Arches National Park 4/24 - 4/27/14

See the slideshow to the right for pictures of Arches Nat'l Park

ARCHES NATIONAL PARK

Day 1

Thurs 4/24/14

38° at 7 in Capitol Reef NP

In the Fruita campground at Captiol Reef NP, it got really cold over night.  Greg said it was 38 when he got up at 7, and it was only 43 when I dragged out of bed at 8:30.  We left the campground at 10:00 heading East to Arches National Park just outside of Moab UT.  We stopped on the way out of the park to look at some more petroglyphs.  They were along side the road and there was a nice boardwalk to use to view them.

We got to the Arches NP visitor’s center about 2pm.  We ate our lunch in the RV and hooked into the internet from the parking lot.  The campground in the park only takes reservations and it is full.  There are several BLM campgrounds in the area but all are first-come/first-serve.  We know there isn’t a chance to get a spot today at any of those.  We checked several other RV parks in the area but most were full.  We found one park 5 miles outside of town that had an overflow area with no hookups that we could get for 25.00 a night.  We booked it for one night.

After checking out the visitor center and buying a book on hikes in the park, we drove into Moab to get some groceries.   OMGosh!!!!!  It is a tourist town just like Sedona AZ.  It is crowded with traffic and pedestrians.  Lots of bistros, coffee houses, gift shops and art galleries line the main street.  There’s only one liquor store and one major grocery store.  I was amazed! 

After getting our shopping done, we headed out of town to Spanish Trails RV park.  It’s very nice park, except for the overflow parking which is in a dirt (red dirt) field.  It is located just off the main highway with lots of traffic.  BUT it has a great laundry and shower facilities and we have cell service and Wi-Fi!!!!!  We arrived and checked in at 5:30.  By 6, I had 2 loads of laundry started and Greg had gone for a run.  While the clothes were in the dryer, I took a wonderful long shower (with hair and shaving included).  I had clothes washed and dried and I was squeaky clean by the time Greg got back from his run.

We micro-waved left-over caribou stir-fry, quinoa, pasta with caribou pepperoni (all leftovers that we had frozen).  It was 8pm by the time we sat down to eat!  It was so late that I didn’t even get to use the internet or make any phone calls.  I’m hoping we’ll be as lucky in the next campsite we get.

DAY 2

Fri 4/25/14

61° @ 7am

We left the Spanish Trails RV park at 8am (we did find out that there is a classic car show in town this weekend which is why all the campgrounds are full).  We headed back toward Arches park and turned north along the Colorado River to check out all of the BLM campgrounds.  There are 7 of them along a stretch of about 8 miles.  We found that 2 of them are only for tent campers and of the 5 remaining we saw only a couple of sites that showed today was the day they were  being vacated.  Unfortunately, check out isn’t until noon and we couldn’t see that any of them were in the process of packing up.  If we had seen people milling about on the outside of the campers we could have asked them if they were leaving and if we could put our “paid stub” on the site post to show it was taken, but no-one seemed to be up or at their sites.  We did manage to talk to one camper who recommended another BLM campground West of the Arches on the way to Canyonlands NP which is relatively close by (20 miles or so).  We gave up on the search of Colorado River BLM campgrounds and drove to the other campground which is about 30 minutes from the Arches entrance.  It is Horsethief Campground and it is perfect!  We found a great spot (at 10:15), somewhat protected from the wind (it is blowing) and VERY level.  There are no hookups and once again, no cell service or internet.  The campground host saw us and talked with us for a while.  He and his wife lived in Palmer for about 20 years so he was glad to visit with some Alaskans for a change.

