Last week my little dog Sparky and I headed off from the North Rainbow Bridge Trailhead on the northern flank of Navajo Mountain in the Navajo Nation just north of the Arizona/Utah border. Our intention was to backpack for three or four days to make the 30-mile roundtrip hike to and from Rainbow Bridge National Monument. When it took us over three hours to hike a little less than four miles, I realized that a backpack loaded with four days’ worth of food for Sparky and me may be a bit of a stretch for someone of my age (77 ½ and now closer to 80 than 75) to carry over extremely rugged terrain.
Rather than risk further exhaustion and finding ourselves stranded in an extremely remote part of the country, we made the decision to make camp in a beautiful red rock canyon (Bald Rock Canyon) and then hike back to the trailhead the next day. Although we came up short on the original goal, we were given the gift of being immersed in one of the most majestic places on earth. And we had it all to ourselves in total quiet and beauty. Who could ask for more?