04.-10.09.2006: Canyonlands NP - San Rafael Swell - Goblin Valley SP - Capitol Reef NP Believe it or not, but we got up at 5-55am and drove to Mesa Arch where we walked 0.5 miles to get to the famous sunrise spot. We spent an our there with lots of other photographers - one of whom looked very much like Brad Pitt!!! After breakfast, we went to Green River Overlook and then did two trails - Upheaval Dome and Wilhite Trail for views over the canyons. Afterwards we drove into Moab for shopping and petrol and then drove to Goblin Valley State Park and found a free BLM parking/camping area where we stayed for the next 4 nights. On Tuesday we got up at 6am (astonishing!) and drove into the State Park for the sunrise. We paid the $6 entrance fee and then did a 3 mile walk through the "Goblins" - huge amount of other-worldly stone formations that all seem to have collected in a small area. (This is where "City Slickers II" with Billy Crystal and "Galaxy Quest" with Sigourney Weaver were filmed). Then we left the park, drove along a gravel road and did a super 9 mile walk through Little Wild Horse Slot Canyon. It was very narrow in parts with lots of scrambling over rocks. We found out that the canyon echo'd because ... Kirsten farted!!! It was a loop walk up one canyon and down through Bell Canyon, which meant a brutally hot stretch to get from one canyon to the other along a dirt road. Bell Canyon was quite wide until we got further down and then had quite a few problems scrambling down some steep rock formations. That evening a short but sharp storm came over us with rain and very blustery winds. On Wednesday it was cloudy so we decided to have a day off. On Thursday, we drove along "Beyond the Reef" road and stopped off to look at some petroglyphs. Then we started walking along Crack Canyon, but it didn't take long before we had to turn around and go back - a 10ft drop was the problem. We knew we could get down but didn't know if we'd be able to get back up! We'd already met someone coming back who told us there were a total of 4 x 10ft drops. So even if we made the first one, we might not get very far after that. So we erred on the side of caution. Afterwards we drove to Temple Tower to see a balancing rock. On Friday we continued west and went to Capitol Reef National Park. We stopped to look at some petroglyphs and then went to the visitor centre. Afterwards we went to a nearby town for pizza and then parked up just outside the park boundary for the night. On Saturday we spent the day going to various viewpoints and did a 3.5 mile walk to "The Narrows" in the Grand Wash. Kirsten had a few problems getting into the photos in time when she set the timer on her camera to take pictures of both of us! (See Photo). We did another 2.5 mile trail up to Hickman Bridge before driving down a dirt road for 12 miles to get to a free campground in a less visited part of the park. On Sunday we enjoyed the peace and quiet of the campground and did a short walk into Red Canyon.