Spring break 2012 – Arches, Canyonlands
We departed Saturday afternoon with the aim to make it all the way into Moab, UT before 11pm where we would get a hotel room for the night. This didn’t work out so well with all hotels full when we arrived, and the 3 of us camping out in the van at the local visitor’s center. Imelda was not pleased, but we made it work.
We woke and paid visit to the Denny’s in town for a breakfast and bathroom run before heading straight to the hotel to book a room for the upcoming night. This night, Sunday, we were actually going to stay at a campground, but the night before ruined that plan…
With the hotel room reserved, we entered Arches National Park. This was Timmy’s 2nd trip (my 4th or so) and more importantly, Imelda’s first. Timmy was very excited to show his mom all the sights that amazed him two years prior starting with what we have named ‘echo-rock’. This large formation was our first introduction to Arches in 2010. When Timmy and I stopped here back then, we woot’d an holler’d at the rock only to be answered back by ourselves. Timmy made sure to illustrate for Imelda before we were back on our way…
A little further down the road was the famous Balanced Rock (named for obvious reasons) where we stopped for another bathroom break and to hike out to the nearby ‘Window’ arches and Turrent Arch. Imelda was so anxious to get out of the van after a full day and most of the morning in it, she bolted off for a morning jog up the trail. We eventually caught up to her to walk the short trail together.
Our grand-finale to Arches Ntnl Park was to hike the 1.5 mile trail out to Delicate Arch. I hiked this a few months prior and it (the arch) absolutely amazed me and I really wanted to show Timmy and Imelda this feat of nature. Although the weather report expected 85 degrees, it was much cooler than that thankfully. Even with the cooler temps, it was a taxing hike. It is not a long trail, or an especially difficult one by the standards of trails, but for some reason this one always feels more difficult then it really is… maybe because I have done it first thing in the morning both times? It did not take long before we were at the Arch, where we spent a fair amount of time gawking and taking pictures; Tim and Imelda posed under the arch and I lost a lens-cap to the pit below.
Now, with mid-afternoon approaching, we decided to head back into Moab to shower and eat before heading back up for the sunset in the ‘Island in the sky’. In some respects this was a mistake. The shower tired us all, and the meal (uber-fantastic mexican food) made us all bloated and ready for sleep. By the time we got back up to Canyonlands Timmy had fallen asleep in the back of the van, and both Imelda and I were near coma-toast ourselves. We did make it in time to get the view an the sunset before slowly making our way back to the hotel for the night.
