Capitol Reef.

The adventure began at 9:30 in the morning. After the business of putting pen to paper and signifying that we had understood the dangers of our proposed trip, 7 students, a professor, and our trip adviser set off on a long adventure. The white tipped mountains lead the way as the ashen road wound through the frosted valleys. Landscape changed dramatically , going from white rolling hills to fragmented red plates. Upon the mountains shone the sun, that peeked from clouds intermittently. Beauty was all around. We reached our destination at 3:30pm and met the field station manager, Hau, who went over the rules and explained the importance of preserving nature. Promptly following our discussion and answering any questions we may have regarding the rules or the park, he took us on a hike. Hau showed us some "artifacts" that have been left here from the ancient cowboys. He explained that even though the artifacts were items that we may see as trash, they are important and historical. One mans trash is another mans treasure, that is if it is over 50 years old. A bitter breeze blew through biting at our noses as we continued forward. With Hau in the lead, the hike continued through the pastel canyon. He took us out of the wind and as we rested he explained what makes our national park unique. He spoke about someof the symbols that we may see, then we continued on. After a short while, we came to sudden stop. There upon the wall was yesterday's news. Adorning the wall in stipple art were petroglyphs and pictographs. Though they were a sight to see, it was sad to see that they had been defaced in the past.