National Parks tomorrow!