On Sunday my mom and I drove Kristine back to the Flagstaff Airport - it ended up being quite the adventure! The wind was terrible and most of the way we drove through a horrendous sandstorm. At times I could barely see the road! Kristine had called to see if her flight was still on time and they said it was, but when we got to the airport, sure enough, it had been cancelled :p So she ended up renting a car to get to Phoenix where she could still make her connecting flight to Oakland.
On the way home it began to rain, which solved the blowing sand problem... But as we climbed up the Vermillion Cliffs it began to snow. Thank goodness for 4wd because we didn't see any plows out that evening.
On Monday I hiked about 3 miles of the Page Rimview Trail with Abbey then went to the Powell Museum with my Dad. On Tuesday I drove up the Cottonwood Canyon Road in Grand Staircase/Escalante, one of my favorite roads. But I didn't get very far... the road was dry, but extremely rutted. Then we went to Catstair Canyon to see its petroglyphs and pictographs. Then we hiked the Hanging Gardens Trail near the Glen Canyon Dam.
On Wednesday Abbey and I hiked to more petroglyphs a BLM ranger had told me about, this time at the Notch, which is an alternative route to the Wave. Then Abbey and I hiked from the Paria Movie Set (arson burned it down a few years ago) to the Pahreah town site. That is a very beautiful area!
On Thursday the weather turned very cold and windy and I decided to start the drive home. So about noon I said goodbye to my parents and hiking partner Abbey and drove westward. I crossed over into Utah, then back into Arizona, then back into Utah, then back into Arizona, then into Nevada. This, believe it or not, is the most direct route home! I made it to Valley of Fire State Park near Vegas and ate dinner and settled in for the night.
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