And I Am Sun Burnt!

In loving memory of my loved ones that have long since passed, Michael and I went to Canyonland over the Memorial Day weekend. I know it’s not typical way to honor this holiday but we did drive through Price on the way home and half of me is from Price after all.

We headed down to the southern portion of Canyonlands, a place called the Needles. It is so strange how the earth has so many different landscapes. Canyonlands did not disappoint! It is a colorful landscape eroded into countless canyons, mesas and buttes by the Colorado River. I have visited this area many times but always find something new to see.















This was a spur of the moment trip but we committed. Our friends Jose and Analee called us Wednesday to see if we wanted to go with them. Jose was supposed to have a family retreat down there but some of his siblings were afraid it would rain and didn’t want to take their small children. This left their “group” (11-50 camping people) campsite open for us. We tried to recruit but had no luck with the short notice. We had to pay a little extra but we had a lot of space to spread out.

Day 1 - We drove down early on Saturday morning. We arrived in time to fit a couple of hikes in, set up our campsite and eat dinner. The second hike we went on was supposed to be 2 miles but felt a lot longer because we were all starting to get so hungry. After we had filled our stomachs with taco soup we cleaned up and played games in the Adam’s tent. We were supposed to make smore’s but Michael forgot the Graham crackers. Then we headed to bed to prepare for the big day ahead of us.


Day 2 – We woke up early enjoyed a late (8am is late when camping) breakfast. We broke off for quite time and a quick nap before we headed out on our big hike. We had decided to make the loop around Chesler Park, and included Joint Trail (a slot canyon). The total hike was around 12 miles. We started out at about 12:30, just after high noon. It was overcast for the first half of the hike which helped to keep us cool. It also helped us pretend like we would be fine since we had all forgotten to pack sunscreen.





After we exited Joint Trail the sun was out and shining. I could hear my skin start to sizzle under the heat of the sun. We finally made it back to the car tired and sun burnt. We headed back to the camp ground where we prepared a fire and our hobo dinners. We ate like kings and then promptly went to bed; it had been a long hard day.

Day 3 – After breaking camp we hiked around the area. We found some cliffs to climb and caves that needed exploring. We headed back over to Moab, hiked up to the roadside arch and then headed home. It was a quick drive, at least for Michael and me as we slept in the back seat. We did run into some winter snow and spring rain on the drive home… only in Utah!

It was a great trip but I am sun burnt!

Thanks Lee and Jose for the invite.