AdventureTaco - turbodb's build and adventures

My wife keeps asking me what I’m reading all the time, I showed her your last post, now she understands! To mirror what others have said, great writing and pics to go along with it. You’ve got a great balance and a way with words that keeps us interested.

Looking forward to more!

 

Awesome report, I need to go through this later.

 

Simply amazing! Well done sir!

 

You are my inspiration for adventure.

 

Man you made that day seem fast. So much good stuff happened that day. Was fun. Great photos man! Edits are looking stellar.

 

Point Sublime is a truly special place. I’m glad you guys got to experience it!

And those aspens... damn. I really miss the Kaibab Plateau. Despite having grown up nearby, there is still so much that I haven’t seen and experienced.

 

Man it was almost embarrassing how much we stopped for the Aspen's. It was awesome.

 

Wow. So many TW banner-worthy shots. Again, thanks for sharing.

 

Hahahaha, perfect! Glad you are enjoying - I get that same feeling when I read other people's trip reports so I know exactly what you mean.

I get the same thing from @mrs.turbodb, but then later I catch her reading various threads to see what's going on as well. definitely more good stuff to come, this was an amazing trip.

Thanks a ton, appreciate the kudos.

Nah. Go make your own adventure .

Thanks man it was an awesome day. As I was writing up the whole trip, I kept wondering to myself how many times I can just try to describe the beauty of what we saw, and not just seem to be repeating myself. Lol.

Totally agree on all points. Can't wait to go back myself!

Thanks man, would be cool to see a banner show up someday. Not holding my breath though, probably have to be part of the popular crowd to get up there. I'm more interested in just getting out and seeing it all.

 

You're making it right now, and I'll be getting it in about 2 weeks.

 

Ha yeah. Been there.

 

F.U.Rain Day 6 - Less Than Two Seconds
October 4, 2018.

By midnight the wind had picked up significantly. 40-mph gusts buffeting our tents. Rain, blowing sideways. And then, at 2:12am - lightning, and a lot of it.

I'd slept well through the rain, earplugs doing their job to mute the noise of the drops on the tent. But they did little to soften that first clap of thunder. It wasn't until the next flash of lightning that I could count the delay - about 8 seconds - not too bad.

But then more lightning. And more. It was constant, as the wind continued to whip at the tent. And it was getting closer. 7 seconds. Then 5. Eventually, I could barely count "one-one-thousand, two-one" before the thunder would crash through the night. Less than two seconds.

"F*ck you rain."

Needless to say, my heartbeat picked up rather dramatically at that point and I hoped I was as safe in the tent as I'd be in the truck.

The electrical storm lasted a stressful hour before moving on, at which point my earplugs went back in and the patter of rain on the tent lulled me to sleep until 5:45am when my alarm went off and I looked out the window to see a sliver of orange on the horizon, and a bit of sunlight on the tops of the clouds above.

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The rain had stopped, and unsure what was in store, I contemplated getting up and putting away the tent immediately. Instead, as I climbed down the ladder, I was distracted by an eerie glow all around - it seemed that the early morning sun was somehow reflecting off the orange ground back up to the clouds. I knew what it'd be to view the word through orange glasses.

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Excited to see the view from Point Sublime, I donned my jacket and headed down the road, through the mud. I could tell immediately that - unlike previous days where the rain mostly knocked down the dust - this was not going to be a fun drive.

The view from Point Sublime was expansive. I'd have loved it to be sunny, clear, and warm, but it was hard to complain as I looked out over the Grand Canyon - the only person in the world with such a view at that moment in time.

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My solitude didn't last long however - Monte'd @Blackdawg heard me leave camp and that had been enough to get him out of bed and down the road to the point a few minutes after me - a welcome companion with which to share the moment.

"How about that lightning?" - I'm not sure which of us said it first, but it was top of mind for each of us - Monte just as uncomfortable as the storm passed as I'd been. We discussed it for a while, reveled in the fact that we were still alive, and then got back to enjoying the early morning light as the sun tried to break through the clouds.

