by Mike Graf
Parker and Powell began trekking up the sandy wash. They followed the tracks until the dry riverbed boxed out at a series of rocks. Powell looked around. “Let’s climb up,” he suggested.
Parker scaled the slickrock first, checking to see that his rifle was secure while he climbed. At the top of a rise, he turned to watch Powell scramble up the rocky slope using his one arm for balance. “You are amazing,” Parker said to Powell.
Major Powell walked on. “Come on. There’s a hungry, hopeful crew waiting for us below.”
The two continued up the sandstone escarpment. They turned a bend in their makeshift path and stopped. A jagged, triangle-shaped arch spanned a fin of rocks directly in front of them.
“Whoa!” Powell exclaimed. “I surely didn’t expect to see anything like this up here.”
Parker gulped in astonishment at the giant hole in the rock. He wiped some sweat off his brow and then stared through the large opening, noticing a glare on the other side. “Boy, the heat sure radiates off these rocks,” he said, reaching for his canteen. “It’s like the Devil himself lives out here.”
“Yeah,” Powell added. “But to me it’s all one big, beautiful rock garden.”
Suddenly a cracking sound split the air.
Powell and his companion froze, searching for the source of the unusual noise.
The cracking noise sounded again, only this time louder—like a deafening rumble. The two explorers instinctively looked up. A large chunk of rock was peeling off the arch.
“Look out!” Powell yelled.
The two men bolted from the partially collapsing arch and ducked down, covering their heads with their arms. For several seconds rocks crashed and boomed to the ground, then, gradually, all became quiet.
Powell and Parker lifted their heads up from the ground. A cloud of dust filled the air. The two slowly stood up and brushed themselves off. “Are you okay?” Powell asked.
Parker nodded, then coughed up some dust.
A moment later the dust began to settle and the air cleared. When the two looked up at the arch, it was much smaller and had a pile of rubble beneath . . .
James paused from his writing and looked up. “Hey, Morgan and Dad. You’re back!”
Dad glanced at James’s notebook. “I see you’ve been busy. Do we get to hear more soon?”
“Soon,” James promised. “When I’m finished. How was Dark Angel?”
“Pretty cool,” Morgan replied. “A giant pillar of rock standing all by itself.”
Another group of hikers arrived at Double O Arch just as the Parkers packed up. “Desert solitaire no more,” Mom mentioned, referring to the book Dad was reading about the region.
Dark Angel
Morgan showed the map to her family. “I bet the primitive trail back will be quieter,” she suggested.
“Good idea,” Mom said. “And it will be new to us, a loop trail.”
“And we’ll get to see more arches,” James added.
And with that, the Parkers headed back.
10
Hide and Seek
The Parkers returned to their campsite and then took a quick walk on the surprisingly remote and beautiful Broken Arch Trail.
Once back at camp, Dad lounged in a foldout chair and pulled out his Edward Abbey book. “Time to do nothing!” he announced to the world while stretching out his legs. He opened the book and started reading.
As the late afternoon warmth slowly melted into evening, Morgan noticed people clambering among the rocks throughout the campground. She grabbed her journal and said to her parents. “I’m going to climb up there. Okay?”
“Okay,” Mom replied. “But only to a safe spot that you can also climb down.”
Morgan scrambled up a nearby slanted, reddish boulder, pulled out her journal, and wrote:
Dear Diary:
I’m perched above our campsite. But don’t worry, the rock I’m on isn’t that steep and I won’t get stuck up here. But what a great view I have. I can see pillars of stone fins everywhere. And as it gets close to sunset, the rocks seem to light up in color, almost as if they’re on fire. No wonder they call part of this place the Fiery Furnace. We’ll find out more about that tomorrow.
I can’t help but take pictures here. Good thing I have a digital camera—I’ve taken so many.
What I can’t see from where I am, though, are more arches. We did see two new ones on the Broken Arch Trail. Tapestry and Broken Arch are just as neat as any of the others we’ve been to in the park. And we got to walk right through Broken Arch.
We’ve also seen several rabbits. There’s even one hopping around near our campsite right now. Hopefully the coyotes will stay away from it—and us.
Even though I’m perched on my own private spot on the rocks, I’m not the only one with this idea. There are people climbing all over the place around camp. I just hope no one goes up somewhere where they can’t get down.
Guess what? We’re camped next to twins! They’re two boys. I think they’re around six or seven years old. They must be identical because they look so much alike. I don’t know how their parents tell them apart. Right now they’re chasing each other around the campground. Funny!
More soon from Arches, Morgan
Morgan put her journal away and watched the twins. Now they seemed to be playing hide and seek. While one closed his eyes and started counting to twenty, the other took off running. He stopped near the Parkers’ campsite and crouched behind a rock.
James saw the boy’s legs sticking out. “Back here,” James whispered, directing him to a better hideout, a narrow slot between large boulders.
Then James came over and helped the younger boy crouch down just as they heard the brother yell, “Twenty!”
The other twin started searching for his brother. Meanwhile James and the boy stayed low, hiding behind the rock. All the while Morgan watched the goings-on from above.
