We planned to return to the slickrock today because we expected the main canyon to be crowded like last weekend. Our plan was to hike up another canyon that leads away from the main road. We were hoping to see more bighorn sheep, but we didn't really think we would be that lucky.
We had only driven a few miles above the tunnel when we saw two young bighorn. They both jumped down an embankment and disappeared. There was no place to stop, so we continued up the road to Checkerboard Mesa. We hoped that the if we got there early enough, there would be good light on the front face. There were just enough clouds to diffuse the sunlight and prevent it from really lighting up the mesa. Since that wasn't going to work, we decided to drive back down to the area where we saw the bighorn sheep. We parked the Explorer at the nearest turnout, and started hiking down the wash to reach the area where we saw the bighorn. It was a cool hike down through the wash and provided some insight into what the bottom of the stream looks like. There were potholes and areas where there must be deep pools when the stream is running. A few weeks ago, it was lined with red maples. Today, the leaves were all gone and only the tree skeletons remained. We hiked 3 miles down the stream and then back up along the road, but never saw the bighorn.
Carol wanted to try Checkerboard Mesa again, so we turned around and started back toward the east entrance of the park. We made a stop at my favorite sunset shot in the slickrock. I had never hiked up to the ridge that included my "sunset tree." It turns out that the ridge has some wonderful layering and an interesting angle up toward one of the arches.
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