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Arches National Park

 
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Trishness
The Snake Charmer




Joined: 21 Sep 2003
Posts: 2530
Location: Apache Jct, AZ

PostPosted: 9/30/2008, 5:47 pm    Post subject: Arches National Park Reply to topic Reply with quote

Trish and Michelle’s Utah Adventure
~~~We decided to write up one trip report from both of us~~~

September 16, 2008 (Tuesday)

Notes from our journals:

Destination: Moab, Utah (520 miles)

Drove to Michelle’s at 3:00 PM and loaded up the X-Terra. Stopped for ice and last minute items and hit the road by 4:15 PM. Flagstaff by 6:30 PM (gas and food stop), Kayenta by 10:45 (gas stop), then on to Moab. The drive between Kayenta and Moab is desolate in the middle of the night and all we saw were truckers and cows. What the heck are all these cows doing up at this hour? Some of them were hanging out near the road in the open range areas and Michelle’s copilot duties included watching out for them as well as telling me how many more miles I have to drive to get to Moab. We passed through the sleeping towns of Bluff, Blanding and Monticello with nary a gas station or even a bar open! We had to laugh because we started seeing signs that said “Watch for deer in your lane”……Deer travel on Rte 191??? So now Michelle had to watch for the deer too. Arrived in Moab at 1:30 AM where we had a small cabin at the Archview resort figuring we would arrive late and not want to set up a camp.

Michelle:
Starting out after work made for a long day for both. Trish being the Trooper she is pushed on till we made it to our first stop. I thought cows slept at night but every so often we caught a glimpse of a cow alongside the road unexpectedly, catching us off guard for a moment or two not knowing if they were on the move or not. Fortunately we did not have to play “Dodge Em Cows”! The towns truly were asleep, not a soul. As for the Deer Sign, funny thoughts ran through My mind. All I could visualize is this deer traveling down the highway ahead of us like a car. And another one coming up from behind and trying to pass us as though we were going too slow. “What can I say? Maybe it was late and My brain was tired?” The cabin was the perfect to end the long drive.

September 17, 2008 (Wednesday)

Arrived at Devil’s Garden Campground around 11:00 AM where we have a reservation for campsite #40. This is a great campsite, very large with enough room for 5 or 6 tents, has a picnic table and is located at the base of some cliffs which will offer some shade. The campground itself is located about 20 miles from the main entrance. The drive in is great and you pass all of the turnoffs for both hiking trails and/or “scenic turnoffs”, Park Avenue, Courthouse Towers, Petrified Dunes, Balanced Rock, The Windows, Wolfe Ranch and Fiery Furnace. As you first enter the park there are signs stating this is Bighorn Sheep territory but we had no such luck in spotting one. It was much warmer than we expected with temps in the high 80’s…set up camp and then relaxed until later in the day when we went on our first hike. None of the hikes in Arches are very long with Devil’s Garden being the longest at 7.2 miles. Today we did the Broken Arch/Sand Dune Arch trail which was a mere 2.5 miles and the trailhead is located just across the road from our campsite. Our first stop was Tapestry Arch about ¼ of a mile in, then on to Broken Arch (about 0.8 mile from the TH) and finally Sand Dune Arch which is 1.3 miles from the TH. Broken Arch is beautiful and then you walk across a flat desert to Sand Dune Arch. As the name implies, there is sand everywhere and boy do I dislike hiking in sand. But it was only a short distance. We timed it just right at Sand Dune Arch because a large busload of people were leaving as we arrived and then as we were leaving, a huge group of kids were arriving…..so we had the entire area to ourselves for 10 minutes to get pictures. These arches are immense and spectacular! We had an almost full moon rising at 9:30 PM and a wonderful campfire. Our original plan was to drive 150 miles to Horseshoe Canyon in the morning but I’m still tired from driving 520 miles yesterday so we decide to do that another time.

Michelle:
