Day 3 We slept in! which was necessary and good, but by the time we had finished breakfast and our preparations for the day, Arches National Park had reached capacity and was not allowing any more vehicles to enter. “Try again in 3-5 hours” read the sign. Undeterred, and after a brief exploration of a local park at the North end of Moab that included a pedestrian bridge across what we later discovered was the Colorado River, we chose to begin our explorations on the highway that paralleled the green river. The blue dome of the sky evidenced our distancing of the endless grays that had accompanied the first two days of our journey. But while we had left the rain, sleet and flurries behind, the surrounding peaks bore evidence of recent snowfall. Red rocks. Red against the blue sky rocks. Layered Rocks. Sculpted and shaped by water, ice and wind rocks. Tumbled debris slopes of rocks. The landscape was deceivingly simple. Sandstone, blue sky, river water, and juniper. But from such a minimalist palette an endless variety of landscape surrounded us as we made our way on Hwy 128 along the Colorado River. We didn’t get very far before pulling off to take a hike up one of the many side canyons. “Grandstaff Canyon Trail” read the sign at the parking area already full of vehicles. “2.2 miles to Morning Glory Bridge” read another at the trailhead. And so began our afternoon in the canyon. The trail followed the stream that had shaped the canyon over millennia. We took our time awed, and absorbed by the sculpted walls, lingering to appreciate everything - from a tiny rock lizard, to the grand chiseled rock facades rising above us. The many hikers on the trail at the beginning actually enhanced the experience as we enjoyed watching groups of family and friends equally immersed in experiencing the canyon. The trail varied, at times climbing well above the stream that ran silently below, at other times criss-crossing it, to nearly running through the stream as it slowed through overhanging rock cuts. Eventually we arrived at the Morning Glory Bridge - a huge bridge of rock cut from the wall at the headwaters of the canyon. We lingered to appreciate as best we might the wonder of its creation and to watch a young rock climber rappel the hundreds of feet down between the rock bridge and the wall, and then we began the hike out with less lingering but just as much appreciation. By the time we exited the canyon the stiffness of two days of sitting in the car had been worked out. We pulled back onto Hwy 128 unsure of exactly where it would take us. After a few miles we came upon an inviting sign: “Manti-Sal Loop”. A more detailed read revealed that the road would take us through “Castle Valley” and some other dramatic landscapes and eventually end back at Moab. That was all the invitation we needed. We spent the rest of the late afternoon following the winding road as it first led us through a wide walled valley and later climbed up into the La Sal Mountains and over a shoulder of Mt Waas. At one point we almost turned back as winter snow and ice still lingered on the roadway, but we persevered. The winds that seemed to drive us here the previous two days, once again greeted us at each of the frequent stops we took to photograph the endlessly dramatic landscape. “Just one more” became our common refrain! As the road wound down from the pass into Spanish Valley we were met by a group of mule deer comfortable in the twilight. A couple hours later we arrived back in Moab at dusk, just in time to grab some grub for dinner to take back to our rooms. Appreciative of our day of active exploration, we had no trouble falling asleep. And so ended our third day.