Today was pretty low key. We had a late breakfast at 8:15am and left around 9am for the Yol Valley to the south. This is where we were supposed to go the first day after our flight in that was cancelled.
It’s not a long drive from our camp and we pass through the gates into the park and after a quick stop at the museum and gift shop, we make our way into a bit of a valley. We drive for awhile then park then start to walk the rest of the way in.
The peaks on either side of us grow a little taller and the ground in the valley and up the hillsides is green and there are yaks and the odd horse grazing. It’s about 45mins to the end where this is a glacier that some of us walk out into. Unfortunately Fiona has a big wipeout and cuts up her arms and gets covered in mud. Glad I brought my first aid kit with me today. Robert ventures up one of the hillsides and gets caught in some sort of nettle. It’s just one of those days!
It’s a beautiful and peaceful valley though and we enjoy the leisurely stroll. I continue to be amazed by the varying landscapes in the desert.
We head back to our camp and have lunch and then we take a vote on when to leave for the afternoon activity. We are headed to the flaming cliffs and apparently they are best seen at sunset. The question is do we eat before or take something with us, or do we go earlier as the weather is not looking great.
We also find out that UB is flooding quite badly. Apparently it’s been raining steadily since we left and some parts have been evacuated. Sara says her family is ok and we hope that everyone is staying safe. We won’t be in UB for quite a few days yet so hope it has stopped raining and that the city doesn’t suffer too much damage ahead of the upcoming festival.
The majority rule to eat at 6pm at our camp and then drive to the flaming cliffs as soon as we are done. Dinner ends up being a bit delayed and this is causing some anxt for some people who really want to have enough time at the cliffs (fyi it’s Erik).
We eat quickly and hurry to get in our cars and get going.
For the last three days we have mostly been sticking to a consistent seating arrangement however for the last couple of rides there have been some changes. I’m the rush to get out Dave and I are in a car with none of our children and as we get going we start to question if anyone saw Fiona get into a car. Car #1 had left before the others and so we never saw who was in it and Fiona had last ridden with us. We try to message mom and Erik in the other cars but don’t get an answer. The boys have Avery and pull over awhile ahead and add to our stress by also asking about Fiona. Nobody had seen her and nobody in car #1 is picking up. We are about 70% sure she’s with the group but she may have gone to the bathroom before we left. It’s a stressful 45mins drive (service is out for most of the drive) until we finally hear that she is in fact with them. We had resolved to turn around and go straight back if she wasn’t with them. Phewf!
We spend an hour or so walking along the flaming cliffs. They are spectacular and the setting sun is glowing against them and lighting them up. This is the site of many dinosaur bone and fossil discoveries which we had learned about previously in the dinosaur museum in town.
We grab lots of photos on top of the cliffs and then head back and drive around to get a full view of all the cliffs for the sunset. The clouds block the sun from being super fantastic but it’s still gorgeous and we are so glad that the weather held for us to get this experience.
We hear back and it’s difficult navigating in the dark through the desert. Our driver takes the lead and has some sort of map to help him. There are no real landmarks so it’s a combination of experience and some help from some simple navigation to get us back to our camp.
We have an early start tomorrow so it’s off to finish packing and to bed. We are flying back to UB and saying goodbye to Robert tomorrow.
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