September 11, 2013
-
Epic Road Trip Day 8, part 3
We'd started the day photographing DHP and then playing in Moab, then at 4:pm we met up with our tour group and the ranger named Kait and began our 3 hour tour into the Fiery Furnace.
It was about 100 degrees, more give than take, but I am not certain. We were a bit worried that the Fiery Furnace was named for the obvious reasons, although we discussed this in the car. I asked the kids if they knew of some other situation where there was a fiery furnace and they immediately thought of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from the Bible. I reminded them that they got thrown in but they didn't get burned because Jesus was with them. So I called out, cheerleading style, "Who are we?" and they both yelled back, "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego!!" I continued building the excitement and hollered, "And where are we going?" Kendrah yelled, "TO BE WITH JESUS!!!"
Ok, it wasn't THAT hot. And the Fiery Furnace was named for the colors of the rocks at sunset rather than for the heat. Actually, once inside the canyons it was quite pleasant. And not one person on the tour died.
We stopped frequently to admire different aspects of the area, like the balanced rock.
And other rocks.
And landscapes.
Sometimes we had to walk through very narrow canyons.
And got to see several of the thousands of arches in Arches National Park.
Sometimes they aren't fully formed yet but make good resting spots.
Others are more holes than arches. Give it time, give it time.
This is the desert. Not a lot grows out here but sage, juniper and cactus, but in the Fiery Furnace, there was aspen trees and scrub oak, and other greenery. It was such a striking contrast!
The walls had tafoni which was pretty cool.
The ranger used the kids to demonstrate her geology lessons.
Kendrah peeking to see if it's an arch or a hole.
This was an arch. We climbed through it (although it was optional) but we had to remove our backpacks to fit through!
More tafoni.
Cute rock in a little cove.
Another crevice we squeezed through.
Aren't the colors in these rock formations fascinating?
We aren't through with the tour yet but I'll be back to finish it now that Xanga has changed everything around and is allowing photos to be downloaded again!