As you drive into Arches the rocks are an awesome site. I couldn’t have imagined them with my Minds Eye. I’ve never seen a Big Horn and was looking forward to see one, but no such luck. Near the entrance a large wall of rock reminded me of a sarcophagus from Egypt, but with traffic always behind us we couldn’t just stop to take a shot. There are quite a few arches in the park whereas I thought only 4 or 5 existed. Each with their own distinction. They were really mind boggling the closer you came. It seemed that Broken Arch didn’t get much mention, but it also was very impressive. Luckily for us the trail was rather empty Wink Did a little scrambling down the slick rock and boulders of Broken Arch to catch the trail on the other side. Sand Dune Arch was hidden amongst a cluster of rocks and you wouldn’t have known it was there. Nice to be able to enjoy a bit of shade in the late day heat (after the bus load of seniors and before the bus load of kids). We lucked out! First nite camping was rather nice and relatively quiet, unlike the next two nights to come. The moon rose with an Orange hue with no stars and a black sky. I tried for a shot but it didn’t quite make it. I may post or not that shot just to show the beautiful Orange hue.

September 18, 2008 (Thursday)

Got up late (for me) at 7 AM. Michelle slept even later! I made a pot of strong coffee and Michelle made an awesome breakfast (THANK YOU!!) Today we decided to hike to Delicate Arch and got a late start at 10:30 AM but it’s only a 3 mile hike….with a 480 foot elevation gain in ½ mile up exposed slickrock….no breeze, no shade and sweating buckets but we trudged on to the top and then it was a gradual uphill along a ledge when the absolute beauty of Delicate Arch comes into view with the LaSal Mountains in the background. We met up with some cool women on the way up, one a physician from SLC and the other from Wisconsin who trekked out onto the slickrock with us to stand under the arch as we took each other’s pictures. This arch took my breath away in both size and beauty. If you think of the forces of nature and the eons of erosion, rain and wind to form these arches it’s mind boggling. After the hike to Delicate Arch we decided to also visit the Windows Section where we hiked another 1 mile to North and South Windows and Turret Arch then another mile to Double Arch. Since there wasn’t a beer concessionaire to be seen anywhere on this hot day and we needed ice anyway, we drove 25 miles to Moab to stock up. I finally got a cell phone signal there and was able to call Gumby and let him know our site number. At 6 PM after we got back to camp, a NOISY group of foreigners took the 3 camps sites across from us (12 tents/24 people). I’ll let Michelle elaborate on them since she does a perfect imitation of them. We had another wonderful campfire and then around 9:30 PM….GUMBY showed up so we stayed up late with good conversation. That darned almost full moon kept waking me up all night but it’s too warm to sleep with the rain fly on.

Michelle:
To me Delicate Arch was worth the climb (not much of a climb) through the heat of the day. As you reached the top and around the corner this huge arch comes into view. We climbed over the wall ledge and onto the sloping slick rock to make our way under the arch, as so many others had done. The sloped slick rock could have been a problem if you tripped and rolled. You may have rolled right off that rock into the open hole below. Lucky me I didn’t trip. Why is it I think of things like that? We also saw 1 very small petroglyph rock with a few drawings on a side trail on the way down. Nothing spectacular, but I wasn’t expecting to see any here. We then went on to see several more arches, each with their own unique look. Funny you’d think if you saw one arch, what more is there to see, but they were all different in their own way. Of course I had to read all the informational signs and poor Trish snapped pictures until I was done. Double Arch was really unique. By the time we made it to Double Arch later that day, the bus load of kids had already populated the rocks below it. We decided it was best not to venture into the hoards trying to maneuver around them. Seems many don’t understand the concept of letting people past you. Now about our camp mates. At first I thought they’d be quiet, but that was quite the understatement. I don’t think I’ve ever heard so many people talking all at the same time and for so long. It wasn’t like one talked and someone answered, it was like they were all talking at once and it seemed like it never stopped. How could you decipher the different conversations was beyond me? When a few voices stopped others picked up the stillness. What could they have to constantly talk about? And of course it appeared that they went into the cars for things one at a time. Constantly opening and closing doors. But eventually they went to their tents and we sat by the fire in peace and quiet. Glad we made a Beer Run! , Um I mean Ice Run. Enjoyed the Moon and conversation with GUMBY. An interesting fellow with many stories.

