Arches N.P.,Utah.

It was a shame but I didn't sleep well on my last night in the hostel, not sure why, just didn't. I was glad to be in a place where I could shower, dry my clothes and not have to deal with the weather . I got myself together and was out of there by 08.30, fortunately to a windy but sunny day. It was straight out of town to Arches N.P., this is another sandstone area of Utah but this one has lots of sandstone arches that have been carved by nature. These arches are formed by the erosion of the mesa, the mesas are eroded into strips of rock and these are further eroded into columns in Bryce N.P. and arches in Arches N.P.. In fact one of the arches in the park,Delicate Arch, is on the Utah licence plate.
I entered the park and drove to furthest point from the entrance, this is where I would start a hike to one of the most distant arches. Devils Garden contains about eight arches, including Landscape arch, the arch with the largest span in the park. I am still a sucker for anything that is the "est" anything. The tallest, highest, biggest etc. The hike was about three miles to "Double O" arch and I went there first, the path took me up and over a couple of three metre wide, twenty metre high strips of rock. I was determined not to wimp out and I didn't. The return trip wasn't so much fun, the wind was stronger and blowing across the rock, I thought I was going to be blown off. Fortunately I had no choice but to cross these if I wanted to get back to the car. If had been my car and not a rental car, I am not sure that I could have done it. I was hiking in my green trousers and just one of my T-shirt tops, everyone else was much better equipped. i am totally under equipped for any serious outdoor activity, I still haven't bought a winter jacket yet. I don't have gloves or a scarf, I do have a hat and sweatshirt thanks to the lovely Kidds, but that's about it. I will have to go shopping.
I got back to the car and headed back towards the park entrance. I parked up in the Wolfe Ranch parking area and started out on the two mile hike to "Delicate Arch". There are view points that you can drive to to see the arch but I wanted the ultimate tourist photo of my sitting/standing in the arch. Most of the hike was fairly safe, taking me across a gentle slop of sandstone. The last part was a narrow trail cut into another cliff, I wasn't best pleased about this, but again was determined not to wimp out. I made it to arch and was happy just to sit and look at it. It is an amazing structure. Unlike the other arches I had seen earlier in the day, this one is totally free standing and the question has to be asked "For how much longer?". I met a couple up there from California, the wife was asking in Japanese if another woman could take a photo for them, I offered to do it. We then sat down and had a nice chat about Japan and the difficulties of living in another country.
I headed back down to the car and out of the park. I made my usual stop at the visitor centre to pick up some postcard and then it was back on the road. I was headed to Bryce N.P. in the south west of Utah. I made it to the intestate quickly enough and the next seventy miles or so were no problem. I got to my turn off and then my speed was seriously reduced. I was on a back road and it was getting later in the day. I obviously wouldn't reach Bryce before sun down. I kept going, the road was listed as a scenic byway and took me through the Dixie National Forest. I didn't get to see any wildlife but it was pretty and the sunset was amazing. Just before it got totally dark I realised that the road was climbing, as we got higher there was snow on the ground. I stopped once to take a photo and finally realised how cold it was outside. I needed to get down, there was no way I could spend the night in the car in these temperatures and I wasn't enjoying the driving either. The car didn't have four wheel and I was fairly confident that the tires hadn't been changed for winter ones. I decided that I would drive on to the town of Escalante, have dinner there and try and find some where sheltered to park up for the night.
I drove into town and stopped at the petrol station, some of the national parks are quite large and have no petrol stations. I didn't want to drive into Bryce the next day with no fuel and I didn't know what I wold find between the town and the park. I asked the station attendant if she could recommend a restaurant, she sent me to "Circle D".
I sat at the counter and ate my dinner. I got talking to the staff and a guy sat further down the counter, which is what I had hoped would happen. I think I could better handle travelling alone if I didn't always have to eat alone. Eventually the guy asked where I was staying, I said that I didn't know but that I wanted to in Bryce the following morning. He jokingly offered to rent me a bed, at first I thought he meant in his house, I then realised that he was staying in a hotel. Thank God I had never seriously considered his offer. Then a guy sat on the other side of me said that he and his girlfriend, one of the waitresses, had space if she didn't mind. The waitress, Cherie, reiterated the offer and since it was a cold night out I accepted. I followed Neal back to their trailer and we sat chatting while we waited for Cherie to get off work.
When Cherie got off work we all sat around drinking a beer and chatting. Both were curious about me and asked a lot of questions. Neal was blown away by the fact that you can't have hand guns in the U.K. and that most people don't hunt. He was also surprised by the fact that we don't really have mountains either. He was from Escalante and all of his family live there, Cherie came from South California and moved up to be with Neal. Both of them could not have been nicer, they set me up in the spare room and sorted out towels for me for the morning. I headed off to bed thanking my good fortune and that nice people still exist in the world. For the first time in a long time, I slept the whole night through, I never do this! I usually have to get up at least once in the night to go to the bathroom, even in my own house. It was a miracle.
When I woke in the morning, Neal was cooking a traditional American breakfast of gammon,sausages and gravy and biscuits.I took a quick shower and returned to the kitchen to eat. Breakfast was lovely and relaxed with lots more chatting. Cherie and Neal both came outside to say goodbye and I hugged them both. We had discussed the issue of touching the previous evening and how the British, I guess me, have such large personal bubbles. The two of them assured me that despite being Mormons they would not be getting married in the temple. so I assured them that I would be back for the wedding. They both had told me that there were so many other things for me to see and do in the area that I had to come back.I was happy to agree and I was on my way.