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But then - as we'd seen the night before - a storm across the canyon, moving directly toward us. Sharing a quick glance, we both knew we needed to get back - and after a few final shots, we headed that direction. Too late. About halfway to camp we were caught in a downpour; and then hail. Lucky for us, the hail was small - pin-head size - and so luckily no risk to our gear.

We huddled again under Mike's @Digiratus awning waiting for the storm to pass, Mike still asleep above. I kicked myself for not getting the tent put away (wet, but at least not in the rain) earlier - it being so much nicer to put gear away when you aren't getting drenched yourself!

After about an hour, the storm cell passed and we ventured out from the protected area - Mike now awake as well, working on his coffee.

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The tents went away sopping wet - all of us hoping that we'd find a dry camp in the evening where things could air out before we had to crawl back inside, Monte informing us that this was the benefit of keeping your sleeping bag and pillow in the cab, rather than packed in the tent all the time. Of course, that's super inconvenient so Mike and I both just kept doing it the way we've always done it - the right way.

And with that, we headed out of camp - Mike in the lead - to our final destination on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon - the North Rim Visitor Center.

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We didn't make it far before stopping though. An astute reader may recall that the day before, we'd found an overlook with amazing fall colors that simply wasn't well-lit. With the partly-cloudy morning, it still wasn't ideal, but the sun was definitely in a better place - the canyon wall ablaze in color, even as clouds stacked up over distant folds.

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Eventually we bid farewell to Point Sublime and got on our way, hoping that the rain from the last 12 hours wouldn't cause us too much trouble. And of course, there were parts of it that we enjoyed...

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This section of trail - as had been the case with the trail the day before - was also surrounded by Aspen in full fall display, crisp and clear in the clean air, and reflected in the plethora of puddles that we continually paused to capture as they catapulted away from the trail and our tires.

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And so it was that we continued on - our pace once again slowed by the unexpected scenery we found just back from the edge of the Grand Canyon. Mike leading, we hit the edge of a small meadow and I called over the CB for him to stop (again). I mean, how could we pass up a view like this?

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That (specific) meadow captured (after all, if there were more, we'd be stopping at them as well) Mike quickly alerted us to a tree blocking our path out. Mostly just the leggy tops of some smaller Aspen, Monte made quick work of the situation with his axe and we hauled the remnants out of the road.

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And then, we were back to having fun as we ticked the miles away, the puddles once again providing some great action shots and fun use of our skinny pedals.

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Not 15-minutes later however, as we drove through a more wooded section of the trail, Mike slowed once again - a tree in his path. A small, dead fir had fallen - perhaps a 4-inch diameter trunk and 30-feet tall - nothing major. While we could have simply driven around, a conversation earlier in the trip about cleaning up trails was top of mind (at least for me), and Mike decided that this was a good tree to move to the side of the road.

As he did, I looked up the trail and chuckled. "I'll get the chainsaw." I said, Mike initially reacting with "We don't need..." before realizing it wasn't the tree he was leveraging out of the way that was the problem. Rather, a hundred feet further on, a much larger - perhaps 12-inch diameter - Aspen had fallen squarely across the road. There was no bypassing this one without cutting it out of the way.

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Cutting out the tree was a team effort. As I lopped it into sections, Monte tossed them out of the way - all of glad that we had the saw to make the work much easier than it'd have been with axes. Lucky too - since I'd planned to leave it at home this trip, until I was urged by both companions to bring it along!

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Eager to see what would be a bit further down the trail, and knowing that we had about an hour or so until we'd reach the visitor center, we continued on...for six minutes. Until the next grassy meadow. Was it more beautiful than the last? Perhaps yes, perhaps no, but it was different and breathtaking, and there was no question we were stopping, a yellow glow cast on everything around us from the leaves.

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We each made our way through slowly, taking it all in.

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And then it was five-or-six minutes of driving until we hit the next one. It really made me wonder what this area would look like from the sky - it must be an amazing kaleidoscope of colors, the perfect thing to photograph from a plane or with a drone! We of course doing the best we could with cameras, running from vantage point to vantage point.

