Who is Joe and where did you guys go?!

I am going to try to use voice text to write this blog so please forgive any error.

So, let’s start at the beginning. With the question I bet most of you are asking: who is Joe?

Ok yall stop drooling and focus. In order to answer that question I need to back up a bit. When I was dating Eric we had a plan to bring his daughter home from Utah and do a road trip. But when we broke up that left me with a week journey of nonrefundable hotels. I planned to do it on my own but was going to have to tweak a lot of my trip due to the fact that it wasn’t safe or wise to do on my own.
So while on Mutual, a dating app, I saw a guy to love to travel so I messaged him. Within four messages we realized we were both doing a southern Utah national parks tour at the exact same time. Luckily for me he did not have hard set plans and was willing to follow my preset itinerary.

We called each other once, did background checks, and said we were all in. Now, don’t get so worried, we have many mutual friends. In Mormon world traveling with a “stranger“ is not really a huge deal when you can verify them through a friend. So we decided to meet at Capitol reefNational Park visitor Center and do our trip together as travel buddies.
And boy am I glad because I would not have had nearly as much And I would not have been able to do the slot canyon which Would have been super sad.

So, we meet at Capitol reef visitor center and begin our first journey at national Park. We did the scenic drive which was beautiful. After capital reef we decided to go to peek a boo and a spooky slot Canyon something I was really looking forward to.

This was the part of the trip I was going to have to skip because there is a 12 foot climb in and an 8 foot straight down job I would not have been able to do alone. First we parked his car at an RV campground and took my car down the dirt road. This road is no joke. It is 25 miles of rocks, bumps, and washboards. It took an hour to get there and instead of parking at the parking lot we decided to off road to the Trail head even though it said to not take your normal car. We made it with only a broken bumper.
Then we started the dissent into the wash to find the entrance to the Canyon. The climb into peekaboo was slightly challenging but once we got in it was natures paradise and playground. The colors were beautiful and the formation of the rock was stunning. We sleaze and climb and lowered ourselves through and under and on top of the rocks. Once you come out of peekaboo you walk to spooky sticky spot canyon it only 12 inches wide. These ones were crazy because inOrder to get in there is a huge drop. Thank goodness that show is 99% muscle and 1% skin Because he put me on his shoulders and got me into this canyon. It was incredible! As we were enjoying our time in the canyon we realized it was taking longer than Expected and we still had a 25 mile on the dirt road. So we hurried out and up the wash back over all the ruts And started our journey out. She got back in his car and we drove two hours to our hotel in Panguitch so we could do Bryce the next morning. If you are considering the slot canyons you should. I would not take children. It would be doable but more challenging.

The next morning we went to Willis Creek slot canyon in Escalante and hiked through much wider narrow slot Canyon. There was about an inch of water in the creek. We spent a couple hours on this hike and then headed into Bryce.

One in Bryce Canyon national Park we drove the scenic way all the way to the end of the park and then came back to hike Wall Street. We hike and then watch sunset over the Bryson amphitheater.

After that we hung out and waited for complete darkness to s t a r g a z e. Price is one of the darkest places on all of North AmericaWe were going to try night for talker fee but we left the tripod in the other car. Got back to the hotel around midnight. At this point those of you who know me know that this is complete opposite of my normal sleep schedule and I am struggling but what we are doing is totally worth it.

While at the hotel Joe asked me about the wave. I told him I had been interested in it but getting a permit was very hard and you had to do it in person at the Visitor center online ones are sold out. We had a chore reservation for 930 in the morning in page Arizona and I didn’t think it would be possible to even try to enter the lottery. But, Joe wanted to try and so he devised a plan. We would divide and conquer I would leave and drive the two hours to Paige, check us in and he would stop and enter the lottery and then get to Paige as fast as possible. So we start our journey and I don’t hear from him so I assume he is on his way.
All tjese people hoping for a spot

Well at 9:30 Utah time I get a text that says: we won! I literally screamed in the car I thought he was joking but he was totally serious our name was Pulled from among the 31 different groups and about 100 people. Ours was the last one chosen for a single spot but because it was a single they let him take two people himself and me. We literally won the lottery. But now it is 830 Arizona time and he has to be to our tour by 930. I was able to get our two are changed to 10 and the entire thing worked out plus we had permits to a once in a lifetime opportunity hike. Wow.

Joe made it and we headed on our tour of lower antelope Canyon. Lower antelope Canyon is stunning! It is worth the money and the crowd. Just know that 100 people go through every 30 minutes and they tell you what filters to use on the rocks so the colors are there but every picture you see has filters that give you a false idea. Regardless it is something to add to your bucket list, it’s incredible.
One thing I admire about Joe and he can talk to anyone so on every single one of our journeys we had new friends.

