Daily Didactic
We woke on a plateau above the Red Well connector to Coyote Gulch. We presume this is Red Well gulch or wash, but we are a little short on documentation. The hiking is down in a relatively narrow gully, along the narrow Coyote stream. To the point we camped last night there had been a few stream crossings, but nothing to get your shoes too wet. Today, after dropping down of of the rise, the creek imposed itself slightly more and we swapped our shoes for sandals. The trail is fun, and is often easiest done just marching down the stream. It is also a little slow going with the water and sand. We hiked for another couple of hours and stopped at the confluence where Red Well and Hurricane Wash run into Coyote Gulch. Here Brian demonstrated an awesome Alaskan failure to understand even the basics of rock formations and misidentified a large arching cave formation as potentially Jacob Hamlin's Arch. Jacob's arch was mentioned in one of the web pages we had read as seven miles in and where many folks stopped to camp. Turns out that while we stopped exactly seven miles in, it wasn't even remotely an arch.

Despite not being in the right spot, we found a great camp site under a tree. Great shade, a little protection from rain, the perfect size for a two person tent. We pitched here, had a little lunch and continued on up Coyote Gulch without our packs. After about a mile of amazing rock formations and stream walking we came across the actual and truly monumental Jacon Hamlin's Arch and evidence of a lot more campsites. We kept going about another mile up the gulch, jabbering about this being pretty and that being amazing, and finally turned around tired, very warm and fascinated.

We got back to the tent in time for an afternoon nap and followed that with an early dinner. As we sat eating dinner we stared across the grove of trees between us and Brian's misidentified arch, and decided to visit it after dinner. Walking up into it, we realized that while we had a great campsite, this one was epic. We hauled all of our stuff up into our new cave and Brian marveled at the view from our new home while Theresa painted for the rest of the evening.

Morning on a sandy meadow above Red Well gulch		Getting ready to rumble
Teva Time!		Chilly at first, very refreshing as the day went on
If we had a dog with us, we would respectfully not take it through that gate		Teeny frog
In the water, under a red cliff, spectacular		Pictographs
Trail shot		Pretty poseys
Our first campsite, a great hidden spot under that tree		Bigger lizard
Up Coyote Gulch, sans pack		We love the water staining on the cliffs here
Easily the most unique backpacking trip we've done		Hanging gardens from water seeping through the rock
Okay, that is an arch		Cool side trail to a cool point
Brian, cleaning up any way he can		Sculpted falls
Carved slots		Not an arch...
...but an incredible spot campsite number two		The artist studio
Painting what she sees		Campsite number three for the day, there was some concern about exfoliating rock at number two

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