The Return

It's as deep into No Man's Land as Tom has been. Half hour drive to get to Jackson Ladder, 15 to 20 minutes to climb the ladder, two hour hike to Pot Hole Arch and everything past there is No Man's Land. Each time Tom travels here he figures six hours of his day is gone getting to and back. That generally leaves two or three hours to explore No Man's Land before time to return. Tom has set 3pm as his absolute latest departure time but it's 3:30 now and much like the siren of the mermaid No Man's Land keeps calling him and won't let go. In the middle of the first picture (can click on them to make them larger) you see a jagged rock up cropping pointing to the right and a little below it and to the right another one pointing straight up. Between them is where Tom descends Jackson Ladder each evening. The trail goes close to the straight drop off on the right side of the picture to get there. He has about two and a half hours to reach Jackson Ladder or he'll be descending it in the dark. Tom's been trying to get out of No Man's Land for half an hour and has yet to find his tracks. One petrified sand dune looks pretty much like another. Tom sees two ravens land. Experience tells him they are territorial. Several hikes ago Tom saw two of them sitting above Pot Hole Arch and he figures it is the same two. Tom changes direction heading for the ravens and as expected they are perched at Pot Hole Arch where Tom quickly finds his trail and continues his journey.