Vermillion Cliffs

Boy, did it cool down overnight. I didn't slip into my sleeping bag, just used my comforter over the top of me, and you know how it is when you're half asleep, and you feel like you need to get up, and struggle with whether or not you should? And even though you are chilly, getting  up means you will get chillier... by getting up?! Ugh.

I woke up to 43° outside, however it was a balmy 53° inside the RV. So after heating up some coffee and breakfast it improved slightly. It rained all night, so the view from my window was a misty foggy view of snow on top of the cliffs. Northern Arizona, and most of Utah, had a winter storm. It's one of the reasons I bypassed Flagstaff at 7,000 feet, so I didn't have to wake up to several inches of snow which apparently they received. 

I debated whether I should spend another night here, as the Kabab Forest also got hit with a few inches. I would have to move through this area to get to the other side, on my route to Zion. As a native New Yorker, navigating elevations were never a real question, or concern, as we probably only gain a modest amount at the very most, from one region to another. However in Arizona we can literally go from sea level up to more than 14,000 on the top of Humphrey's Peak, and all points in between. While debating my day, a few campers flew past me in their trucks, at a rate of speed that made me question what was going on. I promised myself to never dismiss my intuition, and my intuition said that perhaps I need to move out of this campsite to one a little more accessible, towards the highway. I checked the highway cameras at Jacob's Lake, and snow, and ice warnings were clear. So once I decided to remain in this area, I made the track out, which is only about a half mile to the highway. I decided to put the "metal to the pedal" like the others before me, on this silty road, and thankfully I did that, as I wound up encountering several deeply entrenched tracks with a very tall median which was much more than I remembered from the day before. Yikes.The few by passers had dug these trenches even deeper and with the rain and sand being what it is, it managed to scatter and dig these ruts even deeper. Gulp. For some reason, and with my skills, I made it to the highway and didn't sweat as much as I should have. I felt like luck was with me again this time. Whew. Within two miles I found another bureau of land management pull out, and this time it was a gravel road. I'm in an equally beautiful site with a few campers nearby, and so far it seems secure and safe, and I don't think I'll have a bit of trouble leaving tomorrow morning. I basically filled my day with some chores including cleaning, and mending some fuzzy crocheted socks that I'm determined to keep wearing. As well as sketching, in my sketchbook, to document the beautiful skyline clouds, fabulous colors, and the changes that go on all day long. You can never fully appreciate a landscape like this just passing through, unless you stop and really park yourself for hours on end watching how these stormy skies turn from a dark steel blue, and golden amber cliffs, that then switch from dark purple cliffs to a pink sky. Mother nature is the ultimate masterpiece artist.


















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