4 Wheels 4 Girls

On Monday, April 19th, we visited Canyonlands National Monument, a really cool place. It’s a canyon, but that’s about the only thing it has in common with the Grand Canyon. It’s a massive hole, but the colors and the width and height and features of Canyonlands are so different. They’re just as cool, but not anything alike. We went to the Needles District of Canyonlands, which is the section southeast of the Colorado river.

So it was super early the morning we got there, (WAY too early for me, being someone who sleeps in in the morning) and Dad, Ellie, and Ana went in to the visitor center to check out the trails and learn about the park. A ranger inside taught them about cryptobiotic soil crust, a kind of dirt that lives in the park and that is very alive. It takes hundreds of years to grow back, so the ranger told them to be very careful not to step on the cryptobiotic crust. When they got back to the RV, the two girls were chanting “DON”T BUST THE CRUST!” and they had badges saying exactly that. We ate breakfast and then tackled the trail- we would be going on a “short” 2 1/2 mile hike through the canyon. At the beginning Stella took a whole bunch of pictures of crazy little things like flowers, rocks, and cacti. The hike was beautiful and the weather was perfect for a hike. We checked out four great lookouts and got to climb up lots of rocks. Here is Stella on one of the lookouts:

That is actually one of the smaller canyons behind Stella

It wasn’t until Lookout #4 that we were even halfway done with this so-called short hike. By then we were almost out of water and my sisters were getting pretty tired. But me.. I was leading the hike with strength, and had quite a bit of energy left. Here I am standing on a faraway rock: ;D

Walking along the Slickrock Trail in Canyonlands

It was a nice hike, one that I actually enjoyed. I’m not sure about everyone else, but I thought it was sweet. I was SOOO thirsty afterward!

Then we went back to the visitor center, filled up our water bottles, and ate lunch.Then we headed down the road to Moab, the city we would be staying in! 😀