When we came out of the slot canyon we decided to change plans and head to the Grand Canyon so that Joe could see it before he went to Moab the next day. My original plan was to drive to the Grand Canyon on Thursday on my way to my Arizona hotel but I was willing to go as long as he drove. So we park my car and load head and stop through a drive-through to grab him some food. But then at the drive-through window The car dies. Dead. To the point of us pushing it. So we pushed it to the dry cleaner and parked it. It was super hot and we think the fan went out and the car overheated. So then Joe hitchhike back to get my car and we moved everything from his car into my car.

Finally, we set off for the grand canyon. Started at the east side of the Grand Canyon and then went to South rim we did not have enough time to hike down into the Grand Canyon but we walked the rim and waited at the end for a beautiful sunset.

He climbed to the edge of an overhang thing on our feet off the rim and watched a majestic sunset, complete with a man singing gospel song and serenading us from the other side of the mountain LOL. It was beautiful we then walked to the shuttle and missed the last shuttle by one minute which would not have been such a big deal but Joe.‘s blood sugar crash and he was not going able to walk back to the car. So once again we hitchhiked to the visitor center. Then we began the long drive back to Paige. At this point we realized we would get to Paige at midnight I need to leave at 4 AM…Bummer that we had a hotel and I was also very worried that now on day four I still haven’t been able to sleep.

***remember this was written using voice text***

However we both wanted to see Horshoe Bend and this would be our only chance because we had to get to the wave before it got too hot.

We got up at 4:30 and went to watch sunrise but what we did it now is that it was just over a mile hike to horseshoe Bend so he had to jog it in order to catch the sunrise, totally worth it. Horseshoe bend might be one of my favorite places it is beautiful!

We then headed back to the hotel to grab our stuff and make our journey to the wave Trail head. When we started our hike I was a little worried because I was at my breaking point as far as sleep and exertion goes and was worried I was going to either faint or start throwing up. So I chugged my first energy drink filled up with water and protein bars and away we went. There is no Mark Trail you get a map with some pictures and guidelines of where to go but you are in the middle of the wilderness hiking over is wavy red rocks and through the sand. It was not an easy hike but not necessarily hard just a lot of up and down the Sand though is very very hard to walk in.

 So we hugged the rock and that train as much as we could to avoid the sand. It was 2.6 miles in and relatively hot but still doing OK. When we walked into the ways I was blown away. It is one of natures all inspiring beautys. It looks exactly like the picture. It was a group of about four guys and a husband and wife who are traveling so we took pictures and chatted with them for a while before they left. Then we had the waves to ourselves as one of only 20 people who would see it that day. I could not believe the colors and lines and curvature of the rock. Joe then hiked up to a very high arch rock I hiked eight more Platte pass to see what else I can discover in this landscape.

When the time came to go I was feeling weak but OK until we walked out of the shade and realize it was over 100° and we were on Sand and red rock which made it even hotter. Instantly our skin began to cook and I started to chug on water. After the first up down I knew I had a problem. I was at my lowest point energy and sleep wise I had been in years and began to feel very weak and nauseous. I was worried about heat exhaustion but we have 3 miles to go to get out of that.The other problem was we should have brought more water Joe was totally fine but I was struggling more than I ever had on a hike. We needed to keep one water bottle for him incase his blood sugar crAsh and we had to make joe juice To bring it back up. There was a point on the hike where I literally just cried and prayed because I did not know how I was going to make it out of here but was also trying to be tough and not “complain”. When we had just a mile to go at turn and which is hard but then luckily it turned to wash bed which was easier but at this point I was on fire and had zero energy. Joe checked his blood sugar and then you just left water bottle to completely douse me. Not sure if that was the best idea but I would not have made it out without that it gave me a nice way to a call. When I finally made it to the car I held my clothes with ice that melted instantly because I was on fire. Because a couple of cold water bottle and then we started to drive out.

We had to get the car to the mechanic before closing oh and also Joe. had lost his drone which was another problem. I decided to milk my hotel in Kingman to Friday and stay another night and Paige to make sure his car was working and he found his drone.

He went to find his drone and I went to swim in Lake Powell. Lake Powell is so beautiful. I love the scenery of the rock on the blue water. I need to plan a trip to go out there on a house. After swimming I was trying to find a hotel but my phone hates page Arizona and it cannot for the life of it get reception anywhere so after driving around the town for a half an hour I was so frustrated I just pulled over and found a hotel. Then we went back to horseshoe Bend for sunset. We hiked to the right this time and sat on the edge of a cliff watching the sunset over our shit then it was a great way to start and end the day in the same place even though it felt like a week of time had gone in just one day. This morning he got up and left to continue the search for his drone and then head to Moab a day late because of the broken car. I am going to head to a few State Park in Arizona before stopping in Kingman

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