Day 6: Salt Lakes to Red Rocks

There is something about this part of the country that seems made for road trip viewing. A mountain range appears in the distance beyond a stretch of arid flatland. It stays in view long enough for you to wonder what natural magic had to have happened to carve the shelved peaks out of the Earth, but it passes before you come up with a satisfying answer, just leaving you in awe. Alex and I found ourselves reaching for our phones to take a photo every fifteen minutes, but looking back at the photos none of them really capture the layers of horizons in front of us, like the La Sal mountain range haunting behind the red mitten looking rock towers in Arches National Park.

Alex and I listened to No Country for Old Men while we drove down to Moab, which after a population boom and bust caused by the discovery of Uranium just before the Cold War was the setting for classic John Ford Westerns. It turns out Cormac McCarthy wrote No Country as a screenplay, and the book pretty much read like a script from the movie. Alex and I both smiled when Chighur said, “You stand to win everything, call it,” which was a classic line amongst college friends’ late night poker games – many of which were played in Taos where we’ll be tomorrow night.

After a short hike to the Delicate Arch, a confusingly beautiful and likely alien created structure, Alex and I checked into Red Cliffs Lodge. Our home for the night is tucked along the Colorado River, carving it’s way into a deep red canyon….this geology seemed to make a bit more sense to us than the spiraling, random structures in Arches. We dropped off our bags, and drove off to a pizza joint with the sun coming down over the canyon and Moab. 7 or 8 pizza slices later, we were tired. We got back to the lodge, Alex saw a shooting star behind our lodge room and we had a glass of whiskey at the saloon. Our bartender told us that seven years ago she rolled a Ford F150 over a forty foot cliff into the river….we will take the windy roads smooth and steady tomorrow in our way out.

Tomorrow we’ll mosey our way down to Taos to meet up with Collin and Michael, maybe after a morning yoga class and horseback ride offered through the lodge!

Oh I forgot to add….after our hike to the Delicate Arch, Alex and I ventured a little off trail to get a closer look at a far off sand stone dome. We descended towards it and contemplating going further until I looked down and just started laughing. We hadn’t seen a sign of life besides our fellow park visitors the entire hike, and here was a footprint that only some monster could make. “What the fuck is that!?” said Alex, immediately turning around and double timing it back towards the trail. We sincerely apologize to any unfortunate hikers who might have fallen victim to the awoken beasts.