This was a quick trip to visit our son, Kevin, who does 4x4 jeep, and whitewater rafting guiding there. The plan was a backcountry jeep tour in Arches National Park in the morning, and hiking Fiery Furnace in Arches in the afternoon. The next day would be a trip into Canyonlands, to Mussleman Arch and up the Shafer Trail, before we would have to leave in the afternoon. Before returning home, we were also going to go to Great Basin National Park in Nevada to see fall colors and the Bristlecone Pines there.
Well, thanks to our stupid congress, all National Parks were closed! However, we made do, and still had a really good time, though we felt very bad about people who had traveled to this country to visit our National Parks.
So, the first day, Kevin took us whitewater rafting. The all day Westwater trip with many class 3 rapids and a class 4. While we did take photos, our cameras were not waterproof, so they were stored in watertight boxes during the better rapids, so no photos of ones like "Skull", or "Sock it to Me". We were in the yellow oar boat that Kevin rowed with another couple and an extra guide. There were also 3 men from Denmark and 2 from Israel in a blue paddle boat with us, with Matt as the guide for that boat. Our van driver, David took us almost to the Colorado border for the start of the trip. This trip was through BLM land which was still allowed. It was a really fun day!