Saturday, November 13th, David and headed for an area near Cedar City called Strawberry Point. Before heading there, we tried to visit a natural arch near Parowan Utah. However, as I put the Explorer into four-wheel drive in order to drive up a dirt/mud road, a loud banging started in the front-drive system. We had to stop in Cedar City to let a mechanic look at it but by then it was obvious that we could still drive in two-wheel drive and would be able to make it home again.
Strawberry Point is east of Cedar City and fairly high in the mountains. There wasn’t any snow yet at that altitude so we were able to drive directly to it. This area looked like a mostly summer home area with lots of cabins.
At Strawberry Point, we could view Strawberry Point Arch a short distance away.
However, the natural arch we were looking for turned out to be just over the edge from the point. Climbing down to it to get good pictures turned out to be very challenging. The loose rock would not let you get a good foot grip as it kept trying to slide you down the hill. We finally managed to descend to a large rock outcrop referred to as “The Temple” where we could photograph the class ‘C’ arch called Temple Arch.
Hiking back up the steep slope was going to be a problem so we decided to try using a rougher but more direct route that avoided the loose rock. We climbed up a small drainage not knowing if we could negotiate the cliffs at the very top. As it turned out, there was one place to climb through.
That was more exercise than I had planned for the day but we had plenty of time to sit and rest on the drive home.