Picture Post: Arches National Park

I haven't grabbed the pictures off my actual camera yet, so these are shots with my phone. I'll circle back sometime with pictures from a real camera.

I want to put in a plug for sunrise here. There were very few people on the trails we were on, and there was plenty of parking. It was silent. We had some arches and trails to ourselves. Cannot recommend enough.

 

Turret Arch, as the sun was starting to rise. 

We got up close and personal with Turret Arch later on as it got a bit brighter, but we wanted to watch the sunrise from the North Window Arch. Walking up to Turret Arch was amazing though; you go up the path and around a slight curve and BOOM, huge arch and bonus sweeping mountain and canyon views beyond it. 

We had to hustle to The Windows so we could watch the sunrise. Although it looks quite bright in the picture, the sun was not up yet, and it was actually dark--I brightened the image so you could actually see the landscape.

Up we went, into the North Window Arch (the arch on the left in the previous picture) to watch the sunrise. It was glorious. It was us and one other couple. Total silence other than occasional quiet talking. 

One sister, on the rocks. 

Honestly, the whole thing was a pristine and magical experience. Highly recommend foregoing sleep to watch the sunrise. I have a picture of the North Window Arch looking up from standing under it, but it's shaky at best.

After sunrise, we moved on to other areas of the park--primitive trails, Double Arch, Delicate Arch, Balanced Rock, and Devil's Garden. 

We hiked around the loop of the Windows Trail, and there's some fun, very mild scrabbling to follow the trail. 

The Windows Arches from the backside, and I think they missed a real opportunity here to call it Owl Eyes Arches.

Double Arch was by far my favorite arch.

Double Arch felt like a religious experience in a temple to me. It stunned me while at the same time, brought serenity. I hung out in Double Arch for awhile, soaking in the silence and the views. 

Looking out of Double Arch back towards the trial head, the Windows, and Turret Arch is nothing to sneeze at. 

One of the many roadside scenic pullouts--just me and my favorite hat. 

From here, we went on to Delicate Arch, Balanced Rock, past Fiery Furnace, and into Devil's Garden. Those pictures are all on my camera, so I will pull them off soon and do a Arches Picture Post 2.0. 

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. 

Whirlwind: Arches and Canyonlands National Parks

I thought I was not going to get to a national park this year until October--maybe June, if we managed a run up to Indiana Dunes for a weekend. I was apparently wrong. 

After Finn passed away, my sister decided I needed a break. I've had a rough couple of month--lots of solo parenting while JK traveled, intense work stuff, and then Finn. She begged me to jump on a plane on a whim and go with her to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks for a whirlwind 48 hours trip.

So, my plan-loving soul is going with very little notice or chance to plan. 

Arrive: Fly into SLC, arriving at 12:00 AM, are you even kidding me, meet my sister, grab rental car, and drive to Arches. 

Arches: roll into Arches while it's still dark, hike with headlamp to a good spot to watch the sunrise. We've got a few picked out. We don't have timed entry reservations, so we need to get in before 6 am, and we will stay until we are done. We've got some mild to moderate hikes picked out and we will see what moves us. 

Canyonlands: we will take a quick break in Moab and go check out Canyonlands. We've got some short hikes picked out and highlights to hit. 

SLC: return to SLC on basically no sleep and crash at hotel. Next day, check out Antelope Island and downtown SLC.

Depart: Leave SLC at 6 pm and arrive in Indy at 2:00 AM ARE YOU SERIOUS ugh.

It's going to be wild, and hopefully, what my heart needs right now. It's a disservice to the parks to spend so little time in them, but I'll take what I can get. I'm struggling with the idea of leaving JK and the kids while things are so fresh, but JK is pretty much pushing me out the door. 

Grief

Finn passed away. It was a genetic autoimmune disorder, with no chance of recovery and great pain. He was just a baby.

We are awash in grief. His cheerful face and sweet disposition is everywhere I look, on every trail we take. I've lost my constant buddy, my hiking dog, and my sweet snuggle puppy.

Finn

I wanted to post, and catch you up on the Indiana Dunes trip, but things took a devastating turn here. Our sweet golden retriever, Finn, suddenly became paralyzed over the course of an hour. 

A week ago today, Finn was fine, happy, playful, and annoying, as puppies are--he's still only one. Then he couldn't stand up well. Then he couldn't walk. Then he couldn't get up at all. Then he couldn't lift his head. We took him to the emergency vet, and after time and overnights and tests, we've figured out he has an autoimmune disorder. There's 30/30/30 chances here--30 he recovers fully, 30 he recovers somewhat (and there's a range here from "mostly recovered but can't do this physically strenuous thing" to "recovered means he can lift his head up and maybe support his weight if you stand him up, but he can't walk"), and then 30 he doesn't recover at all and declines further. 

These are obviously not great odds. We had some hope yesterday and the day before--he was lifting his head more, he was holding a position we put him in that he previously couldn't, etc. Today, he is noticeably worse.

Our hearts were so sad after we lost our last dog, Telly. Telly was old and had a great life, and it felt like Telly found Finn for us to help heal. Finn is our sweet boy, just a puppy, who loves to be with us, snuggle, and begrudgingly goes on hikes with us. This is some kind of terrible nightmare. 

Travel Planning: Acadia National Park

I can't believe I get to do this, but the stars aligned and everything came out just right, and it looks like this fall break we will be in Acadia National Park.

Our original plan was Rocky Mountain NP, but EJ and I were talking about fall break and travel plans, and she asked about other places. So she and I came up with a list of other places we thought it would be cool to visit. When I mentioned Acadia to JK, he immediately latched on to that idea because (1) something new and (2) we would fly into Boston, which would give us the chance to see his sister. So, we are off and running on an Acadia National Park adventure--neither of us have ever been, and we've always to go. I may plan a solo trip to RMNP for a short weekend, just so I can get my time in the place I love most. 

Tentative plan: Fly to Boston, rent car. Drive to Acadia and stay in vacation rental there. Hike, explore, do the national park things for 4-5 days. Come back to Boston, hang out with JK's sister, do the Boston touristy things (and maybe toss in some national historical sites!), for a day or two, then head back.

I've started planning hikes and picking places to stay. I tried to talk JK into a train ride from Boston to Maine, but no dice there. 

Short Recap: Spring Break 2022

We did our spring break in Chicago and Indiana Dunes National and State Parks, along with hikes in Fort Ben State park. We had a blast, and my foot survived. The weather cooperated NOT AT ALL. It didn't matter when we were in Chicago--we were inside at the Museum of Science and Industry--but it was either raining, sleeting, or outright snowing for the rest. 

Fort Ben hikes: Camp Creek, Harrison Trace, Walnut Grove trails. We often had to jump off the trails and onto the paved trails due to mud, and we were basically dancing in between raindrops. 

Indiana Dunes: We visited both the state and national parks, an it sleeted on us. We had to keep things short and sweet, which was a real bummer, because we LOVED it. We are planning a weekend return trip. Hikes included: West Beach Succession Trail, (national park), part of the Portage Riverwalk, part of trail 9 (state park), part of trail 10 (state park), part of trail 3 (state park), and part of trail 4 (state park). 

The Indiana Dunes National Park Visitors Center was GREAT. The kids loved it--they loved reading the information, getting brochures, talking to the ranger on duty, and watching the info movie. The movie got them very excited to come back and do more in the late spring/summer/fall, when the weather is better. They did the junior ranger program, and marched off with their books. The ranger on duty was just pleased anyone had tried any hiking at all in that weather, and thought the kids were troopers.