We drove back into Moab for gas (got a 10 cent discount using our Fred Meyer rewards card!)  We drove back into the Arches at noon to look around.  There are no significant hikes here; mostly everything is viewable from the road.  We stopped at almost all of the pullouts and did some short hikes.  The scenery is so much like the other parks, I think I am mostly interested in the arches.  We did hike for 1.5 miles to get to the “Delicate Arch” which is the most photographed arch in the park.  It was pretty amazing.  The hike to get there was pretty steep, walking on sandstone and along narrow cliffs but once you get to the arch, you’re breath is taken away.  We stayed up by the arch for at least 30 minutes just sitting there looking at it.  There were tons of people there also so lots of other stuff to watch also.  There is a 7+ mile hike that starts at a trailhead at the end of the park road which we will try to do tomorrow.  We ran out of time today.  We did hike a short way back to another arch (Sand Dune Arch) thru really thick sand and some slot canyons.  Once back to the arch it was so funny to see kids playing in the sand like a giant sandbox while parents sat relaxing (like at the beach?).  I guess the kids deserved it after being shuffled around all day looking at rocks!

We got back to our campsite at 7:05.  Greg grilled tilapia and I sautéed Sante Fe veggies and broccoli slaw, left-over Spanish rice, and baked beans.  The campground is a great place for sunsets and it looked like tonight was going to be a beauty.  We watched from the RV for a while then walked outside to get a better view.  It didn’t get as colorful as we had expected but it was still beautiful to watch. 

The temps today were in the 80’s with some wind.  Predictions for tomorrow are lots of winds and thunderstorms.

DAY 3

Sat 4/26/14

Howling winds from about 2:30 this morning kept me awake most of the night.  Greg said he only woke up for a short while at 3:30.  We got up to dark clouds and blowing winds.  We are staying put for a while to see what the weather does.

It started POURING rain about 9:00 and didn’t let up until after noon.  Greg read and I have been typing word documents of the blog entries so I only have to wait until I get internet so I can copy and paste my journals.  We did have a break in the rain about 12:30 but it started again at 1:30.  It was relentless all day.  Greg found a leak in the RV so that kept him busy tying to find where it was coming from then how to get it to stop.  I transferred some pictures to the laptop and read some of my old (already read) magazines.  It rained ALL day.  It was amazing.  There was some thunder about 5 but we couldn’t really see any lightning.  We waited for the rain to ease off before we started the grill to cook K-bobs.  About 2 minutes from when they were to be taken off the grill, the heavens unleashed more rain.  Greg had to stand in the pouring rain to finish up the grill (about 6:30).  About 7:30 the leak hadn’t stop so Greg decided to put blocks under one set of tires to raise that side of the RV up so the rain would run down the edge of the RV not right into the RV.  When we opened the privacy screen on the front windshields….there was SLEET on the windows!  By 7:30 it was 40 degrees.  The high today was only 48.  We are so lucky to be in the RV and not a tent!  Dinner tonight was caribou steak K-Bobs (marinated 24 hrs in wine, soy sauce, black pepper), sweet potatoes (nuked), spinach salad with green onions, cucumbers, grape tomatoes.  The K-bobs had poblano peppers and red onions on them.  It was terrific!  I know that I will sleep really well tonight especially if it continues to rain (I love the sound of rain on the fiberglass roof).

Grillin' in the rain

Charred but still delicious!

DAY 4

Sunday 4/27/14

34 @ 7:15 am

We woke up to bright, blue skies, with a little breeze and still cold.  It looks like a much better day than yesterday.  By 9:15 we headed back to Arches National Park to hike the 7.3 mile trail through Devil’s Garden.  We are staying at the same campground (Horsethief) for another 2 nights.  This campground is not far from the Visitors Center for Canyonland National Park – Island of the Sky so we will check that area out tomorrow and Tuesday.  