The searching boy called out. “Tommy! Tommy! Where are you?” He continued poking his head here and there but couldn’t find him.
Morgan waved at the boy. “Try over there,” she hinted, pointing.
The twin headed in the direction of Morgan’s prompt. But he ended up right next to the Parkers’ tent.
Morgan slid down from her perch and came over to the boy. “This way,” she motioned.
Morgan guided the boy to behind the Parkers’ campsite. There he saw James and Tommy’s legs still sticking out from the rock.
The boy raced over to the rock. “I found you!” he announced.
Morgan also walked up. Then James and Tommy stood up and dusted off their clothes.
Suddenly Morgan gasped. “Don’t move!” she said urgently.
One of the twins also saw the danger. “A snake!” he screamed.
Mom and Dad heard the call. So did the other twins’ parents. Instantly all four adults were by their kids’ sides. Dad inched closer and hoisted James away from the coiled-up reptile. The other mom quickly ushered her two boys away from the snake.
The two families stood at a distance and watched the pinkish snake flick its tongue in and out. Then they noticed the end of its tail.
“A rattlesnake,” James murmured.
The exposed snake sensed the intruders. It began to slowly slide sideways toward the rocks. The families backed up a few more feet.
“If we leave it alone,” Dad said, “it will leave us alone.”
Eventually the snake found protection among some rocks surrounded by bushes. It hid as well as it could there.
“Well, that was interesting,” the other father said.
The two families introduced themselves. “We’re from San Luis Obispo, California,” James said.
“Wow. We’re from Santa Cruz,” the other mom shared.
“Small world, isn’t it?” Dad responded.
Later, at dinner, James kept glancing back at the miniature chasm he and Tommy had been hiding in. “I keep thinking that rattler’s going to come out of there,” he expla
ined to his family.
But it never did.
11
Triple Twins
The next afternoon the Parkers joined a group of people at the Fiery Furnace parking lot. A ranger came over and introduced herself. “Welcome, everyone, to trail-less exploring,” she announced. “My name is Mariah, and I’m going to take you to my favorite place in the park.”
Mariah began leading the crowd down a rocky slope. After entering a ravine, she stopped and gathered everyone together.
“The colored rock layers,” Mariah began, pointing at the massive red sandstone slabs, “were formed by many sea episodes of salt deposits and eons of debris accumulation, until the resulting rock got about five thousand feet thick. Erosion from wind and water then stripped away thousands of feet of rock, creating narrow sandstone walls called rock fins. Most of the park’s arches are formed from these highly erodible fins.”
Mariah turned to look forward. “From here on we’ll mostly be in washes or on the rocks. We keep the area trail-less so visitors can have a more wild experience, and to help keep the plants, animals, and soil from being disturbed.”
“The soil?” someone asked.
“Yep. Please don’t disturb the soil by walking on it. I’ll explain in a little bit,” Mariah said. “Follow me.”
As the ranger led the group between a maze of towering rock fins, the Parkers shuffled along with everyone else.
James noticed another family near the front of the group. Two boys were with their parents. “Hey, it’s Tommy and his brother!” James announced.
“The twins,” Morgan confirmed.
Morgan waved to the boys and they waved back.
Meanwhile Mariah gathered the group together again near a sloping hillside of sand, dirt, and plants.
“See that black layer on the soil?” Mariah pointed to a spot on the ground.
Twins in the Fiery Furnace
The group looked over.
“Well, it’s actually alive. The dark crust is filled with living organisms that help bind the soil together. It also allows plants like these oak and juniper to take hold. It if weren’t for that soil, we’d really be getting sandstorms around here.
“So, as we like to say,” Mariah quipped, “don’t bust the crust. Stay in the washes where it is sandy, or walk only on rocks.”
The group followed the ranger farther into Fiery Furnace. Soon they approached a dark, shady side canyon. Mariah led everyone directly under a small natural arch and into a sandy area. She smiled and then informed everyone, “You just walked under a bridge.”
“Not an arch?” someone asked.
“Nope. But there is an arch in here.”
The group looked around.
“Over there!” Tommy pointed above to another hole in the rocks.
“Good eye,” Mariah said. “But technically that pothole up there and the bridge you walked under are not arches.”
Then Mariah pointed off to one side. “But look over there.”
Up a rocky slope was a small, jagged hole near the bottom of a large rock. “That’s an arch!” Mariah stated.
Then she explained. “There are over two thousand arches in this park and thousands more holes in the rocks. So the park came up with an exact definition of what actually makes an arch. For one thing, it must be at least three feet across. That pothole up there is only two and a half feet.”
“What about that bridge?” Dad asked.
“It is more than three feet,” Mariah admitted. “But it was created by water running underneath and carving it rather than rocks falling out from it. So we call it Walk Through Bridge. And the one over there is Crawl Through Arch.”
“So, does anyone want to crawl through it?”
All the kids in the group raised their hands and started scrambling up toward the small arch.
“Wait a second!” Mariah called out. “I have to go around to the other side first and guide you back down.”
