February 24 – “Five”

Well, one full day with absolutely no (well, extremely limited) phone service and for sure no internet.  It was kind of nice, actually.  About the only thing we checked our phones for all day was to see how many steps we had gone on the hikes we took.  Even the hotel at the end of the day had no service.  It can be done, folks.

Now on to the hikes of the day.  Five of them this time, all in the southwest region of the park.  Here’s my pictorial image to help me remember.  Nasty water pouring over a tiny little ranch house full of junior high kids that is floating down the river through the canyon at sunset.  Yep, that’s the five hikes we took.  Want the breakdown?  Sorry, you’re getting it anyway.

Hike one: Nasty water.  I think this is where we met the Buffalo Lady.  She was carrying around two stuffed buffalos on her backpack.  Everytime they stopped somewhere new she took a picture of them.  Hmm.  Why would anyone do that?  But the hike … This is the one where we actually had to step carefully over some downed barbed wire to enter the Thorn Forest.  It was like going through the evil witch forest in the Wizard of Oz.  We finally came to an old abandoned windmill with some water underneath that birds were drinking from.  A nearby sign read “Do Not Drink the Water.”  Guess those birds couldn’t read.  They were going to town on that Nasty Water.

Next hike was out to an abandoned ranch house.  It looked very tiny out there in the distance.  Didn’t grow much when we arrived, either.  One room with a shed next door and a corral out back.  I did have another name for the trail though.  Significant Scat Trail.  Not that I had any idea what creature made said deposits, but there were more than one. 

Hike three was the one that had the greyhound bus full of 120 Houston eighth graders in it.  The hike was a pretty long one, and we were beginning to wonder what could have possible become of so many junior high kids.  We passed a pregnant lady with a toddler in tow, but neither of them looked to be of junior high age.  We did finally locate the kids at the literal end of the trail.  It just stopped at the foot of a massive wall.  There were some interesting caves in that wall, too, but Chris wouldn’t let me try to climb up there to investigate.  I guess she figured if it could be climbed, then the junior high boys would have already done it.  Can’t argue with that logic.

Next we sought out the nearby ranger station so we could get our book stamped.  And on the way Chris’ whole trip was made complete.  Right there on the side of the road was … a bluebonnet.  Well, I think there were four to be exact.  And some desert primroses (whatever that is).  But we had to stop and back up so she could get out of the car and take pictures of them.  She is happy.  Good thing, too.  The visitor center there was in such bad shape that even the park ranger assigned there closed the office down so he could go get some lunch.  We scheduled a return visit, had our crackers and Pringles and apples and oranges for lunch, and headed onward.  From there we drove to the end of the trail and hiked down to the river’s edge.  That’s where a sweet old park ranger informed us that this was where the actual hike began.  Scary thought.  He assured us it would be worth our time, though, so we took off.  After all, it was designated “easy.”  But then, so had all the others we had been on, and we were getting pretty sore.   This hike turned out to be one of the all-time best so far.  We had to climb a pretty steep hill and then hike down the other side, but the view of the canyon from there was absolutely stunning.  We met a lot of folks on the way up and down.  One couple offered to take our picture.  They were from France originally, but now live in Phoenix.  Their favorite hobby is sailing.  He said Phoenix may not have been the best choice for them, but they are making do.  He took a great picture, though.

The final hike was a mini-one.  After we checked into the hotel and had some supper.  We had to wait while three Bambi moms crossed the street in front of us.  Speaking of which, we have a new member of the band.  That makes five.  Very cute young thing.  Looks just like the actual Bambi.  That name was taken, though.  I’m thinking something more like … “Getoutadastreetyacrazyanimal.”  Or how about “Crayani” for short?  Oh, the hike … We hiked over to see the sun set between two mountains.  After we had hiked about a mile Chris said, “You know, this is a five-mile-hike, don’t you?”  Umm.  No.  I was suddenly quite tired.  So was she.  We retraced our steps and found a spot quite near the hotel parking lot where we could see just fine.  We knew it had to be a good spot because an artist had set up her canvas there and was trying to catch everything just right.  We encouraged her (she was a phenomenal draw-er.  The colors just didn’t match, though.  We didn’t mention that).  Finally we retired to our “cozy, secluded, romantic spot.”  Their words, not mine.  That translates to something like, “The cabin at the top of the hill farthest away from the restaurant and the lobby.”  It was pretty nice, though.  At least it was a lot quieter than the room the night before that was right on the highway, and our next door neighbors were bikers. 

Psalms 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.”

Father, once again, you have outdone yourself with the beauty of it all.  Thank you.  Amen.