July 18th – Friday –(Very Hot, Arid, 100+ degrees)
We woke up early and departed early to finish the arches and make the 500 mile trek to Canõn City (pronounced Canyon City). Our last arch is Delicate arch which is what Utah has become famous for. It is on most of their memorabilia and the entry and exit to the state sign posts. It is a 5.2 mile hike roundtrip through the hot desert. We left at around 8:00am from our site in the motorhome and drove to the parking lot. We saw the empty riverbed that was gushing the day before from the rains. They had flash flooding yet today it is bone dry. The good news is that at 8am it is still cool and the sun was low. We hoped to get some nice pictures of the arch up close. We filled our water bottles and left the parking lot. Our first stop was Wolf ranch, a historic site that contained the home of Mr. Wolf who came with his family to settle in this area and his home is still standing today. His home was the size of our motorhome. Yikes!
The trail leading to delicate arch is steep and long and requires some serious rock scrambling. Fortunately for me, my Adirondack experience lead me to know that Carons marked the way and to the casual observer, they looked like pretty rock formations but to me they marked the way on bare rock. I showed my kids and wife them and told them not to disturb them since they were there for a reason. I think they told me they knew this already, you know how Bailey’s are.
Once we reached the the delicate arch area, we were treated to a spectacular sight. I had to sit down and take in its beauty. When looking at the arch just right, it looks like a snake bending over to get the people sitting below a rock. See for yourself. How this could had ever formed is beyond me. Well after appreciating its beauty, we went down to it to get pictures. At the base of the arch is a uge bowl like formation that of course both kids had to descend into. 
On our way back we stopped at some very early Indian petrographs. They were in remarkable condition given that they were a 1000 years old.
We saw bus loads of people on their way in and were glad we did this hike early. We got on the road around 10am and headed east for Canõn City, Colorado. It was a while before we came upon the Arkansas River. The Arkansas River is one of the longest in the US with its origin in the Rockies. It originates at Mt Elbert the highest point in Colorado at 14,443 feet above sea level and is about 150 miles long and flows through 5 states where it dumps into the Mississippi around Rosedale Arkansas on the border. The road to Canõn City for the most part followed the river and made for a beautiful car ride, but we had our doubts as to it being a good whitewater rafting river. As we approached this area, the red returned to the mountains and we could see the Sange Christos (blood of Christ in Spanish) mountain range and the Collegiate Range of the Rocky Mountains. I wonder if its because of the red color that the Spainards named them the blood of Christ.
Well after going through rock tunnels and following the Arkansas for a while, we eventually arrived at Canon City area and stayed at the Royal Gorge RV park across the street from Echo Canyon Whitewater River rafting Company. Mom did laundry and we all went to bed knowing the next day would start early. We needed to be ready by 7:45am.
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