Ides of March

Ah, the Ides of March! We started off innocuously in Moon Blossom Canyon which is a red rock shallow box canyon with sleek sandstone walls and a spring that feeds a small creek so cottonwood and willow. After seeing the rock art there and driving up the main canyon further to see the birthing rock, we headed for one more panel of Ancestral Puebloan history before heading up into the north-eastern section of the Manti-LaSal National Forest to do some skiing. (So Michael and Sasha wouldn’t have some sort of withdrawal symptoms.) The snow was icy and the weather was sharp, in contrast with the Moab Valley. On the way down, heading toward the Colorado River, there was a small bit of weather that made the already dramatic scenery look almost biblical, or Ansel Adams, anyway.
That night, the night we celebrated the 8th month of veggie voyaging, we were awakened in the night and given a 75$ fine for not being parked where camping was allowed. We were parked at a deserted trailhead aptly named “Poisonous Spider.”