Adventures with Luna: Day 57 - Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

I spent the morning looking at maps and deciding where to head next, then drove back to Kanab, stopping at the Grand Staircase-Escalante Visitors’ Centre to inquire about the Golden Cathedral and Devil’s Garden. I opted not to hike the Golden Cathedral as, although it looks very beautiful, it sounds quite difficult to navigate and with it being 9 miles long, I did not want to risk getting lost! When I mentioned Devil’s Garden, the woman’s eyes lit up and she smiled, I immediately knew it must be gorgeous and I’d have to go there. I next went to the McDonald’s parking lot to use wifi for awhile, having been out of cell service for a couple of days. Throughout my time in Kanab I have spent hours in that McDonald’s parking lot as the internet is so good and bought nothing, that being said, in the past using McDonald’s wifi has made me feel inclined to buy something. After doing some planning, I decided to head next to Kodachrome Basin State Park which was only a little over 2 hours away. On my way I passed by Cedar Breaks National Monument, which I wanted to see, but was disappointed to see a “Road Closed” sign. I stopped at the gas station to inquire about it and she said that there was still so much snow there and that she believed they reopened around May 1st. Soon, I entered Dixie National Forest and was blown away by the beauty of it. I stopped at several viewpoints and went for a short hike at one of the points, it was stunning! When we pulled up to one viewpoint, Luna, feeling rather bored, tired of being in a car and more than ready to go (despite our approximately 12 mile walk the day before), began chatting with her husky noises as soon as we got out of the car, the guys from the car in front of us laughed and joked with her “I know right, it’s gorgeous!”.

I headed on to Kodachrome Basin, the 2 hour drive seeming to go on for hours longer with all the stops. The park ranger was very cheerful and helpful and I was quickly set to camp and spend the following day at the park for $19, it could have been $16, but I decided to splurge the $3 so that I had a real bathroom and easy access to the showers, I did not regret this decision. As soon as I got my campsite I headed for the showers and was shocked to see how huge the bruise on the back of my right thigh was, I had felt the line of raised inflammation, but hadn’t expected it to look that bad, no wonder it hurt so much when I bent so that my calf pressed against my thigh! I was horrified to find that although the shower had a “start” button rather than how showers normally are, it did not have a stop, it would run a cycle of around 4 minutes, then quit. I still had soap on me when it quit, but certainly did not need the extra 4 minutes, so stood there, wasting water before getting out as it continued to run so that I could get back to Luna sooner as she would be warm, not too hot, but I did not want to leave her longer than a quick scrub. I then headed to Angel’s something or other trailhead. The ranger had said it was beautiful as the evening wore on, so I stayed up there for a long time, having gone way too early for sunset. I did half the trail 3 times and sat for a long time in a variety of places. A family came by with a Border Collie and the two young girls who were perhaps 10 years old came over to ask to pet Luna, they commented on how soft she is (she gets that a lot) and called their mom over, insisting that she pet Luna. Their dog, Jack, was off-leash and came over to greet Luna, they were quickly getting interested in playing, so I dropped Luna’s leash and they had a good little play. It was again so lovely to see Luna playing with a dog she’d just met, especially one that was bigger than her, although she did start yapping, which she’s gotten a habit of doing when playing, it seems to be a release of anxious excitement, but it’s unpleasant and I hope it’s a stage and that it’ll pass soon. Before leaving, Jack lifted his leg on the boulder we were sitting by and where, unfortunately Luna was sniffing at the time, so Luna got pee on her muzzle and is now officially owned by Jack I guess, we’ll see whether the papers that say I own her or the pee on her muzzle count more. I left before the sun really set, it was around 7 pm and both Luna and I were rather hungry, so off we went. We had our suppers, watching the remainder of what we could see of the sunset from our campsite, then tucked in for the night.