Moab, UT

Arches National Park

It seems like the moment I entered Utah the landscape changed. It was really something to see. I had to stop at the Visitor Center to take a break, get some really good free coffee, fill up on water, and hike to the top of a hill to catch a view. I had never seen anything like it. Talking to the ranger/volunteer at the desk and keeping my body health in mind, I decided I was going to hit as many of the national parks as I could.

Arches National Parks is many things. It’s very busy and full of tourists. It’s also the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. There are so many landscape features that I’ve never seen. It’s hard to put into words. But, if you haven’t been there It’s a must see. An absolute must see. Also, make sure that you’re in good enough health to hike and climb on some rocks because that’s where the good stuff is.

I got their kind of late, around 2 I think. There was a line of 20 cars waiting to get in. The first day I wanted to get a lay of the land, and get a gameplan for the next few days. I ended up driving to the end of the park to The Devil’s Garden where I hiked out to Double O Arch.

It was a great hike. Lots of diverse rock structures and views. At some points I saw people high above me on the rocks, seemingly off the path. But, wouldn’t you know it, that’s where you’re supposed to go. There are a couple steep climbs up rounded rock fins only about 6 feet wide. The journey was a bit better than the payoff at the end in my opinion. The arch was pretty cool, but not something you could take any awesome pictures of (that I could see).

When I got to the arch I considered taking the “primitive trail” back. But, I figured I didn’t want to push it with my hip. Next time.

At the end of the hike when I got back near the parking lot I had the strangest sensation come over me. I had the strongest feeling that I was going to run into someone I knew. I saw an acquaintance from high school or something. It was very strange. We’ll return to this moment later in the journey.

After a few hours, a quick lunch, and some sightseeing I started looking for a place to camp. I found a primitive campground where you put money in a slot and write your own tag.

Following the instructions I found a site that was empty, setup my tent, then went back to the front to fill out the paperwork. I come to find that my site (#4) already has a slip on it for that night. As, I’m frantically trying to figure out a solution I see that someone is pulling into the last campsite (#1) with a camper.

Above is a picture of my campsite all setup at site #4. Too bad it was already taken.

Luckily, when I go over to him and tell him about the situation he’s very understandable. His name is Wesley and he had no problem splitting the campsite for the night. He was from Wyoming, trying to get some last adventure in before the snow hits.

I quickly picked up my tent from the other site, set it up, then headed back to Arches to try and get a good sunset picture. Delicate Arch is one of the most framed images in the gift shop so I figured I’d give that a try. After the campsite hold up I was too late to try and hike to the top of the arch so I had to settle for the viewing area. It didn’t do it for me.

I scrambled back down the hill to my jeep to try and salvage whatever sunlight I had left. On my way back out of the park I came to Balanced Rock which has some interesting features and a mountain range in the background. I’m hoping at least one (of about 60) is a keeper. When I got back to the campsite I went directly to bed at around 8:30. I was beat.

Day 2

That morning I was determined to get a good sunrise photo so I woke up at 5:45 without an alarm. Going to bed so early makes it pretty easy to wake up so early! It’s hard to stay awake after it gets dark, especially when there aren’t any glowing rectangles (TV’s) keeping you up.

Supposedly a good sunrise spot was Windows. I wasn’t able to figure out a way to get the shot that I was seeing online with the one arch sitting through the other arch besides scaling a pretty sketchy rock formation. I didn’t have much time to waste so I climbed around the whole thing and tried to get something interesting. We’ll see what happens when I start photo editing.

After the somewhat failed attempt at a sunset and sunrise photo at arches I was just about done with the park. I figured I would take a little 7 mile dirt road to a remote place then head back.

This “little dirt road” was something I’ll never forget. It was like driving on oversized rumble strips for 90% of the trip. If I didn’t go under 15mph I thought my wheels were going to rattle off. After a long, slow drive I made it to turnoff. I took a left to start on the 4×4 road that leads back to the front of the park. I figure “Hey my keep is a 4×4, and it can’t be any worse than the rumble strips from hell”.

It started off pretty nice. A few little hills and bumps on soft sand. A pleasure to drive on compared to the previous road. At that point I started driving uphill. It started off with some small rocks, a few bigger bumps and holes. Then the farther I went the more intense it got. I was driving over big ass boulders of varying size under all four tires. It was a little sketchy, but I figured it couldn’t get any worse. I was wrong.

At one point I tried to slip over a rock that was directly under the center of the jeep and scraped it pretty good. Then the hill started getting steeper and the rocks got bigger. I don’t think my Jeep is made for those kinds of road. So, I had to figure out a way to go backwards over therese big ass rocks and find a place to turn around.

One or two bottom outs later and I made it back to the rumble strip road. It was a welcome sight. I put on my audio book The Fifth Wave (which is even better than the first book) and slowly cruised back.

I ended up finally making the hike to Delicate Arch. It takes you to what seems like a really secluded part of the park. It was still early when I started (since I woke up so early) so being one of the most popular hikes in the park, it wasn’t too busy yet.

It’s a really remarkable place. The hike wasn’t too great, but the payoff at the end is really remarkable.