We woke up ridiculously early that morning to head to Arches National Park. It’s basically right across the highway from Canyonlands and Dead Horse Point State Park, which is where we were camping.
We got into the park at opening time and made a beeline for the Delicate Arch trail. We figured that it would be best to do our hiking first, both because of the heat and because of the crowds. I think it was a weekend day, so it was so busy. Plus, this is one of the most popular national parks.
We started the trail and there were loads of people – the parking area was huge and it was mostly filled up.
The first arch we saw was Delicate Arch. This one really does look like it could crumble at any moment – and it could. I think a huge part of it feel off a couple of decades ago, so now you can’t go near it. It feels really special to see something that could be gone the next time you have an opportunity to see it again.
We spied this arch off in the distance, and I think we actually ended up going up there.
We went off the easy part of the trail up into the rocks to find more arches.
We went to Partition Arch, which I think is the one we had seen from below. That one had a really cool view through it.
Then we found Navajo Arch, which was kind of like a cave, except there was no top, so it was open-air. We stayed there a while to have some water and a snack.
Then, on our way back, we saw a few more arches. It was probably 10-10:30 by that point and it was getting unbearably hot.
We then drove around to some of the points you could see without hiking too much.
It was kind of at this point in the late morning where we realized we were both exhausted and just a bit tired of seeing national parks and amazing geological features. It was exhausting being so overwhelmed all the time and trying to appreciate everything. We recognized this and we decided to drive around a bit more and see some of the highlights, but we decided to go into the town of Moab and get an iced coffee, hang out, and rest.
We went to Moab Coffee Roasters and enjoyed the caffeine pick up, air conditioning, and wifi, which was the first reliable wifi in a few days. We went shopping in town after that – we went into a cool bookstore, some shops selling local crafts, etc. We decided to eat an early dinner in town, because we didn’t feel very safe with Bobby possibly still lurking around our campsite. We just wanted to go straight from the car into the tent without any possible encounters with a GIANT SPIDER.
So, we headed back to Dead Horse Point to see the park where we were camping. I think this view of the landscape was even better than in the National Park. You could see the river and all the different layers of the rock. We stayed there for a really long time, just looking at everything. We really needed the break from being out in the parks in order to appreciate it fully. It’s a shame it affected our experience at Arches, but we really enjoyed our time in Moab. I think it also helped us get through the rest of the trip – knowing when we just needed a break.
Then we got back to the campsite and brushed our teeth while watching another spectacular sunset!
The next day, we would be heading up to Salt Lake City, leaving behind the dramatic landscapes of southern Utah, but also heading back into civilization!
