I reply, glibness masking my uncertainty. We've come to this twisted, carved up, convoluted section of southeast Utah to enjoy the canyons without the rock-melting heat that characterizes the region in summer, and for the most part the February weather has been blissfully cool and refreshing. Our dialogue has more to do with the whereabouts of the Texas Canyon Rim Trail, a faint route that begins at Texas Flat in the Four Corners Region about 15 miles east of Natural Bridges National Monument. Good in the sense that when I was here a few years ago, it was a hot, dusty July day and this place was an overgrazed meadow spitting grasshoppers into the desiccated air. It's striking how winter alters the mood, and your perceptions, of canyon country.
Gentle flurries filter through the pygmy forest.
To the east is emptiness, ochre rim rock, and the void of Arch Canyon. To the north rises Elk Ridge, a massive white mound cloaked in fresh snow and deep green ponderosa. All told, a spectacular example of the mesas and gorges that typify canyon country. We consult the map again and trade more theories about where to head and why, taking turns rolling eyes at each other's strategies. I, on the other hand, propose heading due east to the wind-scoured canyon rim, simply because I'd been lost on Texas Flat before, at night no less, and the strategy worked then.