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And then we had a little fun. See, Monte has this "pose" he does with his truck, much the same way that Ben @m3bassman has a habit of turning his wheels for every photo. In Monte's case, he swings wide in the trail and then turns back across it, so his truck is at an angle, and he can more easily lean out the driver window and take a photo of the rigs approaching from behind.

So frequent was this maneuver that Mike coined it "the pivot." And, as Mike waited for Monte and I to catch up - he pivoted! Seeing it, I couldn't resist pivoting myself - in the opposite direction.

Well, that got a good laugh out of Monte over the CB and he humored us all by completing the pattern. We looked ridiculous, and loved it.

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Now hungry for lunch and worried about our time to camp that evening - which was to be in a yet-unplanned location - it was time to get moving. As fast as we could really, so hard was it to not continually pause for more and more Aspen photos (though, I'm sure that you as a reader are thanking your lucky stars that there aren't even more).

OK, just two more. Sorry.

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And with that, and a few miles of pavement, we finally found ourselves at the only real populated stop of our trip along the canyon - the Grand Canyon's North Rim Visitor Center.

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This was our lunch spot, but before eating we figured the short - 1-mile roundtrip - stroll out to the viewpoint was in order. After all, this must be the iconic view of the canyon, right? It's the one that normal people go to, so it must be truly spectacular.

As we headed out, initial signs were good - there was a definite point in the distance, and there were lots of people.

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Views along the way were definitely nice as well - as much as I may joke about it given the number of people and ease of access, they were definitely grand views - a place I'd recommend visiting for anyone making a trip to this neck of the woods.

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And then, the viewpoint. Out in the "middle" of the Grand Canyon, you really do experience the vastness of this great geological wonder. Stretching as far as you can see, millions of years of erosion have made a vast, colorful, spidery formation on the landscape. Climbing up above the trail and looking at it from the pinnacle was more than I could resist.

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We headed back up to the visitor center and lodge, just to see what there was to see - a nice building for sure, with $9 hot dogs if you so desire - before heading back to the trucks for lunch. In the visitor center, we also ran into Brightly, the lucky mule ("Why's his nose so shiny?" asked Mike.) and I though the chandeliers were interesting as well - they definitely suited the space!

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I can only imagine how crowded the visitor center is during the height of summer - this day, the parking lots were close to full and there were 500 or so people milling about, I'd guess. Luckily none of us had to use the restroom, it's line a good 15 minutes long.

We got lunch prepped and eaten in the parking lot, away from most of the crowds. As always when we're around civilization, as we ate and chatted, several folks wandered over to inquire about the trucks - one woman telling us that she'd taken plenty of photos before we'd walked up, "To send to her son." she said.

Just as we finished eating, it started to rain again - it'd been threatening all day - so we packed everything up and climbed back in the trucks. As we headed northeast, we were looking toward a new chapter in our trip, this would be our last night in Arizona - we were headed to the natural wonders of Utah!

Of course to get there, we'd have to brave the Aspen's once again.

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These yellow trees really were going to be our undoing - so vibrant, even in the partly-sunny afternoon. But we knew we had a way to go before camp, so we tried to keep the photos to a minimum. Or at least, I think Mike and Monte did. I was tail-gunner - bringing up the rear - the advantage being that I could stop and shoot a photo without holding up the caravan.

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But then the sun came out for a few minutes and the plan of making good time fell apart once again. Patting ourselves on the back for having gone nearly 38 minutes with only a couple of stops, we were out of our trucks to capture the brilliance. Mike, playing to the camera.

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Luckily for us, this was one of the last groves of Aspen we'd run into, instead entering a forest that reminded me of those in northern California - pine, fir, juniper, and Indian Paintbrush surrounding the trail. As we'd driven north, we found ourselves moving away from the weather (or at least, getting further out in front of it), and we took a moment to explore a few camp sites and a possible view of a canyon to our east.

