March 31 – “Hiking the rim”

I had a great start to my day yesterday.  As I started to get up and start the day in my usual ninja-quiet manner … I fell out of bed.  Chris had gotten cold during the night and was as close to me as she could possibly be, leaving me about six inches or so of bed space.  Add to that we were in a regular full-size bed.  So, when I pulled off the covers and went to ease out … bam!  No permanent injuries, though.  Good thing, with the day we had before us.

 

Driving toward our next destinations, my job was to locate wildlife.  And right off I found a deer and a skunk.  OK, they were roadkill, but in my defense, there just weren’t very many critters roaming around in the bitter cold.  I finally located a few domesticated dogs and cows.  Oh, and we saw a few black hawks (the bird, not the helicopter).  But the winner of best wildlife of the day?  A pen we saw with a horse, a donkey, and four llamas. 

 

Finally, we arrived at Canyon of the Ancients.  The visitor’s center was really nice.  The museum was impressive with displays of all kinds of artifacts found at the different archaeological sites in the area.  We had to drive up the road a bit further to find one these sites.  Pretty easy task.  The dig included a home of the early occupants as well as a large round community gathering place.  We were the only human beings anywhere around.  We did see a marmot, a squirrel, and the largest horney toad I have ever seen.  Oh, and we were joined by another critter.  CC is this one’s name.  That’s all.  Just CC.  He’s a mountain goat, and rumor has it that his actual name is kind of a sissy one, and he is embarrassed by it.  We decided to be kind and stick with CC.

 

Next we traveled to Hovenweep Canyon.  That journey was interesting in itself.  We missed the turn and ended up somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Utah.  When we finally came to a cross road, we were able to locate us on the paper map we got from AAA.  Time to back track.  This time we took the correct turn and found the visitor center.  The center itself was closed, but they had placed some stamped pieces of paper in an envelope on the door, so Chris got her book stamp.  Hurray! 

 

Since we were there, we decided to see what all the fuss was about this particular landmark.  It was indeed a canyon, but the draw for most people were the ruins of another ancient Indian civilization.  We were duly amazed at the ingenuity of these folks.  The homes were different from the ones the Cave Ant people had built at Mesa Verde.  Here, instead of carving the homes out of the side of the canyon, these people made bricks and mortar and built homes right on the edge of the canyon.  I can hear the realtors now, “Great views …” 

 

So, how did we get to experience this canyon?  Was it a simple matter of driving to a spot and taking pictures, like at Mesa Verde?  Oh, no.  This was a hike.  A real one.  Mile and a half around the entire rim of the canyon.  How hard could it be, right?  We didn’t even put on our hiking boots.  Just took off in our good ol’ tennies.   Now … let me say right up front that it was a spectacular experience.  Great views of the canyon and close-ups of the structures that we just did not expect.  But that hike.  It took us over an hour to complete.  The brochure didn’t tell us we would have to descend all the way into the canyon and climb up to the other side.  It was really hard in places, but fun.  Chris did a great job of managing her heart rate and breathing, which at times was challenged.  The hike reminded us of some of the ones we took at Big Bend. 

 

After the hike we grabbed some cheese and peanut butter crackers for lunch again and took off.  We switched drivers in the middle of a country road so I could make hotel reservations.  Chris hasn’t learned to use the app yet.  And she doesn’t want to.  Another way she has of making me feel needed, I guess.

 

We pulled over for a picture at the welcome to Utah sign.  So did the car behind us.  They appeared to be a young and in love couple, perhaps on their honeymoon.  They took selfies and lollygagged around, so we got our pictures and took off.  Well, “took off” may be a bit of an overstatement.  Getting back on the road was a roller coaster ride.  We maneuvered through numerous bumps and dips.  Makes you think we weren’t the first to think of stopping here. 

 

I thought the scenery of Utah would be reminiscent of Colorado.  It is not.  Not at all.  The rock formations are completely different.  Oh, and everything is … red.  We were successful in attaining our next stop, though.  Now we are sneaking around in the Land of the Moabites.  Maybe we’ll find Ruth …

 

Psalms 40:1-2 says, “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.  He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”

 

Father, thank you for helping us on that hike yesterday.  We really sensed your presence.  Amen.