jeep arch

Sunday morning, Milton was surprised and pleased to be included in the day's outing: the hike to Jeep Arch.  Once again, we were out the door by 7 and hiking through the big culvert to the trail by 7:30.  The sky was pretty much cloudless and although it was quite pleasant in the shade, when we were in the full sun, we could tell that it was going to be hot.

Gorgeous morning

We had the whole trail to ourselves, both coming and going, which was fantastic.  To start, we kept Milton on his leash.  But a little ways past the sign for the loop portion of the trail (if you stick to the main trail, this hike is a lollipop: out, loop, back the way you came in), we had to do some scrambling and we let him off-leash - it was safer for both H and the dog not to be tethered to each other on those bits.

Me and the Boy Genius

Milt did great.  He needed a couple of boosts and lift downs, but he stayed right on the trail and checked in with us constantly.  He went after a little squirrelly critter once and a lizard once and both times he stopped his chase and came back when H called him.

Above the first scramble section

Instead of going back on the main trail, we descended via the wash, like we did last time.  (See this post here for more details about the hike.)  Milton was starting to get some confidence and seemed to enjoy leaping off ledges.  When we got back to the truck, we were still the only ones in the parking area.  This off-season stuff is great!

Jeep Arch

We went back and got cleaned up, then H and I walked into town to the Back of Beyond bookstore.  I was hoping to find a La Sal Mountains hiking book; I struck out but did pick up another map.  The heat was building as we walked back and we needed no encouragement for siestas and reading the afternoon away.

It's a pretty big arch, actually

As evening came on and the sun went down, the temperature dropped from its high of 100 F and we were able to have drinks and dinner al fresco, watching hummingbirds zooming around the neighbors' feeders and turkey vultures circling high overhead.

Hike stats:  4.06 miles; 2:06 hours, 960' elevation