May 28, 2006
The post title is not one we made up (despite David's great wit), but something we saw on a sign in Arches National Park in Utah. We had a great time on the trip. We camped and hiked for about a week, partly in preparation for the camping and hiking we'll be doing this summer and partly just because we wanted to. I've never spent much time in Utah, but everyone who's been has talked about how gorgeous it is and how good the hiking is, so I thought we should go. David thought I was a little weird about it, since he grew up going to Zion and Bryce fairly often (it's nice to know growing up in Vegas has it's advantages!).
We went to Arches first, which surprised us because it was PACKED! I felt so silly--I had somehow assumed that peak season wouldn't start till after Memorial Day, so we'd have plenty of space in the campsites and there wouldn't be a long line on all of the hikes. I was wrong on both accounts. We ended up staying on BLM land for most of the week since the campgrounds in the parks were all full, and we saw a lot of other hikers while we were out. Having said that, we had a great time and are already planning our next trip, which we'll try to do in the off-season.
One of the neatest things about the trip was learning about cryptobiotica, the thin, fragile crust that protects the desert. We knew the desert was really delicate and the ATVs and cars (or even footprints) last for a generation, but we didn't know why. It turns out the 'crypto' is what is so fragile. It's made largely of silicon, but also has some sort of bacteria that actually "fuses" the grains to one another to form a protective layer that keeps the sand from blowing away and therefore nourishes the plants that grow in it by keeping water in. If the crust is broken, though, the sand starts blowing and if it's broken in large chunks, the sand will blow to cover the adjacent crypto, thus starving it of oxygen and killing it, too. Judy, our ranger guide for the fiery furnace hike (too many people have damaged the rocks, so you have to go on a guided hike or buy a permit), told us a cute saying the rangers have, "Tip-toe 'round the crypto and don't bust the crust."
While Arches was beautiful, our favorite park was Capitol Reef, pictured below. You can do free backcountry camping (not that we had time), there are tons of trails, maintained or otherwise, and the primative campground in the south of the park was beautifully placed. Our favorite hike, though, was the 9 mile loop of Lost Canyon in the Needles district of Canyonlands. It went from high desert to a lush valley with running water (and lots of mosquitoes!) to slickrock.
We really hope to go back soon, especially since we missed so many other parks, not to mention all of the areas we didn't get to in the 3 parks we did manage to spend some time in. A week was definitely not enough! But we were unbelievably foul by the end of the week without showers, and while it was great practice for this summer, we were in need of some hot water.
