Saturday, October 29, 2022
A beautiful hike ... Devil's Garden In Arches National Park. I have done this hike several times, first with Marcus in 1988, on my first trip to Arches, and most recently, not counting this day, in May 2016. Round trip, including spur trails to see a number of Arches, it is about 8 miles. There is substantial hiking on “fins”, large rock structures about 5 yards wide with steep drop-offs on either side. Hiking includes scrambling up and down steep sections to get onto or off these fins, such that I saw several people fanny-hiking down a fin.
It is interesting to note that there is a large influx of what one might assume to be “foreigners” in national parks. People come from all over the world to see these treasures. One can meet people from Scandinavian countries, other parts of Europe such as Germany seem to have large numbers of visitors. Also from New Zealand and Australia, and there are many people from Asia: Japan, India, Pakistan, among others. It is an opportunity to share a smile, a hello, and a story. No matter what language or cultural differences we might have, people love to be out in Nature, enjoying the sights, of course, and being there seems to free up one’s spirit in such a way that a sense of togetherness, a bonding can occur. I like it!
Every “hello” is an opportunity. But you don’t know what that opportunity might be until you start up a conversation (of course this is true back home as well, right?) I started up a conversation with two couples who were hiking on the rocks nearby. We talked a little bit about how wonderful it was to be there, how fantastic the scenery, what a great feeling it was, too. They had a Middle Eastern accent. I do not know accents well enough to ascertain a guess as to the origin. But I did ask them where they were from. Kentucky. They drove from Kentucky. So, there you have it.
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