Horseshoe Bend on the Colorado River

Good morning, my friends. We'll be heading for home after I finish this post. We've had a good trip. Keeping it short was a nice change. I packed enough food so that dinner was heat-and-eat every night. Even breakfast was pretty easy. 

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, we were out early to beat the heat for a short hike out to Horseshoe Bend. You might remember our trip to Goosenecks State Park in Utah last year. There, we saw a similar river formation, but the one below was on Utah's Green River.

The bend in the Colorado River looks much the same, and yet completely different. But let's just back up a few paces. It was about a 15-minute drive to the turn off. This is the information I had about the trailhead.

As we were going down the road, I looked for a little more information to help us identify the place. It was then I read that there was a parking lot that was built by the City of Page. There was also a $10 fee to park, and it would not be discounted by our "geezer passes." As it turns out, the parking lot belongs to the city, even if the view is within the boundaries of the national park. (This is also true when one visits Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota. Mt. Rushmore is a national memorial, but the parking structure is privately owned.) But, okay...no problem. We continued on our way until we approached this sign:

And, whoa. This wasn't the quiet rustic setting we were expecting. There were a LOT of people here, as you'll see in a minute. But first, let's get the rules straight. Those of you on rollerblades and skateboards will have to take them off and walk. Sorry. Those are the rules.

You'll have plenty of company. We headed on down the trail with thousands of our fellow hikers.

It was an easy hike...just 3/4 of a mile both ways, and the trail was well-groomed. Along the way, we could see the crack in the desert floor where the river was running.

Just about halfway there, we entered the national recreation area.

The canyon became wider.

We walked alongside this rail fence, admiring the beauty of the landscape.

Okay, now here's something. See those dark "rocks" out there? They look for all the world like a huge pile of bison dung. Only, Mike and I have this all figured out. With all the dinosaur footprints all over the area, we believe this to be a giant petrified pile of dinosaur dung. Mike is there so you can see the scale of this. We can argue if you like, but our minds are made up about this. Consider it settled science.

Moving on...there is is! I've seen this so many times on Facebook and other media, it was exciting to see it with my own eyes.

Of course, we took the requisite selfie. (I bought that hat for Mike for his last birthday. It says: "That's what I do. I fix stuff, and I know things." It's true.)

Our shadow selves made an appearance. It's been too hot for them, but they were willing to show themselves for this cooler morning hike.

Turning back, it was an interesting landscape. If you look at the highest peak in the image below, there is a man sitting there for scale.

Arriving back at the parking lot, I took this picture so you could see all the cars. On the right side of the image are some tour buses. Sheesh. 

Looking down at my feet right after taking that shot, I noticed these blooming things. These are desert marigolds.

From there, we drove into town. We stopped at a Safeway to pick up just a couple of items. While there, we bought our one package of hot dogs. We allow ourselves one package of hot dogs per trip. 

As we headed back to the RV, we noticed some "scenic view" signs, and decided to check it out. There was a view of the dam and bridge from here. It was a short hike down a rather steep hill. The city had used flagstone steps in some places, but also relied on the natural stepping stones of the landscape to lead us down. The railing was very nice to have.

Looking up again...we came from up there at the top.

And please. Don't think I can't hear you shaking up those cans of spray paint. Put those away right now.

Looking out, this was the view. Pretty cool.

Looking in the other direction, it looked like this:

There were some kayakers below.

When we arrived back at the RV, we got Smitty out for a walk. He was not at all happy about this at first.

Eventually, he got with the program and we had a pretty good walk of about 15 minutes.

Looking at the yellow behind him, I snapped this picture of the little yellow flower there. My phone tells me this is "Broom Snakeweed."

Also behind him, this plant. My phone tells me this is vitex agnus-castus, also known as "chasteberry."

 

When we finished our walk, treats of valor were dispensed. Sadie received treats of appeasement.

And that was our day.

It was a little cooler here yesterday, and so we sat outside for a while last night. It made for a better night's sleep as well. This morning we'll be packing up and moving on. We have four days of driving ahead of us before we reach home. We're hoping to see some pretty countryside along the way, driving some roads we may never have driven before. Tonight we'll be in Caliente, Nevada, and we've visited there before. We'll just stay the night this time around, but if you want to learn more about Caliente, you can read my previous post right here. On that trip, we were there to see Cathedral Gorge State Park to our north, and that was very interesting.

Okay, so time's a-wasting. I need to be on my way. As always, we'll chat again when we reach the other side.