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The camp sites not quite what we were looking for, we were all ready to head out in search of a place to call it an evening when Monte noticed that he was missing a bolt on his bed rack. Luckily for him, it had fallen down into the bed and was still bouncing around down there, so he was able to retrieve it and get everything re-secured.

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This turned out to be just in time, the trail getting a bit rockier and bumpier just as the fix had been made. Fun, we called it - having been on relatively smooth, gravel roads for most of the trip so far.

And oh, how we'd miss those roads in a few days. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

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As we neared the edge of the forest, Mike wondered over the CB radio if we should head back to one of the camp sites we'd found not too long ago - that way we'd be sheltered from the weather and not at risk (or at least have less risk) of a lightning storm similar to our recent experience.

We consulted our maps and it looked like there was a bit more forest ahead (and before the highway), so after a few photos of the trucks - and Vermilion Cliffs on the horizon - we pushed on.

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The forest gave way to a huge burn area and we wound in an around this area for a good 90 minutes, making our way to the highway, the Vermilion Cliffs growing dramatically in the distance.

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Finally, just a handful of miles from the highway, we found a spot. Actually, we found a few spots but rejected the first several due to lack of cover, muddy ground, and the absence of fire rings. The spot we found was close to the road, but it was shielded by a stand of trees, and we weren't all that worried about other traffic anyway - we hadn't seen anyone else all day!

We setup camp just as the sun was setting - the weather looking promising for the night to come. We hoped.

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Tents unfolded and drying, we set about making a fire and our respective dinners. A "hobo meal" for me, I cut up sausage, potatoes, zucchini, red bell peppers, and cauliflower and wrapped them in aluminum foil. This package I then placed on the fire for a good 30 minutes, cooking everything in the juices of the sausage - a tasty treat (with no dishes!) for sure.

Mike - as had become almost a tradition - made guacamole again as well - which Monte and I may have eaten before Mike really got any; the trouble of having the two of us on a trip with guac.

And then, there was desert. I'd brought a couple batches of chocolate chip cookies and Monte had the great idea of warming them up on a thin slab of wood by the fire. Let me tell you this - warm, gooey, chocolate chip cookies on a cold night around a camp fire - that's living!

Eventually, as was always the case, we called it night and climbed into our tents at 11:30pm. As we did, the sky was clear and we all knew it was going to be a chilly night. Luckily, we were more sheltered than we'd been the night before and we snuggled down and fell asleep.

Little did we know the beautiful surprise that the next morning would bring, right to our camp site...

 

Those mud in the aspen and some of those other canyon shots are probably some of my favorites that i've seen of yours in recent shots. Great contrast and pop of color!

 

Sub'd. You have some really amazing trips and trip reports! I really enjoy reading them!

 

Purty!!

October, you say? All of those hikers in the canyon loved all that water raining on them.

 

Lol they will never know how much we really stopped that day..

 

Thanks, appreciate it! Was definitely a special thing to see all those aspen. Canyon was of course amazing as well, even if the weather wasn't totally cooperating.

Glad to hear. Fun writing them too!

Yeah, down in the canyon must have been interesting - would have been cool to witness various washes and whatnot in some of those storm cells...

Spoiler

(stay tuned - we'd get our chance later in the trip to see that!)

Stopping really is the best. I think it would bother a lot of people how often we stop to capture whatever it is that we're seeing. But totally worth it.

 

WOW nice use of the skinny pedal with those big puddles. I tell you, you got get published. Probably have to change the names of all involved. Your that good at writing.

 

What I meant was the potholes and creeks that they could use for drinking water. A lot of places in October will be dry camping. I have hiked in the canyon quite a bit. Dry camps are the norm in the outer areas.
Flash floods are a whole different animal.

 

F.U.Rain Day 7 - We Arrive at Alstrom Point
October 5, 2018.

I'm pretty sure it didn't rain all night. It was amazing. You can imagine my surprise when I awoke just before sunrise and could see blue sky along the entire horizon, my open tent window (door really) facing east.

But it was chilly, and rather than get up to take photos, I opted instead to stay warm and toasty under my comforter - definitely the right decision! And so I stayed for another hour or so until the sun started peaking over the horizon, warming the air, my tent, and ultimately me - to the point where I figured I might as well get up have some breakfast. It was 7:43am after-all!

Dressed, I climbed down the ladder. Of course, to descend the ladder, I was now facing west - and imagine my surprise when I looked up and saw dark, ominous rain clouds bearing down on us over the mountains. In fact, so close were they that just as my feet hit the ground, the first drops of rain hit the top of my head, the sun still shining on camp from the east.

"F*ck you rain!" - this was becoming somewhat of an unwelcome tradition, to say the least.

Then, as fast as I could grab my camera, it appeared. And boy, was it (were they!) bright.

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Unsure what to do next, I moved under the overhang of my tent to stay dry - only to notice that the other end of the rainbow landed right on Mike's @Digiratus camp.

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Well, needless to say, I wasn't going to let a little rain get in the way of the opportunity that was clearly presenting itself. And with that, I donned my jacket and headed out to really capture the situation. See, it turns out that when you have really bright, warm, morning sunlight shining below the clouds, and a rainstorm moving directly overhead, you apparently get some of the coolest, most vibrant rainbows imaginable.

It was unfortunate that I was the only one up to experience it!

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The rain tailed off after about 30-minutes, and so did the rainbow - clouds now covering the eastern horizon. The pitter-patter had obviously woken both Mike and Monte @Blackdawg, since as soon as it stopped, both of them made their way out of their tents to see what the day had in store.

It was obvious from looking up that the likelihood the tents would dry out before we put them away was near zero, but that didn't keep us from eating breakfast first - in the hopes that some random act of warmth would spontaneously dry the tents. There was no such random act though, and by 9:30am breakfast was over and we had everything folded away - wet again - and were back on the trail - just a couple miles to go until we hit highway 89A near Vermilion Cliffs.

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With some real pavement in front of us, for the first time in five days we aired up our tires. We'd traveled over 500 miles in that time on dirt roads, with just a few miles of pavement mixed in for fuel. Awesome!

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Highway 89A turned out to be a beautiful route in it's own right as we traveled past Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, stopping several times to capture the red plateau as it grew nearer and larger. Oh, and of course we couldn't pass up the pull-out on the highway with a matching (though still stock) Tacoma to my truck - so little looking next to our rigs!

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Then, it was back on the pavement - amazing how smooth it felt after five days on dirt - for a few more miles to the Navajo Bridge. This is one of only 7 bridges across the Colorado River over a stretch of 750 miles, and has a colorful history, matching it's surroundings.

In the 1870s, pioneers from Utah began to expand their settlements into northern Arizona. Nearly 600 miles of deep canyons along the Colorado River stood in their way. One of the only places a wagon could reach the river from both north and south was at the mouth of Glen Canyon, 5 miles upstream from today's bridge. The area was a natural corridor between Utah and Arizona, and in 1873 a ferry was established there; named Lee's Ferry after its first ferry operator, John D. Lee. The ferry understandably became an important route for pioneers, settlers and local traffic so when automobiles started using it in the 1920's, it was clear that a safer mechanism needed to be put in place.

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It was an historic day when, on January 12, 1929, the bridge was opened to traffic. At the time, it was the highest steel arch bridge in the world and made traveling between Utah and Arizona significantly safer. As Prohibition was in effect, the bridge was christened with a bottle of ginger ale and for the next five years was known as the Grand Canyon Bridge. In 1934, after great debate in the Arizona legislature, the official name was changed to Navajo Bridge.

Today, there are two bridges where there used to be just one. After 66 years, as automobiles and trucks became larger, wider, and heavier, the need for a stronger, wider bridge became evident. So it was that in May of 1993, construction of a new bridge began. It'd take two years and a lot of care to ensure the safety of the Colorado River traffic below, but on May 2, 1995, traffic was diverted onto the new Navajo Bridge.

