A Quiet Canyon

After spending a couple of nights on the eastern edge of the desert, we moved to a canyon that is very quiet and rarely visited. We arrived late in the day, and we didn't get an ideal campsite. You can see where we slept the first night in the next photo. It's fun to be in the middle of a canyon but the downside is the lack of early and late sun.

Soon after arriving, I realized that one advantage to that spot was that star photos would be really fun with jagged cliffs so close to us. My camera even recorded a faint outline of the Milky Way in the early morning hours.

During our night sleeping inside the canyon, I made a star trail photo with those jagged cliffs in the foreground. It is incredible how many stars are visible in the dark desert far from any cities. There as even one shooting star, much to my delight!

The next morning, the sun didn't hit our campsite until after 10AM, and it was cold down in the canyon. Consequently, Shyla and I got off to a late start on our mountain bike ride. Our trail went almost straight up the canyon wall aiming for the gap between the two rock formations.

It was a tough climb for me on my mountain bike (but easy for Shyla the super athlete!). Here's what it looked like when we were almost to the plateau. I think the formation to the right looks vaguely
like a castle.

As soon as we were in the sun, we both felt the heat. After this photo, we took a break in the shade under a huge boulder.

I love riding places that seem so alien. The rocks themselves seemed like nature's art.

Soon enough, it was time to descend to our campsite, having enjoyed a good frolic in the desert.

That afternoon, we found a far better campsite in the same area where we stayed for the next couple of nights. In that site, the sun shined on us from early in the morning until the evening. It was warm and beautiful! And, it even came with a tennis ball, much to R's delight!