This may not have been the smartest thing I ever did......

 Today, I planned on walking "the narrows", the top part of the canyon, where it narrows down and the only way, the "trail", is actually the riverbed. 

The weather was calling for 40% chance of thunderstorms, which is the most useless forecast ever - what are you supposed to do with this information?   What I did with it is get up very early again (5:30am), drag Joe out of bed at 6am (the man has the patience of a saint!), so that I could be on the first shuttle bus to the trail head.  After the easy 1 mile hike to the narrows "trail", the real fun begins.  When I started, the "trail" was actually opened - but within 1/2 hour, the sign below was posted (Joe took the picture), however, by then, I had no way of knowing that, so I kept on going...

The Virgin river, which yesterday was clear and a pleasant greenish blue had turned completely opaque with sediments as a results of last night storms.  So it was impossible to judge how deep it was at any point, or see any of the rocks in the bottom.  But I was determined! and I went on!
  This is a picture of the "trail" - no kidding, this is it! the trail is the river bed, and you just walk up it, knee deep most of the time, thigh deep some of the time, and waist deep occasionally.  The currents are pretty tough at times, but I only slipped once, bruising my knee....

The worry was that I was by myself, and only 2 other hikers had started slightly behind me before the trail was closed.  The good thing about that is that I had this magnificent place to myself!  the bad thing is...  well this was clearly a bit nutty....  but hey, I did live to blog another day...

I made it to the Orderville Canyon, 2.7 miles upstream- where I turned around, because (as is obvious from the picture), the canyon is very narrow, and if it floods, there is no high ground to wait out the storm - oh- and by that time it had started to rain...  I may be nutty, but I'm not completely insane...... 

This picture shows the water of the Orderville canyon mixing with the water of the Virgin river - the orderville water is much clearer, because it had not flooded (yet), but I did not want to take that risk.  

 At that point on the trail, the cliffs are 1500 feet high and straight up - it is an amazing sight.

On the way back, I met with the only 2 other hikers to make it today, and they offered to take this picture.....

 there were some welcomed but brief portions of the trail that were not in the water:

 Joe was there at my return to take pictures of the final crossing - here is me pondering how I'm going to do this.... , and fighting with the current.

 I would never have made it without this wonderful water boots and neoprene socks (what a fabulous material neoprene is!) - and a very strong walking stick!

It was REALLY worth it!  not just because it is just awe inspiring to be alone in the grand place that has been 6 millions years in the making (try to wrap you mind around that!), but also because it completely focuses the mind.  There is simply nothing else you can focus on but were to put your foot next.  Some people meditate - this is what I do...   :-)
The other reason it is worth it is that it justifies having lunch that look like this:

This afternoon was definitely tamer.   It was still overcast, but not raining, and we stopped by here an there to take short walks and admire the sights. 

 Here are the "3 prophets" (Jacob and.... I forget the other 2).  And the "great white throne (in the background, below).

 Driving back to our place, we admired the completely different rock formations on the east side of the parc

 And met a large family of desert big horn sheep:  I had been looking for them, but discovered that the best way to spot them is not to try to look for them.  Instead, look for very slow moving traffic and a lot of poeple out of their cars looking up!
The family had a bunch of wives and babies, and 2 magnificent males- see picture below.... we are, after all in Utah....   :-)

 I think these have been trained by the park rangers to pose for the tourists.....

 Finally took one last picture of the checkerboard mesa (Up close, the walls looked etched in a checkerboard pattern),
And went home to the "ranch", where the grass looks really golden with the stormy sky in the background.

Tomorrow: the Angels landing trail, rising 1500 feet over the canyon on a narrow cliff!