Day 6: Arches National Park and Moab
Trip Start
Nov 14, 2008
1
6
10
Trip End
Nov 23, 2008
Where I stayed
What I did
Balanced Rock
hiking
sightseeing
Arches National Park, Utah
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Our breakfast was good, the typical fare you get at a Denny's restaurant. After breakfast we drove to Arches National Park. The first thing we did was Park Avenue Trail. Park Avenue is a 2 mile roundtrip moderate hike that has an elevation change of 320 feet. Its named Park Avenue because many of the tall rock formations at the start of the trail reminded people of skyscrapers in New York City. This is an uneven trail that begins in the Park Avenue parking lot and descends into a canyon, and through a wash to the Courthouse Tower parking lot. Along the way you can see the Courthouse Towers, The Three Gossips, Sheep Rock, The Organ and the Tower of Babel. It was a fun little trail with some interesting rock formations.
When we got back to the car we drove to the Balanced Rock viewpoint. Arches is a large park but for the most part it is a drive around park. There are several shorter hikes available in the park but for the most part you can drive or bike from view point to viewpoint. We parked our car and got out and hiked the .3 mile roundtrip easy hike around Balanced Rock. We took pictures of the rock perched precariously on other rocks, its almost unbelievable that the rock is still sitting there, its not holding on by much.
Next we drove to the parking lot in the Windows section. First we hiked the .8 mile roundtrip easy sandy hike to the infamous Double Arch. Double Arch is a beautiful area that showcases two giant arches that are joined at one end. There are also two others arches in the area that are in the process of forming. Its neat to be able to see an arch in several stages of formation and the final product. This area is usually very crowded with people but we only saw 4 people while we were there. We spent a good deal of time here taking pictures, climbing and hiking around the arches.
Next we hiked out of Double Arch across to the Windows section to view the North Window, South Window and Turret Arch. The trail here is rated easy, is mostly paved, and is one mile roundtrip. We started at the North Window and hiked over to the South Window. Both the Windows are arches and there are several other arches in this area that are starting to form. Turret Arch is interesting because it appears to be a turret from a castle with a large arch in the middle. We took a few pictures here and stopped for a bit to just hang out in the sun.
It got pretty hot today and we left the coats in the car. Next we drove to the parking lot for the Upper Viewpoint for Delicate Arch. Delicate Arch is a very famous arch in the park. There are three trailheads you can use to see Delicate Arch. One is an easy 100 yard roundtrip hike to the Lower Viewpoint, the second is a moderate 1 mile roundtrip hike to the Upper Viewpoint in which you can see Delicate Arch from a mile away, the third option is to do a strenuous 3 mile roundtrip hike right up to the arch. We didn't have the time to do the strenuous hike so we chose the Upper Viewpoint. The Upper Viewpoint is a mile away from Delicate Arch and the view is a little disappointing. It would have been better to do the harder hike and actually get close to the arch.
Next we drove to the parking lot at Skyline Arch and did the easy, .4 mile roundtrip hike to Skyline Arch. Skyline Arch is so odd looking because its a large arch but at the very top of a huge wall of rock, it really looks out of place. We climbed around on the boulders that fell out of the arch. We took a few pictures and went back to the parking lot.
We drove to the parking lot that serves both Sand Dune Arch and Broken Arch next. We first hiked to Sand Dune Arch because it was closer. The hike to Sand Dune Arch is .3 miles roundtrip, rated easy and through deep sand in-between large sandstone fins. It's really a neat looking area. The stones here are cold as well. We messed around inside the large fins for awhile, took some pictures and started hiking over to Broken Arch. The hike to Broken Arch is 1.3 miles roundtrip, rated easy across a meadow and desert. The trail is interesting and we even saw a bunny and a beetle in the sand. Broken Arch is a very picturesque arch, climb through the arch to get a good view of the valley that is surrounding you. We took some pictures here and Donna did a few handstands while I took pictures of her. We hiked back to the car and decided to call it a day.
On the way out of the park I stopped in the Visitor's Center to buy a postcard for Eric and get my passport stamped. We were hungry so on the way back to the hotel we stopped at Pasta Jay's which was close to our hotel to get a snack. We ordered a small margarita pizza to share between the three of us. The restaurant is a typical Italian looking pizza place, the service was pretty quick and the pizza was good but the prices were a little high. Overall I'd recommend the place.
We went back to the hotel and watched tv for a bit and got showered. In the meantime Donna got an email from a woman who worked for Arches National Park. She had applied earlier for internships in various National Parks and Arches was one of them. The woman wanted to speak to her on the phone for an interview and she was very impressed when Donna told her that she was actually in town. So the next morning she set up an appointment to meet Donna at Arches.
We decided to go out to celebrate and get some dinner. We decided to go to Zax's restaurant. It was a short walk from our hotel and their menu is huge. I got some great Mexican food and the salsa was to die for. The prices were about average but the service was slow. We went back to the hotel and planned what we were going to do the next day.
Things learned on Day 6 out west:
1. Arches National Park website http://www.nps.gov/arch/
2. So far Arches seemed to be the most sandy and desert like of all the parks we've visited. It also seemed to be higher in elevation than Capitol Reef but lower than Bryce.
3. We should have made time to do the strenuous hike to Delicate Arch.
4. Moab is a cool city that has a very artsy/bohemian feel to it.
