Friday, April 18, 2008: Arches National Park, Utah
After almost not finding a camp site, that wasn’t such a bad sleep. Sharon boils us some water, for oatmeal and more hot chocolate. Matt and Emily and Claire play down at the creek. Leslie goes down and throws rocks at them. This is a nice spot, as it turns out, in the daylight.
We drive just a little way down the road to Fisher Towers. Very impressive. Five miles, four hours. Claire slips and scrapes her elbow. She stands up in a hollow and hits her head. She falls and bonks her knee. Her hat blows off and she almost nearly looks like she’s going to go off a cliff after it. And she pushes through every obstacle, never whines or slows or complains. To see her churn up those inclines like an athlete or a hiker born is to be full of admiration. I am. And there’s how the sun has tinged her skin, and those eyes, and that wit, and the smile that goes with it all.
Back in the car, driving back to Moab and then home, we were commenting on a huge stone fortress with what looked like stories high water marks. Out of the dark, back seat Claire whispered portentously. “There will be blood.”