September 19, 2008 (Friday)

5:30 AM……Was awakened by the sound of our Asian friends across the way testing the durability of their Chevy Tahoes and Suburbans by opening the doors to retrieve one item and slamming their car doors after getting that one item. They are SOOO excited to be in Arches they are shouting across three camps sites to their friends in their tents and in the process managed to wake up the entire end of our camping area (about 5 camp sites including families with small children). I am really annoyed and this is the reason I really dislike established campgrounds but in a National Park you really have no choice. Even the group camp site around the corner with 25 kids didn’t make as much noise as these people did. The noisy group finally left around 8 PM and we enjoyed the quiet again. Today we did Devils Garden which is a highly touted hike in all the Arches information. I was really kind of disappointed. Yes, the Arches were impressive and we visited Pine Tree Arch, Tunnel Arch, Landscape Arch and Partition Arch…also saw where Wall Arch used to be before it fell on August 4, 2008. Maybe a total of 4 miles hiked today. Maybe I am tired from being woken so early in the morning and am tired of the busloads of people walking three abreast on the trails and not moving for people walking in the opposite direction. It was also VERY warm today with temps in the low 90’s so we returned to camp early to relax, read and nap. We went into Moab again to meet Gumby for dinner at the Moab diner…..awesome food/great prices. Get their Kokopelli chicken and sweetwater potatoes. Returned to camp and enjoyed another awesome campfire and quiet until our Asian friends returned at 9PM. How many times can you look in one bag and slam the car door? I say 20-30 times at least!!! They finally quieted down around 10:30. Around 11 PM I couldn’t help myself but hit my automatic key lock for my car a couple of times which makes the horn honk a couple of times….bad Trish bad Trish!!!! HA HA HA HA!!!

Michelle:
Truly our Asian friends across the way don’t understand the meaning of Quiet Time. 5:30am came quickly and they even woke me up (that doesn’t usually happen). Again the doors opening and closing for 1 thing at a time (or so it seemed). And the usual constant chatter. Just amazing! Devils Garden was the destination for the day, but sadly as much as they mention it, I was somewhat unimpressed. Landscape Arch was pretty as you got closer to see at the far end of it, but I wanted to get a bit closer. That wasn’t gonna happen. It is very thin and touted to probably break in the near future. Hmm another arch down. The trail up where the Wall Arch was before was non-existent. Sad, just a pile of boulders. But it was an interesting jaunt for a short time. We went as far as we were able. After dinner with Gumby we headed back and made a wonderful campfire. How is it I never tire of those? So far this was a wonderful relaxing trip filled with so many beautiful sights (minus a bit of noise and commotion).

September 20, 2008

5:30 AM……Car doors slamming, our Asian friends are up so it’s TIME FOR EVERYONE TO GET UP…….WAKE UP MICHELLE. We pack up quick and are out of there by 8:30 AM.

Michelle:
I’m up. Let’s get packed.

Next stop: Canyonlands Needles District
_________________
~~~Trish~~~

"Eastward the dawn rose, ridge behind ridge into the morning, and vanished out of eyesight into guess; it was no more than a glimmer blending with the hem of the sky, but it spoke to them, out of the memory and old tales, of the high and distant mountains." � J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of The Rings.
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wanderingsoul





Joined: 19 Jul 2004
Posts: 2285
Location: Gilbert AZ

PostPosted: 10/1/2008, 12:22 am    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

Added a few pics from Arches, nested within Trish's on page 3 for those wishing to see. I'm still working through all the pics I took.
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Wanderingsoul (Michelle)

Positive Thinking Is the Spark that Makes Dreams Happen~~~Unknown
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Hikngrl
Canyoneering is my 'Happy Place'




Joined: 27 May 2003
Posts: 5578
Location: Peoria, AZ

PostPosted: 10/1/2008, 8:24 am    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

What a wonderful trip! I am so envious! Thank you so much for sharing it with us! The pictures are so fun! One day I will be out there again! Slowly at first but I will be back!!!
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~~~Diane~~~

I want to shine!
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