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Today, both bridges are still in operation - the historic bridge an amazing viewpoint for the new one, and a great way to get an amazing view of the Colorado River as it passes through Marble Canyon.

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We spent a good amount of time at the bridge, taking in all of the history as well as some of the Native American art/craft work that was for sale in the parking lot. Beautiful work really - the handmade stuff is clearly very labor intensive, and you pay for it - the main vase in this photo had a $450 asking price.

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Eventually we pulled ourselves away and hit the road again. We had a destination in mind for lunch on Lake Powell, with at least two stops before that - and it was already 11:00am - time to get moving! So it was that we headed northeast - up and over/through Antelope Pass, the Vermilion Cliffs and Marble Canyon now in the near distance; us on our way to a sight Monte'd been talking up all trip - Horseshoe Bend.

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Horseshoe Bend is what's technically known as a meander in the Colorado River, where the river - rather than flowing straight - began carving a curved path through the rock. After millions of years, that created one of the most unique sights you can imagine, so we shouldn't have been surprised when we pulled into a parking lot packed with tourists.

Signs warned us that we needed several liters of water each, no flip-flops, and plenty of stamina to make it to the meander itself. This we found rather hard to believe, given the literal river of people making the trek.

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Was it worth it? I'd say yes, though I'm not sure Mike and Monte would agree - the throng of people near their limit from a comfort perspective. Horseshoe Bend itself was amazing - to see the green water of the river bend around, nearly 360º as it flowed along was super cool. And to see some of the #instabookselfies being taken by the throngs of tourists - well, that was just hilarious!

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Given the number of people, we didn't doddle - instead heading back to the trucks and into Page, AZ where we'd fuel up one last time in a state that had shown us so much, and head north into Utah for the remainder of our adventure. It was here too that - while waiting for Monte to reprovision a few groceries - Mike and I ate our respective lunches.

This fact was not lost on Monte when he came back out to the trucks - "Hey, I thought we were going to eat at Lake Powell!" he laughed. Oops, Mike and I had both forgotten. So Monte made a quick lunch and scarfed it down, and we headed out - a short drive on pavement to Big Water, UT where we aired down again and hit the dirt leading us into the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Lake Powell.

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It was amazing how much the landscape changed in the few miles between the eastern end of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and Glen Canyon - gone were the trees and vegetation, desert clearly the new normal. And beautiful on this mostly sunny day as we made our way along the canyon's edge, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to our north.

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We made good time on the well-graded roads, equally thankful for the rain that had clearly been through in the last couple of days to keep the dust down and that it wasn't currently raining - the roads primarily made of a fine clay that gets slippery, sticky and extremely messy when it's really wet.

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I'm sure we were all thinking it, but Mike's the one who finally said it over the CB, "Amazing moonscape." And that's exactly what it was - vegetation nearly non-existent, weathered, eroding, barren cliffs and plains as far as we could see.

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By 2:30pm or so, we reached the turnoff for the trail that we'd planned to eat lunch at the end of , good thing we'd grabbed a bite back in Page. With plenty of time till we needed to be at camp, we decided we'd still take this trail - to Crosby Canyon - as we'd heard it was a good one.

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As we made our way toward Lake Powell, winding next-to-and-through washes that obviously wreaked havoc on the trail, we stumbled upon a huge undercut. This of course was something we had to capture - I mean, it's been this way for hundreds of thousands of years, there's no risk of it falling now... right?

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We continued on - the lake obviously much further away than it's been in the (long) past. Us, driving through areas previously underwater; cliffs, outcroppings once submerged - then islands - and now pillars, all around.

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Eventually, way out in the distance, we reached a spot where we could see the edge of the lake. Still a good distance away, and not all that dramatic a view, we decided that this was the end of our detour down Crosby Canyon - the cool part having been the drive down, rather than the final destination.

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And so, we all got turned around and headed back out.

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Back out to the moonscape and a short trek westward to a turn-off that Mike had been waiting for, for years - Alstrom Point.

