Our little hike into Fiery Furnace started well enough. Thirteen of us checked into the visitor center, watched the obligatory video on preserving the Fiery Furnace ecosystem and got our backcountry permit which is required if you're not on a ranger-led hike. We got to the parking area and started the hike in relatively good time. I thought things were going well until we started to look for one specific set of steps to take us across the next fin. Remember that wind we had last night? Well, there weren't any footprints at the expected location and we must have walked past the little slot at least five times before Gary finally found it with his sharp eyes. From there we found all three arches and even the exit hike trail up the hill to the parking lot without too much difficulty. We were glad we started early because the heat wasn't too bad down among the fins. As you've already seen we had some good pictures. I think I'll always remember Jan because he is very agile and jumps from rock to rock like a kangaroo! Fitting, don't you think? Seriously, he and the other guys were great helping with some of the big steps up and down. Everyone helped everyone else and we all made it out safely! We saw damp areas from the previous week's storms and we saw quite a few flowers. The indigenous and fragile Biscuitroot plant is in bloom, as is the Mormon Tea, penstamon, and others. I believe we were there about five hours.
After Fiery Furnace Margaret and Larry took off to climb up to Delicate Arch. I couldn't possibly have done that after Fiery Furnace! Jan cried all the way home because he missed the Ladies Luncheon.
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