Escalante Excursion: Day 4

In spite of the warnings, health training, mountaineering experience and ample reserves of water, we did have a small incident in the group of dehydration then eating snickers and chugging powerade - subsequently inducing a foul smelling, off-putting-colored vomitus (right next to, but in very gentlemanly fashion, not on the car) as we pulled into camp Saturday night. Sunday morning, as the birds sang their sweet songs of good tidings to the well-traveled adventurers, I drank a cup of tea and read poetry from the latest edition of the Mountain Gazette. Nathaniel rose next, and we discussed the day's plans. It went something like this:

Nathaniel: "Do we want to hike through the monument?"

Hunter: "Yes and no. What do you think?"

Nathaniel: "Yes and no. I see value in both."

And through this persuasive and heated exchange, a knowing sense of agreement bestirred the surrounding area. "Hike no more shall we," the birds seemed to say, "drive the road using Mark's parks pass we shall." There's so much to see and explore in the monument that you could make an entire trip out of it (really, this is true of all the places we went), I want to come back and spend a dedicated trip here. For the time being, however, the 23 mile scenic loop along Rim Rock Drive sufficed beautifully. 

We pulled off and explored one of the many rest points. It took all my will power not to find a pile of rocks and see how long they would take to hit the ground if I threw them with varying initial velocities and trajectories. This caused me no small emotional distress, and I elected to pretend like I knew stuff about the local geology to distract myself. My two companions generously huffawed and gaffawed with my rambling, and graciously did not themselves throw any rocks off the side either. It was a great success.

If I were to camp here, I would absolutely make up scenarios in my head about being an outlaw on the run in the wild west, hiding from the powers that be while waiting for the fallout of my latest shenanigans to blow over. And then I would never leave.

Once back in the car, we filled up on gas and aimed the car east on the great road towards Rivendell, or at the very least, Boulder.