Magnus Goes to the Red Rock Country, Day 13

 Sunday, September 22

Last day at Sun Outdoors Canyonlands Gateway, thank heavens. It's a nice place but simply too crowded. I chose it because it was away from town and close to Arches National Park, and I don't regret that choice. But the many millions of people and dogs all over the freaking place are driving me batshit crazy.

Pretty nice day. Got up early-ish and went for a short drive into Canyonlands National Park. We only had to wait in a 2-3 car line to enter, but when we left at 10:30 or so there was a significant line building. And more cars on the way.

Lesson learned: go early. If you want to see wildlife, go very early.
Add to places-to-go list: Definitely want to come back to canyonlands and drive dirt roads down into the canyon.
Then we took a break and headed back to Arches for our 12-1 entrance time slot. The way it works is that you pre-reserve an entrance time and then once inside, you can stay as long as you want.  This is supposed to reduce congestion on the roads and prevent the parking lots from filling up. For those purposes, it seems to work pretty well. But the wait to get inside the park was over 30 minutes, on account of all the people who needed to pay fees, ask questions, or be turned away because they hadn't reserved a time slot.

Gorgeous place, with at least one dirt road that Ed really wants to come back and take someday. We--and the paved road--stayed mostly up at the top of the cliffs for the scenic views, but the dirt road went way, way down. Maybe to the canyon floor. Nice.

No matter, though--we were prepared for it.  Once inside, we proceeded all the way to the end to walk the little trail to Landscape Arch, Devils Garden, plus a few of the others. It was a nice dirt trail, well worn by innumerable feet. But with some significant ups and downs that tired us out after a while.

Awesome views, all day long. I'm overcome with bug-eyed wonder.

Also I saw a whole conglomeration of Bushtit.

I couldn't identify them at first--my only thought was Verdin which I've seen out in the desert. But this didn't seem to be the place for them, plus Verdin don't usually flock like that. Merlin ID'ed the call for me, and after looking at the bird book, I agree.

And home, after a quick stop at the City Market grocery to pick up some perishables.