This morning we had a lovely breakfast at the hotel and drove an easy hour and a half to Arches NP. Arches is kind of out in the middle of nowhere (go look up Moab, Utah on a map), but it made for a really cool stopping over point en route to Arizona. The way in which the arches in this park formed over the course of millions of year is really fascinating and made us appreciate what we were looking at.
http://www.nps.gov/arch/naturescience/geologicformations.htm
We immediately drove all the way to the back of the park to do the Devil’s Garden loop hike. We were told it was popular and the parking lot could fill, so we wanted to get there ASAP. Altogether it was a 7 mile hike past 8 beautiful arches. Once we passed the 1 mile mark, the crowds disappeared. It was weird to be hiking in shorts (finally!). It was about 90 F and dry – we were glad that we heeded the signs warning us to bring plenty of water (we ran out about 0.5 miles from the end of the hike). The main trail we took out had us scrambling over some “slickrock” as it’s called and atop some high perches that afforded fantastic view of the red fins, distant mountains, and colorful canyons. We decided not to hike all the way out to Dark Angel arch and instead opted for the “primitive loop” on our return. (This was JD’s idea, not mine =) This trail was aptly named. There were some tiny little rock cairns to follow, but for the most part, it was a scramble through river washes (when it actually rains) and over some impossibly high boulders that required all four appendages to get up and down from. Doing the crab and using my butt and boots for braking traction was my favorite mode of transportation down the steep slopes. Thankfully there were a scant few brave souls who decided to take this route as well, so we weren’t totally alone in the desert; if it wasn’t for them, a mental breakdown and terrible thoughts about getting lost in the desert would have likely ensued. There was actually something really cool about trailblazing (or so it seemed) our way through the desert. When we finally hooked back up with the main trail, relief, tired legs and thirst really set in. Thankfully a water fountain awaited us at the end of the trail.
We followed the park road out of the park and pulled off at several lookout points. We stopped at the visitor center for a few postcards and then made the wonderful decision to have dinner at the Moab Diner. If you’re ever in Moab and want a LOT of food that isn’t fancy, but really tasty (especially if you’ve been hiking all day), then that’s your place to go. JD had a steak burrito with their green chili sauce and I had a green chili chicken dish with “sweetwater potatoes” (diced, sauteed potatoes with onion, pepper, bacon, seasoning) that was outstanding. We topped it off with a “bunny tracks: milkshake. We were very full and content as we hit the road to Flagstaff, AZ.
Even though we picked up an hour in time crossing over into AZ (no daylight savings time here), the sun still sets at the same time, so we ended up doing most of the 5 hour drive in the dark through largely Native American reservation land. We tried to avoid driving this seemingly vast expase of desert nothingness in the dark, but Arches was too much fun. The drive was very trying on the nerves and we had to take turns to stay fresh at the wheel. We made it to the hotel 11 pm and vowed to never do such a scary drive like that again (there were no closer hotels to be had) Thankfully the longest drive of the trip is over. We’re looking forward to meeting up with Middleton and Lauren tomorrow in Sedona, AZ and we’re hoping the weather forecast calling for 80% chance of storms for Grand Canyon on Monday and again for jet skiing on Lake Powell on Tuesday is simply not true. Either way, it’ll be new sights and good company =)
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