After 3.5 hours of sleeping on a floor in drive-by fleabag motel (which we were very happy to have by the way - see Vacation Day 1 post), we got up and went to Arches National Park. Wow! What an amazing place. I would rate this among the top 5 National Parks I have been to (and I have been to a fair few I think).
We arrived into Moab at 2 AM, so we didn't know what it looked like, and I was amazed when I went outside in the morning. The area Moab is in is this beautiful valley carved into a red rock valley. The Colorado river flows right out of a thin gorge and borders the North side of the town. It is easy to see why all kinds of my college friends went down to Moab a lot.
We filled up the Camelbak (very worth the price) and headed to the park. The Visitor Center is excellent and has a great video about how the land and formations around Arches was formed. Very interesting to all except Peter who Micah and I sent back and forth to each other during the movie. Then out of the dark and back into the desert sun.
I was afraid it could be really hot while we were there. August highs are typically in the 90's and the sun is intense. But it was in the low-to-mid 70's when we started the day and barely crossed over 80 when we left. We drove up the side of the canyon wall and down into the park, which was worth the 20 hour drive the day before. The formations are fantastic and so unique.
We decided to hike Delicate Arch, which is the famous arch you see on the literature and on 1990's Utah license plates. This was one of the most rewarding hikes I have ever gone on. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Micah put Peter in the backpack and started off with Connett and Gideon who kept a fast pace with her. Connett felt sick and Abigail wanted to walk, so I took the rearguard and Micah and the others quickly fell out of view, until they got on the smooth rockface that makes up a 3rd of the hike. It is this massive flat, smooth, slickrock with a fairly gentle but long incline. You can see it from the start of the hike, but you don't realize you hike it until you realize that what looks like little bushes on the mountain are people hiking up.
The 1.5 miles up to the arch seem quite a bit longer than that. And you think you are at the top quite a few times before you are even close. At one point you walk a thin ledge with a cliff face on one side and drop-off on the other side of you (it felt a lot closer than it looks in the photo). This is where Connett forgot he was sick and started leaving me and Princess behind.
When we got to the top of the arch, I was shocked to see Micah out in the bowl of the arch with Benjamin, Gideon, and Peter in the backpack. It is a somewhat safe-ish are if you don't have small children who are so scared (Benjamin) or so oblivious (Gideon) that they could fall, slide down the slick-rock, and plummet into the 200-ft pit at the bottom of the arch bowl. However, I am glad they were out there as it gave me the excuse to go out myself and get them. Had the children not been there I would have gone right up to the arch for a photo, but a couple of them were pretty nervous, so we went back to the flat trail area and took some photos.
By the time everybody drank up and had a snack, we were off down the trail again. The walk down feel pretty long as well, and the abuse on your knees and toes from the decline is fairly numbing, but it is still an amazing hike overall.
At the bottom we saw the sign we were supposed to read before going up that said every individual should have 2 quarts of water for the hike. We had 2 quarts for the 5 of us, so needless to say we felt justifiably dehydrated.
We left the Delicate Arch behind us, drove out of the park, and headed up to Park City, arriving around 6:30 PM at the timeshare condo for the week.
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