In 2015 we made the drive to visit Penitente Canyon and La Garita Natural Arch. We remembered that day so fondly that we decided to do it again in 2020. Most of the driving was on dirt roads today, as we headed 15 miles from where the motor home is parked in the city park in Del Norte, Colorado. We saw several loop trails on the map when we arrived at Penitente Canyon, and we chose to start our hike on the Blue Sky Trail.
As you can see from the pictures, the trail was named just for a day like today. We enjoyed these beautiful blue skies all day!
This loop actually takes us above the canyon, and into fields of these interesting rock formations.
After we gained some elevation, we could see that these interesting rock formations went on for miles in front of us.
The views were nice from the canyon rim, but we remembered that our favorite part five years ago was down inside the canyon. So we headed down a 12-foot crevice into the canyon.
Those blue skies are showing off the colors and shapes we found deep in Penitente Canyon.
Mark did a little climbing up those steep walls, to give some scale to the canyon walls around us. We are getting to wander more of God's wonders as we wander through Penitente Canyon!
More prepared climbers were also here today, with their ropes and helmets and climbing shoes. Experienced climbers come from all over to test their skills in Penitente Canyon.
The trail through the canyon was overgrown with scrubby bushes, but we were still trying hard to keep our eyes on the ground. All the signs at the beginning of our hike warned of the rattlesnakes that live in this canyon. After some rain earlier in the week, we knew that this lovely blue sky day would bring out the rattlers. Sure enough, we talked to a group of hikers that saw one on the trail right in front of us.
So even though the colors of the interesting canyon walls were lovely today, with the thoughts of rattlesnakes running through her mind, Denisa was ready to make her way back to the car by the time we finished our loop.
Back to the car, we traveled on more dirt roads as we headed to our next destination. Mark stopped the car beside a rattlesnake in the road, and Denisa was very glad to see that he was belly up and dead.
While we saw several groups of people at Penitente Canyon, we were the only visitors when we arrived at La Garita Natural Arch.
We've already said it, but the blue skies were extraordinary today as they peeked through that arch. You'll have to look carefully to see Mark at the bottom center of the picture below, starting his journey to the arch.
He made it to the bottom of the natural arch with all that blue sky around him. We've wandered up to another of God's wonders today!
While he makes it look easy, it's not. From the top, he took a picture of the car, barely visible in the shadow in its parking spot far below. Denisa has gained a lot of elevation from the car, but she still has to conquer that last steep stretch right below the arch.
That last section is done crawling on all fours to get through the arch.
After all that work we had to pose for more pictures, framed with the arch and backed by those blue skies.
After crawling back down that steep trail, we headed back on the dirt road to loop back to Del Norte. It's not far, but with these rough roads, it feels like a long drive. It's been another good day of wandering God's wonders, topped with the wonder of His blue skies!
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