2 October, 2015, Friday
We have our two day old pie and two more of our pears for breakfast
after walking across the road to get some coffee. Everything tastes good.
It’s especially nice not to feel overstuffed. After breakfast we
pack up and head for Goblin Valley State Park. The scenery as we
approach is stunning. We stop at the visitor center and it becomes
clear we could easily spend a few days here exploring. For today, we
go to see the goblins. It doesn’t take much imagination to see
goblins in the stone forms.
After our morning visit we return to Hanksville to acquire some pie for
tomorrow’s breakfast and to fill the car with gas. Then we head for
Hite, where Route 95 crosses the Colorado River. Before we cross we
stop at a view point overlooking Glen Canyon. I have some trouble
walking along the path near the canyon’s edge as my acrophobia kicks in. I hope the Grand
Canyon trails are wider!
We arrive at the Hite Ranger Station after crossing the Colorado. The
ranger suggests we can camp in Farley Canyon if we want to be near
the water, but he is not sure we can make it down the three mile rough
road in Jazz. Most people who drive down that way have trucks. We head
down the road to see what we will find. The first mile and a half is
not bad, but then the road gets very rough. We park in a camping area at
1 ½ miles and walk down the road. We both decide it’s not worth the
trip over the rocky road just to be on the water. Besides, there are
two other trucks already parked down there. We have the upper camping
area entirely to ourselves.
We take out our camp table for the first time this trip and set up our
kitchen. What a view!! We should have some great star-gazing
tonight. It’s so quiet here once the wind dies down that my ears are
ringing. After the dishes are done I get out my binoculars. I see two jackrabbits and a cottontail. One jackrabbit is so long-legged that at first I think it is a
small deer.
The sun has set. The cliff walls are dark. As the stars begin to appear I
can see the silvery borders of the clouds still illuminated by the
last rays of the sun.