Arches National Park

This past week was the whirlwind trip to Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park, plus a side of Great Salt Lake State Park. I want to preface this by saying, WHEW that was an adventure, from the start and the crazy flight times to the driving through the night to the adventure itself. 

This part is just going to be Arches. 

My sister (JE) and our friend (D) rolled into Salt Lake City around the same time as me--12:30 am. We met at baggage claim, rented a car, packed up, and started the drive to Moab around 1:00 am. It's a 3.5 hour drive, and that drive is a doozy in the dark, especially when you've never driven it before. We talked and planned and took turns napping.

We rolled into Arches at 5:15 am, and slid into the park prior to reservations being required, which was our major goal, since we did not manage to snag a timed entry ticket. We made our way to the Windows section, and parked at the trail head there. By 5:45, we were out of the car and walking around, and it began to lighten up. We hiked the trail while the sun was rising, and experienced Turret Arch and the North Window Arch for sunrise. We actually watched the sun rise through/in North Window, and, oh. It was magical and lovely. 

We hung out there for awhile, going  back and forth between Turret and North Window, watching the sunrise and just listening to the silence and the birds and feeling the massive temperature difference between the shade and rays of sun. We continued on the rest of the loop on the Primitive Trail portion, and while it was easy, it was also easy to lose the trail. JE and D would have been lost-ish if I had not been there. Some experience here helps with recognizing how to follow trail markers and cairns. There were a few spots of minor rock scrambling that were fun, and the views were sweeping and wonderful. 

We saw literally two other people. Sunrise hikes for the win, y'all. 

We then did Double Arch and Cove Arch via Parade of Elephants. I thought Double Arch would be cool, but I wasn't expecting to be completely captivated by it. It just really struck a chord with me and I was mesmerized. When I saw someone scrambling up, the words "Fuck yeah!" popped out of my mouth and up I went. Again, since it was so early in the day, we saw maybe five other people. We hiked on via Parade of Elephants to Cove Arch, and then back to the car. 

We did the quick Balanced Arch viewpoint hike, and stopped at many pullouts along the way. Since we were trying to cram so much into one day, we opted to skip Delicate Arch, and just do the view point hike. If you are trying to check the box and see Delicate Arch, just know that the view is a big distance from the actual arch, so it's quite tiny. If you really want to see it, do the hike. We were ambivalent about it, so we were fine with the tiny sighting. 

From there, we stopped at Fiery Furnace pullouts and oh boy DO I EVER want to do that when I come back. We headed back to Devil's Garden, and just meandered, hiking parts of random trails but with no real goal in mind. We were getting close to our go-time for switching to Canyonlands, so we did not want to get too deep in. 

As always, the Visitors Center was fabulous, and I recommend as many of the pullouts with interpretative signs as possible. There's just so much to learn. 

I can't wait to come back here with JK and the kids; this is a very kid friendly place, and it's wild and interesting and easily accessible for kids, with so much to keep them interested and moving. 

I definitely would love to do another sunrise here. I would like to do sunrise at Delicate Arch, and then go right over to Devil's Garden and spend the rest of the time there, hiking the various trails. I also want to do Fiery Furnace, and hit a few of the trails closer to the visitors center. 

All in all, highly recommend. It was a quick sampler, but it was wonderful and enticing, and I can't wait to go back.