Adventure with the Cats

After spending two nights in the Grand Staircase I began to see faces in the rock formations!

The last three days were full of adventure and beauty. As I am typing this I am trying to remember it all. On Saturday morning woke up at 5am to capture the sunrise on the north rim of the Grand Canyon at Cape Royal.
We then traveled to Page, AZ stopping at a few sites along the way including Horseshoe Point. After Page we decided to take the short route that also looked more adventurous because it was a gravel/dirt road from Big Water to Escalante.
As soon as we got off the highway we were treated with amazing rock formations and wonderful dark clouds. About 10 miles into the canyon we looked ahead wondering where the road could  possible go and discovered it was straight up the canyon wall. So fun. The BMW performed wonderfully as we climbed the rocky rutted road. At the top we stopped to take a few photos. I wish we would have on the way up as the car was climbing up a road that would have been hard to walk up.
As we reached the plateau, the sun was about to set and the cloud formations were incredible. We actually pointed our cameras to the sky wanting to just capture the unsettled ocean wave like clouds of steel blue color. (very surreal). That was only the start of the light show. When the sun hit the horizon and then for 30 minutes afterwards, the reds, oranges and yellows danced around us. As we were capturing the beauty in one direction the brillance would appear in another direction. It was a photographers dream.
Even though it was dusk we continued to drive hoping to reach Escalante before bedtime. The road continued to be rough in spots and at times we were crossing river beds some with water, other that were dry. One particular difficult  crossing dipped low quickly into wet sand and rock before entering the river bed. We knew that once we dropped down and crossed the river we would not be able to turn back.
It was dark when we came to a 'T' in the road and the signs said that we would reach Escalante either way. We took the fork to the left and travelled another 45 minutes until we reached a puddle in the middle of the road that look long and deep. Too deep to be stuck in all night long. So we backed up and parked a little off the road finding a place to call home for the night.
The adventure continued in the morning as we once approached the puddle which I now called a lake ( sounded much more dramatic that way). I got my Iphone out and decided this moment had to be video taped. I just knew this was the end of the adventure and would need a tow from a good Samaritan that would hopefully drive by shortly.
As Mark gunned it through the lake, water was spraying everywhere. Somehow I didn't get wet at he flew by. I was laughing so hard as he drove by reaching dry ground. Home free, we would be in Escalante before lunch.
To be continued.....

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