River Day 5 9 October 2014

Having already spent time at Anderson Bottom, we eagerly broke camp and paddled onward, past more spectacular walls and arches, on our way to a camp with access to the uplands around Turk's Head – another easy day. 

Each day, we noted, the sky was a little cloudier, even though our nightly satellite phone check-in with Rochelle claimed that the weather would be "fine."

By now, we were paddling easily, taking good care of our food and water. On this day, as I recall, we saw no one on the river, but did see a few very tiny people high above us on the White Rim Trail ... looking down and wishing they were on the river?

Tarantula Camp

We'd been watching for Tarantulas on the highway since Nevada without success, but shortly after mooring, this gorgeous beast wandered purposefully through the middle of camp. She was the only one we saw up close.

Ironically, on our way west from Delta several days later, Sienna was driving when she noticed large objects making their way across the highway. She diligently avoided the first as I exclaimed, "THAT was a Tarantula!" We were on a mission that day, so we didn't stop, but we saw (and avoided) several more.

We scrambled up the wash behind camp, where we could see that the rain a few days ago had been at work. Autumn in the air: even the Poison Sumac was showing colors.

Our camp, on the bench well above the river, continued on south toward Turks Head, a favored destination on the river. Having thoroughly explored it previously, our intention was to stay in this camp for two days, and on the next day cross the broad plateau to the west, find the petroglyphs, and possibly descend into Deadhorse Canyon.