A Helping Hand

 I do have to say, that I'm really impressed with my niblings on how well they've done with hiking on this trip. 

For not knowing how well they would do and worrying that they wouldn't do ANY hiking. It's been Soo gratifying to see them being willing to actually walk with us on the trails. 

Especially with them being under 3 years old. It's nice that they just want to walk with you.

Though it is a much slower hike walking with them and convincing them to not stop and pick up the rocks or play with the sand or sticks....they've overall taken to it pretty well.

Today we did our last hike with the niblings which was to Landscape Arch. 

A nice short hike with a path that's pretty flat so that people of all ages and capabilities can at least make it to the Arch.

The goal?  To get to the Arch and let the babies play in the plentiful sand there for a while while the rest of us who wanted to be a bit more proactive hiked up the steeper part to the arches up above Landscape. Partition Arch and Navajo Arch. 

It was a great mellow day. 

The babies had the time of their life playing in the sand. The older adults who didn't want to clamber all over the rocks enjoyed sitting there watching the babies play and the rest of us who wanted to climb and mess around climbed and messed around for a couple of hours before we headed back out.

It was great. 

What was also fun was like....how many people I helped today?

Like, I had ventured away from the group as everyone was getting settled to get more pictures of Landscape Arch from a slightly different angle and I'd overheard some other hikers/tourists talking about the trails and such so I chimed in with some information I knew since I've been hiking these trails since I was a baby basically....and it kinda steamrolled from there lol I had a few people asking me about conditions of the trails, what the best time to hike is, what routes are good, if it's worth it to go out to Dark Angel.

It was nice to be a bit of a guide for a bit to them. Give them some help and such.

But the more memorable moment was back in the Visitor Center gift shop.

As I have sensitive hearing, and even though I was halfway back in the shop and there were a ton of other people around, I heard a woman up front ask the Cashier up there if they had any pictures of Dark Angel for sale because she hadn't been able to take her own picture because her husband had had her turn back at Double O so she was hoping to get a picture in the gift shop.

Unfortunately Dark Angel...despite seemingly more popular this go around from how often I heard people talking about it...isn't that popular of an attraction as 99.5% of people turn back at Double O and don't go all the way out to Dark Angel.

BUT. Since I've been there a million times....just not there yet this trip...and because I never seem to delete photos from my phone. I was able to quickly pull up a picture I'd taken of Dark Angel on a previous trip a few years ago and tracked down the woman in the shop and asked her "Hey, were you looking for a picture of Dark Angel? I have this one here on my phone I can text you if you want?"

And she did want lol. So I was able to make her day by texting her a picture of Dark Angel. So yay!!! :D 

It was for sure a feel good moment and I was glad to be able to help out so many people today. :D 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi