Vivid red outcroppings slash across the landscape in stark contrast with near-white silica domes and towering grey conglomerate mountain ridges.  Ages of erosion have left shapes that are jagged and rough while others are smooth and curving.  Trace minerals in the many layers create colored swirls that look like rainbows frozen in place.

Hikes take us to elephant rock – it does seem to have a trunk; Fire wave – one of those smooth, curving ribbon like formations; and white dome – it includes an impressive slot canyon.  We close out our visit with lunch under the shade ramadas at Seven Sisters formation.

We spend a quiet afternoon in camp that includes watching clouds build above the mountains to our east and west.  We have rain in the forecast but it mostly misses us; just barely, it rained hard over the lake less than a mile from camp.   It was not as impressive as the storm earlier in the week but still interesting to watch.                  

While the clouds formed, the roar of an engine out over the lake joined the sound of the increasing wind.  A plane flew north, banked a hard turn over the lake to head back south, then landed on the water.  Wow, I wasn’t expecting that.  In seconds it took off again and disappeared from sight.  By its third pass I had my binoculars out.  It was an Air Force sea plane practicing landings and take offs.