BWE Friday 7/15: Moab and Arches NP

Our trip was really split into two parts. The first section was a six-day rafting trip down the Colorado River through Canyonlands National Park to the beginning of Lake Powell, and the second was doing various kinds of touristy hikey things in Yellowstone and Grand Teton NP. This made preparations rather schizophrenic, as there wasn't a lot of overlap between the two types of gear beyond hiking boots!

After arriving in Salt Lake City uneventfully, we drove down to Moab. Eventually. We managed to miss the turn off from I-15 to US 6 at least three times, and added at least an hour to our drive. Connor was asleep; when he woke up he was astounded (and dismayed) to find we were basically in the same place he'd fallen asleep! But really we had worked hard in the mean time, at $2.50 / gallon.

This vacation was also an exercise in temperatures. In SLC it was in the low to mid 90's when we left; when we arrived at the Arches parking lot it was 110 degrees at about 5 PM. We hung around long enough to get our bearings and a map, then drove into town to the B&B we were staying at. Sunflower Hill is a beautiful multi-structure B&B in the north end of Moab. We had a room called The Garret, which as you might think is located on the top floor of one of the buildings. It was very nice, and Connor had his room (which he loves).

But alas, the theme of this vacation was "Don't stand still!" so we were never in one place long enough to really relax. Too much to see!

We went back to Arches in the evening to hike out to Delicate Arch in that precious time, when the sun has lost most of its heat but it's not dark out yet. Plus you get the added benefit of seeing the park near sunset when the shadows make the views more dramatic. This shot of Balanced Rock (left) was taken out the window at about 45 MPH while speeding to the Delicate Arch trailhead before sunset.

We hustled out to the arch just as the sun had set, climbing up a long slickrock rise to get there. This arch, the best known in the world probably, is perched at the edge of a pretty significant dropoff, so it's an interesting experience walking around on the sculpted sandstone surface around it. Interesting factoid: Delicate Arch was originally supposed to be named Landscape Arch, and the other (which really is much more delicate) was to be named Delicate. But someone got them mixed up, and it stuck.

A nice feature of this arch is that, despite its fame, it isn't all roped or fenced off. You can walk right up to its base and touch it. Perhaps it benefits from its mild difficulty getting there from the heat, the altitude of 4600 feet, and the minor climb: you probably won't be standing next to a fat guy smoking a cigarette (FGSC).
We stuck around until it was a little too dark, then made our way back. Even though it's a pretty well-used trail, in the serious dark of the desert and the slickrock made the trail hard to find at times. I used my handheld GPS to retrace the route I'd taken out there, and we were back to the car in no time with a good view of stars to boot.

This was Connor's first hike in quite a while, and he's grown up quite a bit. He's MUCH taller and stronger, and we were pleased with how he could keep up perfectly well.


It meant we could ramp up our hiking plans just a bit!