Today we woke up at 7am and left the motel around 8. We drove about 15 minutes north to Arches National Park where we ended up spending most of the day. This place has some of the best hiking I have ever been to. The warm orange and red colors of the giant sandstone cliffs and sandy flats dotted with glossy green bushes were beautiful. The other thing that was really noticeable was just how quiet this place was. All you could hear were the occasional bird chirping as it flew around searching for some bugs to eat.
As we drove up the road in the park we stopped at many of the viewpoints to take pictures. Some of them required short walks of .2 or .3 of a mile through the desert to see the park’s giant sandstone arches. The walks were great with comfortable temperatures and the sun was finally out and looked like for once we weren’t going to get any more rain. At the end of the main road in the park, we found ourselves at a place called “The Devil’s Garden”. This place was home to some great arches but required some effort to get to. I talked dad into going on a good sized hike of moderate difficulty with a few rock scrambles and steep sections (I didn’t mention that part to him). We packed tons of water, grabbed the trekking poles, and put our hats on. We saw some really great arches –about 6 or 7 on this hike. The farthest one was a little over 2 miles from the entrance. When we got there I noticed people walking across the arch which must have been 150 feet high at least. I told dad to stay back to take a picture while I found the way up there. It required some climbing but I finally got on the natural bridge and Dad took an awesome picture. It may very well be facebook worthy!
On my way back to meeting my dad, the clouds had rolled in and it began to sprinkle. I couldn’t believe it. We must have a rain cloud following us. It is really getting ridiculous now. My concern though was if we got caught in a downpour or a lightning storm. Flash floods can happen pretty quickly in deserts not to mention how slick the sandstone gets. Dad and I power walked much of the way back down the sandstone to the easy sandy parts of the trail but then 10 minutes after we started, the sun came back again and we went back to taking our time.
We spent another hour or so looking at some arches on other roads that branched off the main one and by the time we were done it was nearly 3pm and we still needed lunch and make it down to Arizona! We drove out of the park and found ourselves in, yep, you guessed it, a crazy downpour in the desert. In fact, while in town I overheard a lady say “I have lived here for years, and have never seen it rain so much here before.” I wanted to tell her that I brought the rain. Anyway, what was really cool though about the downpour was that several large waterfalls appeared coming off the giant sandstone monoliths off the highway down to Moab.
We had lunch at a local bakery and then hit the road. My dad was pretty sore from the 5 mile hike I put him through so I decided to drive all the way to Arizona while he took a nap. The drive through the Utah desert was great. The sun came out again and as it sunk lower, the sandstone walls and mounds that surrounded me changed to a deep red shade. I drove by really cool named places on my way to Arizona like a town named “Mexican Hat” after a rock formation that looks like a sombrero balanced on top of a rock pillar, and then a beautiful place named “Valley of the Gods” by the Navajo Indians I imagine for a spectacular landscape. I then passed through Monument Valley on the Utah-Arizona border and let me tell you, that was another spectacular sight. This drive was so easy and went by so fast because there was just so much to see everywhere out there in Utah. Once in Arizona though, the sandstone structures faded away leaving flat desert of yellow grass, brown dirt, and those glossy green shrubs. Every now and then we would catch wild horses grazing near the highway. By 9pm AZ time (midnight on the east coast) we arrived in Flagstaff –our launching point to the Grand Canyon!
Next up: Grand Canyon and Santa Fe!
As we drove up the road in the park we stopped at many of the viewpoints to take pictures. Some of them required short walks of .2 or .3 of a mile through the desert to see the park’s giant sandstone arches. The walks were great with comfortable temperatures and the sun was finally out and looked like for once we weren’t going to get any more rain. At the end of the main road in the park, we found ourselves at a place called “The Devil’s Garden”. This place was home to some great arches but required some effort to get to. I talked dad into going on a good sized hike of moderate difficulty with a few rock scrambles and steep sections (I didn’t mention that part to him). We packed tons of water, grabbed the trekking poles, and put our hats on. We saw some really great arches –about 6 or 7 on this hike. The farthest one was a little over 2 miles from the entrance. When we got there I noticed people walking across the arch which must have been 150 feet high at least. I told dad to stay back to take a picture while I found the way up there. It required some climbing but I finally got on the natural bridge and Dad took an awesome picture. It may very well be facebook worthy!
On my way back to meeting my dad, the clouds had rolled in and it began to sprinkle. I couldn’t believe it. We must have a rain cloud following us. It is really getting ridiculous now. My concern though was if we got caught in a downpour or a lightning storm. Flash floods can happen pretty quickly in deserts not to mention how slick the sandstone gets. Dad and I power walked much of the way back down the sandstone to the easy sandy parts of the trail but then 10 minutes after we started, the sun came back again and we went back to taking our time.
We spent another hour or so looking at some arches on other roads that branched off the main one and by the time we were done it was nearly 3pm and we still needed lunch and make it down to Arizona! We drove out of the park and found ourselves in, yep, you guessed it, a crazy downpour in the desert. In fact, while in town I overheard a lady say “I have lived here for years, and have never seen it rain so much here before.” I wanted to tell her that I brought the rain. Anyway, what was really cool though about the downpour was that several large waterfalls appeared coming off the giant sandstone monoliths off the highway down to Moab.
We had lunch at a local bakery and then hit the road. My dad was pretty sore from the 5 mile hike I put him through so I decided to drive all the way to Arizona while he took a nap. The drive through the Utah desert was great. The sun came out again and as it sunk lower, the sandstone walls and mounds that surrounded me changed to a deep red shade. I drove by really cool named places on my way to Arizona like a town named “Mexican Hat” after a rock formation that looks like a sombrero balanced on top of a rock pillar, and then a beautiful place named “Valley of the Gods” by the Navajo Indians I imagine for a spectacular landscape. I then passed through Monument Valley on the Utah-Arizona border and let me tell you, that was another spectacular sight. This drive was so easy and went by so fast because there was just so much to see everywhere out there in Utah. Once in Arizona though, the sandstone structures faded away leaving flat desert of yellow grass, brown dirt, and those glossy green shrubs. Every now and then we would catch wild horses grazing near the highway. By 9pm AZ time (midnight on the east coast) we arrived in Flagstaff –our launching point to the Grand Canyon!
Next up: Grand Canyon and Santa Fe!
No comments:
Post a Comment