Germar's Monthly Updater

Utah 2002 Day 5 The fifth day of the journey was dedicated to hiking in the core of Capitol Reef National Park. The trail started at the campground. The plan was to climb up to Cohab Canyon, continue on the Frying Pan Trail, visit Cassidy Arch, and finally walk on the Grand Wash Trail back to the highway. It was not a loop trail. We therefore parked all our Jeeps at the end of the trail, and the drivers returned to the campground in a single pick-up truck. Tom, Chuck, Dave, John, and Mike We saw several colorful doves on the way (drop me a note if you know their real name). Unfortunately it was not hunting season and we had to look for something else for dinner. We crossed a plain where apparently some giants had played with rocks. The sky above was crystal blue. We finally reached Cassidy Arch. It was huge. The left pictures show the view standing on the arch and looking toward the mountain. There was a big hole between the arch and he opposite slope. It was not possible to see the ground. The right picture shows the view in the other direction (Note the people standing on the arch). It would be a perfect place for bungee jumping. You only have to sling a rope around the arch and down in goes. The National Park Service could earn a fortune by organizing some adventure tours. I swear, if that arch were in New Zealand, people would stand in line for a free fall. Kathy We were not the only ones enjoying the scenery. There were also chipmunks around. Their interest, however, was more focused on our food crumbs. We had a great view on the arch for quite a while after we had continued the hike. We finally reached our trucks and drove back to the campground. Thereby we passed the most spectacular petroglyphs of the valley. They were incised into the canyon wall by Indians from the Fremont Culture some 1000 years ago. This leads again to the question: why did they do this? I guess that they just liked to set a puzzle for the people to come. It's about the same as smoking. When our successors find all the cigarette butts preserved in the sediments that our generation produces, they will ask the same question: why the hack did they do this? I still had some energy left after supper and therefore walked on a hill overlooking the camp and the orchards, which the Mormons had created. I was a little bit too late to see the mountain ridges glow during sunset, but the views were still spectacular. We stayed a second night at Fruita Campground.

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