Day 6 Cross Country Adventure

Ok, so, I know religion isn't something I should just suspend when I feel like it, but, this is vacation, and Ilana and I wanted to use up every second of it.
Aaaaanyway, today Ilana and I went on a hike! Twas awesome. This was the sign that greeted us when we got to where the trail started:

Fun, right? No, really, it was. The trail starts off and then loops around and then meets back up where you started. Looks kind of like a lasso on the map. Of course, Ilana and I managed to get off the trail. I'll show you how-

The "fork in the road"

Up to the left:

 

Yes, the loop trail sign is pointing up this way, but there was no obvious trail. PS, it's the groove in the rocks at the top center of the photo. OR

Straight to the right:

And follow the massive amounts of footprints. We chose the footprints. Which was wrong. When we got to a point and realized we could climb no further. So we backtracked a little. Noticed some people climbing up to our left so we found ourselves a way to the path. Then we walked it backwards, the markers going in descending order, as opposed to what we were supposed to have done.

BUT, we totally would have missed some cool caves that the ancients dug into the rock:

Here's a pretty cactus type plant at the very top:

Here's a view from the top:

I took some video clips demonstrating the vastness of the area, but I'm not sure that I can post video to this blog, or if I can, I just haven't figured out how to. I'll post everything to facebook eventually.
So, this hike was about 2.5 hours. We went back to the hotel, rested a little. Had some dinner and then went to see The Princess and the Frog, which was very enjoyable. Anywho, time to pass out.