Arches National Park- Utah

This past weekend Jordan & I spent two days in Southern Utah with sun, wind and red dirt.

We drove the 5 hour drive Friday night getting into Moab right around 12 that night. Moab is in full swing tourist season with perfect temps right around 80. We didn’t really plan we’re we were going to camp out at so last minute we found a spot on the side of the road in town and called it a night.

Even though I was tired from the drive and work I still found myself to excited to fall asleep and then wound myself up and was back awake early in the morning. We were near a city park so I managed to let Jordan sleep a little longer while I took Charles for a walk around.

When we were all ready to go we walked over to Moab Roasters for our morning coffee and then drove back up the main highway to Arches National Park. We parked at the visitors center to get our park maps, take a tour around the exhibit and bought trinkets from the gift shop.

We got the low down on the construction zone and that Devils Garden Hiking trails and campground are closed for the season.

Even with Devils Garden being closed we still managed to get a full day of sightseeing and hiking in.

We did the full in and out scenic drive stopping at Balanced Rock….

The winds were crazy that day…. everyone everywhere was getting pushed and pulled and half way blown away from the wind….. I have to say even with the high winds that day everyone was in good spirits.

It’s fun to see what the outdoors do for us as individuals. We relearn to play and scramble up rocks and then slide right back down again laughing and possibly crying just a little. We are able to look out and admire the earth and the natural geological formations it takes and realize that it won’t stay this way forever. It is in constant change, from wind, rain, movement, animal and human adaption.

After almost getting blown away at Balanced Rock we went a little farther up to Double Arch

We went and hiked the interrupted trail for Windows

We also made our way into the little cove of Sand Dune Arch and then hike our way on the flat easy trail from Sand Dune to Broken Arch.

Broken Arch…

Then lastly we had lunch at the parking lot of Delicate Arch and went for the hike up Sandstone Rock to see one of the most famous Arches of all of Utah…..

We hiked Delicate Arch in I think rather good time. I think possibly quicker than what I have done in the past…. although I realize it isn’t about how quickly you can get somewhere but rather what you take in from the journey… but I suppose for my own personal goals I am progressing and it’s getting easy for me to hike what used to be a difficult and challanging trail.

After Delicate Arch and Devils Garden being closed we opted to go into Moab for ice cream and take a gander at the shops and for pizza and beer.

And now pictures… ……