The cameras were out like paparazzi today as we encountered one mind boggling overhang after another. We got lucky, ran into fewer patches of quicksand, and settled into a nice rhythm and flow of river walking.
We rolled in to our sleeping quarters around 5 pm, hungry and getting tired. It wasn’t the Ritz Carlton of Mineral Gulch that we’d had the night before, mind you, with it’s 11,000 year old petroglyphs, four sets of narrows, and perfectly groomed sandy beach with a clear view of the Milky Way above; but it was a nice high bench, sheltered from freak flash floods, and once we moved the giant cow pies to set up camp it was quickly upgraded to a Knight’s Inn (insert the name of your favorite small town motel here).
Soon after we claimed our sleeping spots I decided to wander off with my GPS unit and top maps in hand, in search of higher ground where I could pinpoint our location and have a moment of silence to plan the next day’s route. I scrambled my way up a little knoll and found my perch in the sun, where I guess I got a little too comfortable and was gone longer than I thought. I ran into a concerned and forlorn Bobby on my way down, who had just had his first experience being alone and ‘cliffed-out’ in the backcountry. I think this picture of Bobby captured the moment pretty well.
Click to view pictures of Sol’s Zion National Park backpacking trip: Redrock backpacker.