For several tense moments you couldn’t see the road. Then after a few miles the storm receded almost as quickly as it had come. From then on out it was clear sailing into the park. When we got to the Ranger station to get our permits it was 40 degrees and the sun was out.

I walked in and told the ranger on duty that we were here to get out permits for Salt Creek. She said that it was going to be impossible to get there due to the recent storms on account that all of the access trails are very exposed and are all north facing. I was a bit incredulous at first but she was able to suggest an alternate route up an old jeep trail that got us to the trail head in just a few miles. Little did I know that we would have to hike 3.5 miles through sand, mud, and quicksand just to get to the beginning of the trail… needless to say it sucked.

Once at the Peek-a-boo campsite the scenery changed and we entered the canyons from which Canyonlands gets its name. After a mile or so on the trail we began to run out of daylight and had to stop for the night. We were able to find a great spot abutting some giant sandstone cliffs. Matt cooked up some macaroni & cheese while I took the bucket in search of some water. We ate like kings and sipped bourbon as the sun went down on the first night of our little adventure. By the time we went to bed it was freezing cold and the stars were out just like in the High Atlas Mountains. That is all till tomorrow.