Friday, October 30, 2009

Metate Arch, Devil's Garden


































After our hike in Little Wild Horse Canyon we headed through Capitol Reef National Park then south toward the town of Escalante. We stopped at the BLM visitor center in Escalante and picked up a few maps for the area where we were planning to go over the next few days. We also filled up our two 7-gallon water containers and inquired about where we were allowed to camp once we were in the interior of the monument. Once our questions were answered and we were stocked up on necessary supplies we headed for Hole in the Rock Road. Our first hike was only about 10 miles down the dirt surface of the road, which was also near "Devil's Garden", an "Outstanding Geologic Area" according to the sign marking the turn-off to Devil's Garden. We found a place to camp near the garden then hiked down to check out the sandstone formations that make up this unique location.





































Devil's Garden certainly is an outstanding area, with interesting sandstone "hoodoos" everywhere you look. There are also a couple of arches, the most interesting of which is "Metate Arch". As arches go it's not a very big one, but it is beautiful. I photographed Jessica standing under the arch to provide a sense of scale. After wandering amongst the hoodoos until just after sunset, we then hiked back up to our camp to wait for our friend Roger, who was the best man in our wedding and would be joining us for tomorrow's hike to Zebra and Tunnel slot canyons.

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