It doesn't get much easier than this!

Looking at the other side via the "window"

Vultures soared majestically in the sky directly overhead...

...until they were driven off by amore powerful force... small, dive-bombing birds.

The words "rough terrain" didn't actually describe what we were about to encounter... something like "ridiculous with a large dose of exposure" would have been more appropriate.

We walked along the bottom of a canyon for a bit until we reached the end of it.

A rock cap

Life could be hard down here...

... although others seemed to have less problems. This chipmunk was climbing up the various grasses until it could eat the seeds at the tops of the blades.

Arriving at the back of the canyon

With nowhere else to go, the trail decided to continue straight up the cliff face via a "ladder." From there it meandered precariously close to the edge until finally we reached another higher back canyon.

It might not look that steep from here...

... but it definitely was a force to reckon with for someone who was "vetically challenged."

The trail that awaited us at the top of the cliff

Looking back. Note the ladder on the left and the first canyon on the right

A small sign warned us to keep right since the trail to the left was too slippery and dangerous...

... but, uh, really was this so much better?

Finally we entered another canyon (of sorts)

These lines of different rock crisscrossed the cliffs.

In spite of the area's apparent bleakness, there was clearly enough up here to support a variety of critters.

A small Rock Wren

We finally reached the "notch" at the end of the trail. It was basically another window that overlooked the Cliff Shelf Nature Trail and the White River Valley.

Our rewarding view

Unfortunately the only way back was to retrace the steps from which we had come... including the ledges and the ladder.

Heading back through the upper canyon

Once back down at the safety of the lower valley, I could breathe a bit easier again. We ended up getting a bit mixed up and walking down a deep wash instead of the trail... but nothing that couldn't be easily fixed.

When we arrived back at the parking lot, two college-aged kids were trying to get into my car. It turns out they also had a black Elantra with Colorado plates and couldn't figure out why their key wasn't working... until they looked up and saw their car parked two spaces away. They had a much nicer paint job and less miles, so I offered to switch. For some reason they didn't go for it.

Curiosity brought us back to the Cliff Shelf Trail to see if we could see our 'notch' from the other side.

Yup, it was indeed a pretty clear notch

It was also obvious why it was the end of the trail.

A National Parks Service marker

On the drive back to the campsite, we almost missed a deer because of all the amazing surrounding scenery.