Day 14: Arches National Park

Miles travelled: 6111 to 6210 (total of 99 miles/ 160 kilometres)
Weather: clear & sunny
Highlight of the day: Walks to Delicate Arch and Park Avenue (total kilometres walked on trails, not counting lookouts and incidentals etc = 14 km)

Wanting to get to Arches National Park as soon as possible in the hope that maybe, perhaps we could get a camping spot, we set the alarm for 6am. Breakfast was bagels with hummus and the usual camp coffee. During the night another camper had joined us in our pull off (we never heard them come!), and their dog startled us a bit by just appearing during breakfast!

We arrived at the entrance station to Arches National Park at 7.24 am and asked about the possibility of getting a camp. The ranger said the Visitor’s Centre would be open in 6 minutes, that she€™s heard there would be 6 spaces free that day, and that we should queue to see if we could get a camp. However that she had no idea how many people would already be there waiting. We pulling into the car park and saw there were many people waiting in the forecourt outside the Visitor’s Centre, so Disa dropped off Scott to get into the queue while she parked. The doors were opened and not everyone waiting there was waiting for a camp! We were in! They have an interesting system, and it made looking for a site seem a bit like being in the Amazing Race! Each camp site has a metal box. We had to go to the Devil’s Garden Campground at the far end of the park and find a beige metal site box that had a smiley face in its glass window. Once we found one, we had to complete our registration form, put it into the box so it covered the smiley, and pay our fee. Then we were official. So off we went to the campground; we actually just took the first site we saw, #2, as it seemed fine and we would then know we had our spot! When we drove further into the campground to turn around we could see other groups looking for sites, comparing, etc €“ it really did feel Amazing Race-y!

Now that we knew we would have a home for the evening, we turned ourselves over to enjoying the sites Arches has to offer, and first off went to Delicate Arch. We wanted to do this walk before it was too hot, and Disa wanted this to be the first arch Scott saw. Next we did the Park Avenue walk, starting from the downhill end near the Courthouse Wash car park, up the €˜avenue€™, and back. It was past noon and 98 F/ 37 C so we went to the air conditioned Visitors Centre for a spell where we saw an awful film on Arches and Canyonlands and made lunch.

As we were close to the park entrance, we took a run down to Moab for beer, then made our way back to the park and walked around Balanced Rock. We then walked around the Garden of Eden, Turret Arch, the North and South Windows, Double Arch, and the Cove of Caves! Then off to Sand Dune Arch and Skyline Arch. Then to the Devil€™s Garden, where we saw Landscape Arch. At this point it was 7pm and we were pretty arched out, so we went to camp, had beer and pretzels as an appetizer and bean burritos for dinner. The beer was from the Moab Brewery one was called Dead Horse (‘You can’t beat a Dead Horse’) and the other Scorpion (The beer with a sting in its tail). After dinner we climbed up on top of an outcropping of rock and watched the sunset. Assh. Sleep came quickly that night despite the heat. . .

Scott’s Comments Another fantastic day. Snavelled 3rd last camping spot. Great walk to Delicate Arch. Really enjoyed the Park Avenue walk. This beautiful red sandstone is the same rock as in Monument Valley. We were so spolied by seeing all the arch formations that we dismissed out of hand a five minute detour on the last walk to Landscape Arch because it only led to more arches (and besides it was hot and the beers were calling). I’m still amazed at being able to drive from one incredible place to another each day – Grand Canyon – Monument Valley – Mesa Verde – Arches.