Another reason to explore Arches National Park (at sundown!) - the gorgeous sights from the Park Ave trailhead. Located not too far in the park, Park Ave is short (2 miles roundtrip) and rewarding hike that leads downhill towards the Courthouse Towers. There's a pretty picture everywhere you turn around these parts…!
Thanks for road-tripping with us this week! We'll continue next week with a few more posts from Moab and then we're off to hunt some dinosaurs in Colorado - make sure to stop by and check it out! ~Paul & Amber ETC
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We're running out of time in Moab:( After exploring Arches (we'll have one more post from there tomorrow), we took a drive over to nearby Canyonlands National Park. It's breathtaking. Every time we visit this area we're a step closer to renting a jeep from one of the adventure outfitters in town and heading out here for a few nights of backcountry exploration…most of these shots are from the Island in the Sky, a popular lookout area near the visitor center. Amazing at sunset!
~Paul & Amber ETC After touring the area by car yesterday, we were ready for a hike! We got up before sunrise and drove out of Moab to the Devils Garden Trailhead in Arches National Park. This is the longest of the maintained trails in the park, and gets you close to quite a few natural arches (some say the highest concentration of significant natural arches in the world!). We set out around 6 am (to avoid the afternoon summer heat) with lots of water and cameras (some attached to my head). The trail is pretty rugged, although still considered maintained. There's plenty of cairns (little piles of rocks) to guide you as you go over some pretty awesome terrain. If you're afraid of heights, like my wife, this trail probably isn't for you (except I tricked my wife to go on it…once anyway:) The main trail has many side trails, spurs as they're called, to other arches not too far away - we checked out Private, Partition, and Dark Angel arches. Double O Arch is kind of the big finale on this trail - once you find it you'll be looping back around and heading back (unless you decide to check out Dark Angel a bit farther). The picture below illustrates why they call this trail difficult and why I mentioned the wifey-afraid-of-heights situation earlier... Doesn't really look like a trail, does it? Just lean towards the wall and take your time! You'll know you're getting close to the beginning of the trail again when you start to see large groups of people taking pictures. Some crazies even started the big loop that we just finished mid-day with minimal water…yikes. The most popular thing to do here is park and hike the shorter route to check out Landscape Arch (picture below). With temps over 100 we think we'll head back to the pool! I love Moab, Utah. It's one of my favorite places to hike, photograph, & relax. The Colorado River is close and so is Arches & Canyonlands National Parks. In the summer it's dry, super hot in the afternoon (it's high desert so the evenings/mornings are pretty nice), and there's lots of adventure to be had whether you're in to hiking, biking, paddling, or backcountry 4x4-ing (it's a nice place for toy photography too:). We really like to hike when we're in Moab - get up really early and make it out to the trail before all of the tourists in their giant RVs (with small water bottles…what's with folks not taking enough water with them on the trail?!?) We finish our hikes around 11 am, right when it's getting super hot, and head back to our hotel and chill inside or by the pool. In the evening we grab some dinner in town & sneak in another hike right before it gets dark. Arches is close enough to town that you can get over there pretty quick. The next day? Repeat! On this trip we stayed at the Gonzo Inn. It's a hip little place just off the main drag in town. Rooms are modern & clean and the grounds are quiet & secluded. After check-in on our first day we drove into Arches National Park. We stopped at a few lookouts and decided to check out Sand Dune Arch (one of my favorites), just off the scenic drive. It's nice to see this arch later in the day since it can get a little crowded otherwise. It's pretty close to the road, a.k.a. lots of tourists will be here checking it out around midday. It's so fun to explore the sandy tunnels and narrow rock valleys around the arch. I brought my Australian bullroarer to test out the acoustics in this place - watch and listen in the video below! We got back to the car and out of the park right around sun down. Back to the inn to rest up for an early morning hike in Arches (one where my wife almost killed me!).
~Paul & Amber ETC Links: Gonzo Inn Arches National Park Canyonlands National Park Bullroarer |
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