Day 330 (Not So Empty Again) - Hiking in the Desert & Starlight

Scott and I visited Snow Canyon this morning.  Despite it’s name, there is definitely no snow there!  The canyon is actually named in honor of Lorenzo and Erastus Snow, “prominent pioneering Utah leaders” as the park brochure says J 

Red Swirled Rocks

A Lava Tunnel

The park is beautiful!  Full of chiseled and swirled red rocks, layered and stalwart white rocks, and piles of black volcanic rocks - we even came across a lava tunnel.  Scott and I headed out on a short trail called “Butterfly Trail” and then decided we wanted to see more so we headed out on Whiterock trail when the Butterfly trail came to an end.  Little did we know we were in for a “desert” hike through red and white sand.  But oh!  The white rocks were beautiful!  Good thing they made it worth it! 

A New Destination

We made it!!  Whiterocks...
quite a change from the red rocks at the start!

So…dummy me….I left the park trail map in the car (because we were only going to hike Butterfly trail) so we had no idea how far this Whiterock Trail would take us.  And trudging through the sand was murder!  So we deviated from our good scouting upbring and left the trail and headed for the road which we could see in the distance.  We finally reached the road and discovered we had hiked out of the park!  Crazy, right?!  We walked the road back to the park and a mile to our parked car.  Looking at the map, I discovered we were almost to the end of the trail.  And yes, the trailhead started outside of the park.  Next time, I’ll take the map!  You just never know where you’ll end up!  And for the record, the temperature was 106 degrees.  I honestly think this thought came into Scott’s head today, “and I chose to marry that crazy lady!”  Scott told me he needs a vacation from our vacation!  He’s probably right!

Walking back to our car...a paved road was much easier to travel on!

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at the Deseret Industries and Scott bought a chair pad.  No, he wasn’t thinking of me because he bought it to help his poor butt while driving (the bucket seats in our little car are not the most comfortable things.)  But!  He did let me use it for the play tonight.  He’s still sweet to me despite all I put him through!

We were so tired and hungry once we got back to the hotel that we just fixed some dinner (grilled pizza/cheese sandwiches – one of Scott’s favorites) and then we vegged on the bed and watched “Ever After”.  It worked out perfectly!  The movie got over at 8:00 p.m., just in time for us to jump in the car and go to the play – all rested, cooled down, fed, and refreshed.

Tonight's play was “Starlight Express”.  The actors performed the entire play on roller skates and it was pretty much total music…like Joseph and the Technicolor Coat was.  The actors did a fabulous job!  Out of the four plays, though, it was my least favorite.  In fact, if I had bought tickets for just that play only I would have been very disappointed.

Our last night at Tuacahn :(

Aww...tomorrow we head for home.  It's been a great vacation!!