On a club trip to the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, we drove south and west on Routes 24 and 12, surely one of the most scenic drives in the world. The drive started through a kaleidoscope of colorful canyons and ridges and then entered lovely Capitol Reef National Park where we stopped to see ancient petro glyphs. We drove high over Boulder Mountain where there was snow, and we stopped for the views to the large desert formations below. We then drove down into the Escalante over a dramatic stretch of road where there are precipitous drops on either side to the hard stone canyons below. We turned on to the Hole in the Rock Road and into the vastly empty desert. We had planned to hike late in the afternoon but were unable to because of time and the unstable weather. Some of us waited at the Dry Fork Coyote trailhead while we decided what to do.