My nine new friends and I continued on for the remainder of our trek through the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. We had made it to Druid Arch and the Joint section of Chesler Park and now were on the home-stretch.
We wound our way through the rock formations and into mini-canyons, if you look closely in the center of the photo above you can see the trail below in the field. Eventually we came to the top of a little hill and stopped for a quick break to enjoy the last few minutes of the sunset. I walked around the lookout, shooting photos and sat back down with the group. We all agreed to be quiet, just for a few seconds, to hear what the landscape truly sounded like.
And damn, it was quiet. Growing up in the mountains, I was used to experiencing silences like that. A quick walk across the street from my house into the local park and I could enjoy the peace and silent of the forest. But desert silence is a whole different ball game. There was no breeze. There were no creatures rustling. It was deserted. Everything was still.
Our moment of silence lasted longer than I had expected it to and after a few minutes I got a little impatient, (I'll admit), but then reminded myself to enjoy this moment. The sun was sinking lower and lower, casting a purple haze over red and tan rock, creating a view that could have been from a whole different planet. It was beautiful. We were afraid to speak up, soaking in each other's and the landscape's presence before moving on.
Finally, one of us said, "I never expected it to be that quiet". We all laughed, stood up and continued the last several miles of our journey in darkness.