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As we made the turn, Monte looked back to make sure we were all together, and we wondered over the CB radio if we'd have the point to ourselves or if it'd be so crowded - this a Friday evening after-all - that we'd have to find a spot to camp somewhere besides the point itself.

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Unsure, we made good time on the road - passing a Tundra on our way, hoping that they were the only ones with a similar destination. Naturally however, as the lake started to come into view, we couldn't help but stop for some photos - the jagged fingers of water so spindly and irregular along the canyon floor.

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We pressed on. Eager to reach our goal.

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And then, we were almost there. We (or at least I) didn't totally realize it at the time, but camp was just over the next ridge when we came upon a spectacular view of Lake Powell. It was the most water we'd seen yet, and it was clear that we were going to be in a special spot, for sure.

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I later realized that at least Mike knew we were close to the end (he was probably looking at the track on his tablet - imagine that! :biggrin because as Monte and I were snapping photos, he pulled away and headed over the ridge, where we later found him setting up camp at one of two camp sites that make up Alstrom Point.

The view here was even better than the last. I suppose I'd have known what it looked like if I'd checked it out online before the trip, but it was such a nice surprise to see it for the first time when I arrived in person.

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Initial photos captured, it was only then that I noticed (I was probably the last one to notice) that there was another group in the second site on the point. Oh well - they wouldn't be the best neighbors, and we wouldn't have it to ourselves, but it was still amazing and we set about setting up camp - and as per normal, I looked for a spot right on the edge. And, as per normal, Monte would eventually join me.

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The weather was warm - over 80ºF - and with a slight breeze, we all kicked back to enjoy the evening. We chatted around the fire ring, walked out to the tip of the point, let our tents dry out after several days of dampness, and generally relaxed. I even pulled everything out of my bed to access my OSK (Oh Shit Kit), which had a replacement AC idler pulley - the one I'd replaced in Moab on The De-Tour already making noises at me just a year later.

And of course, as the light changed and sun got lower on the horizon, we tried to capture it all; though in reality, there's no way to capture such a vast scene.

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Before we knew it, the sun was actually setting - a whole new palette of colors revealing themselves across the landscape. More photos.

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Then, something strange - at least, to me. Mike mentioned that he was really looking forward to the time just after sunset. That is when the light would be perfect (no shadows, Monte would later explain) to really capture some special shots.

Both Mike and Monte setup their tripods. I...don't have one. :: I steadied my hand. I could do this. I hoped.

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It was a special time for sure - fun to watch Mike (especially) really soak it in, this a bucket-list moment for him - something that's always nice to share with others who appreciate similar moments in life.

Eventually, we all realized that more photos would just mean more time sorting through photos after the trip, so we stowed our cameras and got to the main event of the evening: the campfire (and of course, dinner and dessert). On the menu this evening were the last of my tacos and guac - one of my favorite meals, and with a couple extra tacos, Mike got a meal out of it as well!

And, as Monte once again warmed cookies around the fire, our evening entertainment - below us, in the second camp site, the #instalanders decided it was a good time to get some action shots. You see, these folks had everything - it'd taken them hours to setup camp (I'm not sure if they'd every really finished) - and one of the vehicles they'd driven up was a brand new Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, apparently owned by a 16-17 year-old, who'd earlier been rolling the largest boulders he could find off the edge of the cliff.

At any rate, he and his dad had decided to drive the Jeep "into position" at the edge of their point - the son behind the wheel, dad spotting. Needless to say, to the three of us above, it was just a little entertaining to see the son start slipping his tires, hear the dad say "Put it in 4lo." and then hear "Whats 4lo?" get yelled out the window.

#InstaJeepers . Oh, for the days of CJ5's.

Amazingly - perhaps because we'd gotten to camp, and the campfire early - we wound down the conversation around 11:30pm and climbed into our tents - by far the warmest night so far, me (at least) falling asleep on top of my bedding, a breeze blowing through all the screened windows.

So, so pleasant. And so different than we'd experience less than 24 short hours later...