Today was expected to be a relatively short trail day, with approximately 20 miles between our campsites. We had reserved two sites at Devil's Kitchen in Needles District, so we had no concern about having to locate a dispersed campsite this evening. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and attended to some personal hygiene and housekeeping issues while Matt hiked for a while before breaking camp. Around 10 am we packed up and began north through Beef Basin towards the park.
The first test of the day was Bobby's Hole, a very rocky descent into a canyon. We spent some time here carefully picking our way down the obstacles without incident. A short drive later, we reached the south boundary gate for the park where we found a "congratulations" mylar balloon in the brush. We took this is a welcome, but also collected the stray balloon with our trash before entering the park.
We continued along the moderate road towards the Joint Trail. Here we encountered several other Jeeps parked haphazardly -- a crew from California who had arrived earlier and had some mechanical issues with the built LJ in their party. We ate some lunch, then hiked the Joint Trail and explored the slot canyons and enjoyed the shade of the rocks for a bit. After the hike we headed over S.O.B. hill to Devil's Kitchen. This obstacle has been on Matt's mind for days, but his preparation paid off as he easily navigated the obstacle in his Power Wagon by pulling forward past the narrow passageway and backing through it. Shane attempted to pass through this section in forward, but nearly ripped his front passenger tire off when it became wedged against a rock as he tried to reverse to re-position his rig. Fortunately we stopped him in time and no apparent lasting damage was found.
We continued very quickly to Devil's Kitchen from here. Our campsite was #4 and is the most remarkable place I've camped. The campsite is surrounded by towering rocks on all sides, with a clear view of the sky above. The rocks block nearly all breezes and the sand floor absorb most sound, producing an eerily quiet and still alcove. Vehicles are not allowed in the site, but it is a very short hike into the camp area. I had packed a tent as a backup plan in the event that my Jeep platform did not work as intended, so we decided to pitch the tent and sleep within this sanctuary. With no rain fly, we would be able to observe the stars above through the mesh tent roof from within this remarkable place.
After dinner we sat around the table talking as darkness fell. Moths and other small flying bugs began to appear, attracted to the light of our table. Soon after we noticed some larger things flying very low overhead before one of them swooped between us and snatched a moth from just above the table -- a bat! For the next hour we watched as several individual bats circled overhead and feasted on the bugs we were attracting. The bats were only a foot or two above our heads at times, and frequently swooped even lower to catch the bugs. After tiring of watching the bats (and tired from a long day on the trail), we slept.