Once Mariah was set, one by one the kids slithered through the constricted passage. Morgan and James waved to their parents just before they disappeared to the other side.
When the line of youngsters was through, Dad announced, “Well, I’m still a kid!” And he, along with a few other willing adults, also crawled through the narrow arch.
Then Mariah led everyone back through Walk Through Bridge, and the group continued on. As they hiked, she mentioned, “We’ve got some larger arches up ahead.”
Soon they were in another section of the labyrinth. Again everyone gathered around the ranger. “Has anyone seen any cool things in the park?”
“We saw a snake yesterday!” Tommy exclaimed.
Mariah looked at the two blonde-haired boys. “Hey, you two are twins!” she realized.
The two boys smiled.
Then Mariah asked, “What did the snake look like?”
“It was a rattlesnake,” the other twin answered. “It was kind of pink.”
“Yes. The faded midget rattlesnake,” Mariah explained. “Although they are venomous, they’re typically fairly timid. Where did you see it?”
“Near our campsite.”
“Just be careful when you’re exploring around the rocks,” Mariah warned. Then she spoke to the group. “Well—it’s quite a coincidence that we have twin boys in our group and we’re standing under Twin Arch.”
Twin Arch
Mariah gazed high above. Two large, similarly shaped holes hovered far up the rock wall. “Pretty neat, huh?”
Then Tommy said, “But there’re more twins than us here.” He looked toward Morgan and James, who stepped up.
Mariah inspected the pair of Parker kids. “You two, also?”
“Yep,” Morgan replied. “We’re fraternal.”
Mariah chuckled. “Now this is definitely a first. Triple sets of twins in this room.” Then she gazed at Twin Arches again. “Do you think they’re identical or fraternal?”
The group laughed. Then Mariah said, “There’s something else in this room I want to show you. Follow me.”
Everyone walked over to a shaded area. A small pool of water filled a depression in one of the rocks. “Look in there,” Mariah directed.
Morgan bent down for an inspection. “There’re bones!” she called out.
“That’s right,” Mariah replied. “What do you think they’re from?”
Everyone studied what they could see of the leftover animal. There was a skull and foot among the skeletal debris. “A rabbit?” Morgan asked.
“Yep,” Mariah replied. “For whatever reason, the ravens bring them here and scatter the remains in this area. This part of Fiery Furnace is sort of a rabbit burial ground. And there’s a raven’s nest up toward Twin Arches. So maybe that’s why they eat nearby.” Mariah pointed toward some branches and an area of stained rock perched high above.
Pothole with bones
“So,” Mom turned toward her family. “Maybe it wasn’t a coyote that got that rabbit at Double O Arch.” Then Mom told the ranger what they had seen on the trail yesterday.
“It could have been a coyote,” Mariah concluded. “Or a raven. Or both.”
The tour continued with Mariah leading the way among a series of rock climbs and scrambles. The group maneuvered past several sections of a maze of slot canyons. Soon they were in an entirely different part of the Fiery Furnace.
“Look over here,” Mariah said, pointing to an unusually shaped arch. “We call that one Kissing Turtle.”
“I can see the turtle shapes!” James exclaimed.
“Who gets to name these arches?” Mom asked.
“Usually the people who discover them,” Mariah replied.
James thought for a second, then stopped walking.
Dad saw the expression on James’s face. “What are you thinking about?”
“I’m thinking I left something out of my story.”
“What’s that?”
“I had John Wesley Powell discover an arch. But he didn’t name it.”
“Okay,” Dad replied. “But that’s the beauty of a first draft. You can always change things later. What do you think you’ll call it?”
“I don’t know yet,” James said. “But I have a few ideas because of the shape of the rock I set the arch in.”
Mariah led everyone farther. Eventually the group approached a narrow passage. Mariah went first, squeezing through the constricted area between the rocks and then positioning herself at the end. One by one she guided the group through. As James came up to the ranger, he straddled the narrow section with one foot against each rock wall. But his placement wasn’t secure, and suddenly James slid into a tighter spot, skinning his knee along the way. “Ow!” James hollered, before quickly bracing himself from falling farther.
Tight passage!
Mariah glanced at James’s leg. “Are you okay?” she asked.
James nodded, and with Mariah’s help he scampered beyond the narrow passage. James joined Mom and Morgan, and together they watched Dad saunter through.
When Dad came up, he looked at James’s knee. “It looks like you got a little rock rash,” he assessed. “But no bleeding, that’s good. Are you okay to go on?”
James nodded again.
Finally they climbed into another, darker side canyon.
“Come on up and rest for a few minutes,” Mariah invited as everyone walked up. “It’s nice and shady in here.”
Everyone sat down, and then Mariah started another story.
“In 1963 the park superintendent came up here and explored this very room. He had a wide, flat hat on, and he walked right past where all of you are sitting. Farther up, the canyon boxed out and he had to turn around. When he came back here, he heard a bird and looked up.”
Mariah paused. “So . . . look up, everyone!”
Surprise Arch
Spanning the air directly above the group was a beautifully shaped arch in the stone. “Surprise!” Mariah exclaimed.
