After cooking breakfast in camp, we drove to the visitor center to fill up our daypacks with water. The cowboy camp didn't have water, and the visitor center, about ten miles south, was the closest water source. We decided to do a few short hikes in the morning while it was still a bearable temperature in the desert.
For our first stop, we headed for the Mesa Arch Trailhead. More of a short walk than a hike, the Mesa Arch Trail is a half-mile loop to a picturesque arch on the Island in the Sky Mesa.
The walk only took a few minutes, and the path was well-maintained by the park service. The arch itself was more impressive than in the photos I had seen. I was able to climb up to the edge of the rock running underneath the arch, and was surprised to see that there was a drop off of close to a thousand feet immediately beyond. Photos taken from the right angle captured the vast landscape framed by the arch. We hung out long enough to take a few photos. A handful of other tourists climbed the rocks around the arch searching for the perfect photo.
With our warm-up hike out of the way, we drove further across the mesa towards the Aztec Butte Trailhead. This hike was a more formidable 2 mile round trip jaunt to a couple of archeological sites. Most of the trail was a level walk through open desert scrubland on a sandy path. We spotted a young jackrabbit on the side of the trail, munching on a long stalk of grass. He didn't look to be alarmed by us.
Part way along the path, a side trail branched over the base of a large rock formation. From this point, we climbed 40 or 50 feet of slick rock to the top of the formation. The trail crossed the flat, rocky top to the other side and then descended to a cave. Inside of this cave were remnants of an old granary used by indigenous peoples long ago. It looked as if they had made bricks out of the clay and stacked them inside of the cave to create a storage space.
We followed the spur trail back to the junction, and then continued towards Aztec Butte. The butte was a large dome of gray rock, with scattered sandstone rocks and ledges. The top of it was perfectly flat, and lined with green vegetation. The easy trail quickly turned hard from here, as we had to ascend several hundred feet of slick rock at steep angles. This was the hike when I began to trust my footing on the slick rock, which isn't really slick at all when its dry.
On the table-flat top of the butte, the trail made a loop around the perimeter, affording views in all directions of the Island in the Sky Mesa, and the towering canyons of the Green River. Ruins from another primitive structure were to one side of the trail.
The trip down went quickly, aided by a few stretches of scooting on our bottoms to avoid falling down the steep rock. We made the easy walk back to the Jeep and headed further down the road for another hike.
Our third hike of the morning was to Whale Rock, a large formation of slick rock that resembles a whale if viewed from the right angle. The trail was only a mile round trip, but it made a steep climb over ledges of sandstone and slick rock to the large, flat area atop the formation. We sprawled out on the rocks, soaking up the sun and taking in the panoramic views of the landscape around us.
By the time we had made our way back to the Jeep it was almost noon, and the air was quickly becoming too hot for hiking. We decided to drive into Moab and look for an air-conditioned place to hang out during the warmest part of the day. We ended up grabbing lunch and cold drinks at Sweet Cravings, a cafe right in town. They had air conditioning and didn't mind us loitering at the table for a few hours.
The car thermometer read 106 degrees as we drove out of Moab, but by the time we had made the drive back to the Island in the Sky, it was a respectable 95 degrees outside. We refilled our day packs with water at the visitor center and headed for the Murphy Point Trailhead.
The Murphy Point Trail provided an easy 1.8 mile walk to the edge of the canyon. The hiking was mostly on sand and occasional slick rock, and the elevation never gained or lost more than a hundred feet. The trail passed through an open, arid terrain of cacti and juniper. As we approached the canyon edge, we had to climb across a sizable gap between large chunks of slick rock. I found it was easier to get a running start heading down one rock before leaping the gap and using the momentum to climb up the other side. Mary preferred the slower approach of scooting down one side, getting a foot hold and hand hold and then scrambling up the other side. I'm finding this slick rock to be a fun surface to hike on. As long as it doesn't rain, and there isn't any loose sand or gravel on it, the surface provides predictable and consistent footing.
The view from the canyon edge was surreal. A sheer drop-off of about 1,400 feet provided views of the white rim road ( a path for 4 wheel drive vehicles) far below, and of a maze of mesas and canyons stretching to the edge of the earth. The waters of the Green River were visible from the overlook as well.
We hung around at the overlook, eating some animal crackers and debating how many miles we could see. Eventually, we made the hike back to the Jeep.
We drove back to the campsite in time to watch the sunset. The sun melted into the horizon, casting off an infinite number of shades of red and yellow. We cooked dinner in the cool, twilight air while the skies took on a rich, violet color. Bats darted about the campsite as darkness took over the desert.
After dinner, we sat up for a couple of hours, enjoying the awesome display of stars. With so little light from cities visible, and the moon not coming up until after midnight, the night sky was spectacular. The glowing, gaseous blanket of the Milky Way stretched from one horizon to the next. Eventually, our fatigue overtook our appreciation of the night show, and we climbed into the tent for a quiet night of sleep.
