We were up early today, having decided that we needed to get a jump on a hike before the heat set in. There are hot springs on this side of the campground, and we found a trail headed that way.
This area had been settled by farmers who built pumps and irrigation ditches to grow crops. After all the rocks and dirt we saw yesterday, this was an unexpected change. I knew the river was there, just wasn't expecting to see ditches full of water and puddles around.
The first part of the hike was to the top of a hill/mountain, then the real goes back down the other side and follows the river to the springs. It was cool this morning, but as soon as we started up the trail it warmed up quick. At the top was a great overlook of the river. We both were thinking it, and once we saw this sign at the top decided we would pass on a long hike. I was already worried about how hot it would be on the way back, which meant climbing up and down this mountain all over again, and "no water, no shade" sign at the top sealed it for us.
Almost back to the bottom, we ran into a group of bird watching Ohio natives we had met during our hike the day before. They told us about some animal bones on one of the nearby service roads. What was this, a cow? Horse? Something big for sure.
I've been keeping track of the animals we see, and within 30 seconds of each other we saw a roadrunner and a coyote, which so far has been the highlight of our animal spotting adventures. Meep meep.
We headed west to our destination for the day, Santa Elena Canyon, which is about 80 miles away on the opposite side of the park. This place is huge, same size as Rhode Island.
Most of the road we took today was called Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, named after a geologist who worked at the park in the 50s and planned the path this road took. I spent the next few hours feeling like I was in a different planet, or multiple different planets.
We stopped and did a quick hike to an old house that was part of a ranch in the 40s. Many stops at overlooks and exhibits explaining the rocks and the mountains.
My favorite place of the day was Tuff Canyon, just a short hike down and we were up close and personal with eons of earth's history. I should have been a geologist.
Almost to the river, this end of the park has most of the historic structures. We learned a bit about the people who lived in the park before it was the park, although nothing we've found talks about any groups who lived in this area prior to the late 1800s.
Finally arrived to Santa Elena canyon. The canyon is 1500 feet tall (about half of the grand canyon), and the whole thing is 8 miles long. We'd have to raft or kayak to see the majority of it, but there's a short trail which (after a steep hike up and down) leads into the canyon.
After leaving the canyon we turned around and headed back the way we came. Stopped for ice cream at the camp store, but all we got was a sad empty freezer, and a guy wearing an emu shirt told Joe he looks like Bradley Cooper.
Back to the center of the park and made a fuel stop (cheaper than it was in Marathon) and bought some ice cream and ice. Had a back country site booked, this road was 80% an easy drive, but the last 20% was a bumpy ride.
This site was surrounded by mountains, and we assume mountain lions were eyeballing us the whole time. I made tacos for dinner, using the bear box as my cooking area.
Once the sun set it cooled down pretty quick. I saw two shooting stars and a UFO, Joe just saw one shooting star, zero UFOs. We had a nice quiet night.
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