We arrived at Devil’s Garden trailhead at 10:10 and started our hike at 10:30.  It was an easy trail for the first .5 miles, then we got into some inclines.  At about 1 mile, around Landscape Arch, the trail started going up sandstone rocks.  There was actually no trail just pulling yourself up rocks then walking on their slopes.  We had to do this several times through out the hike.  It was tough going for me!  The arches we got to see along this “trail” were:  Tunnel Arch, Pinetree Arch, Landscape Arch (the longest arch in the world at 306 feet long), Partition Arch, Navajo Arch, Black Arch, Double O Arch, and Private Arch.  It was incredible to see so many arches within 3 miles of a trail.  We hiked to the end of the trail to see a monolith (single tall spire, not an arch) called “Dark Angel”.  I believe in the end we hiked more than 7.3 miles.  We got back to the RV at the trailhead at 2:45.  It was 4+ hours with lots of stopping and taking pictures and even stopping for a short lunch break.  The weather was windy all day and cool.  I kept my bike jackey on until about 2; Greg wore his polar fleece top all day.  After the hike, we drove about 30 minutes down to the visitor’s center.  We can get internet and cell service in the parking lot so we spent about 2-1/2 hours getting emails checked and phone calls made.  We got back to the campground at 6:30.  Still windy tonight with temps predicted to be in the 30’s.  We didn’t eat supper until about 8.  We had grilled pork chops with Cajun seasonings, brown rice, stir fry veggies, & spinach salad.   The sun was setting at 8:20 and the way the clouds had formed we knew we were in for a gorgeous sun set.  It was not….. the clouds somehow dissipated and the sun just set without throwing off much of a glow.  Oh well…. Maybe tomorrow.

DAY 5

Mon 4/28/14

34 @ 8, breezy

I slept really well in my long underwear, thermal top, and fleece hat.  It is another pretty day but the dang wind is STILL blowing.  We drove up the road to Canyonlands National Park (about 5 or 6 miles away.)  The temps are in the 50’s but the wind is making it feel much colder.  After stopping at the Visitor’s Center, we first checked out Mesa Arch trailhead at 12:15.  It was a very short hike (1/2 mile?) to the arch and WOW was it spectacular with the backdrop of the canyon behind it.  The arch framed the vistas beautifully.  It was much prettier than any of the arches we saw in Arches National Park.  By looking to the north of Mesa Arch, we could see another arch called “washer woman arch” which indeed looked like a person hand-washing clothes.

At 1:15, we parked the RV at the trailhead for Alcove Springs.  We ate lunch then walked up the road a few hundred feet to an unmarked trail.  This one was “False Kiva” and you have to specifically ask a Ranger about it.  It is “word of mouth” only because they don’t want lots of tourist trampling thru the ruins yet.  We found out about it on one of our hikes in Capitol Reef.  Someone heard we were going to Arches then possibly Canyonlands and told us we had to ask about the false kiva.  We did and got directions from the Ranger.  We were told it was about a 3 mile round trip hike.  It started out on a dirt trail then soon turned into walking on sandstone rock, then climbing down sandstone, then climbing up and over sandstone.  We were scrambling over rocks to find this Kiva.  We thought we were at the end of the trail under an overhang that could have been an ancient cliff dwelling but it didn’t have any of the characteristics that the Ranger told us to look for.  Greg left me there and went on a recon mission to see if he could find another trail or maybe even THE kiva.  He came back after about 30 minutes and said we were almost to it.  He had spotted it with binoculars while he was scouting the area below him.  We had to really do more rock scrambling to get up to the Kiva.  It was not anything that was impressive although the views were tremendous and the hike to it was incredible so it was well worth the trip.  It took us from 1:50 to 4:10 to make the trip.

After the False Kiva hike (rock climb) we drove to Upheaval Dome overlook.  This was a really short hike up sandstone to an overlook onto a huge crater.  Geologist are unsure as to it’s origin but it is incredible to see.  Unfortunately it was sooooo windy that we didn’t stick around long once at the top.  We were back at the RV by 4:45. 

On our way out of the park, we stopped at Green River Overlook.  This part of the Park (the Island of the Sky) is a huge plateau sitting between the Colorado and Green Rivers.  The Green River Overlook looks down into the canyon where the Green River flows.  It was very cool to see way down below to the river and where it winds it’s way through the canyon.  It meets up with the Colorado river not too far from this location.

The scenery for this whole section of the park is so much like the Grand Canyon.  It is breath-taking to see the expanse of the canyon valleys below the rim.

We left the park around 5:15 and drove a short distance to a parking space along the road.  We could get internet here so we did some checking for places to go next and where to stay.  The weather is not looking good for elsewhere in the park and even further to the NE.  We decided to spend the night tomorrow in Moab at an RV park with power and where we can dump our tanks and get fresh water.  On Wednesday, we’ll start our drive to Salt Lake City.  We had to drive 14 more miles to get cell service so we could make some phone calls so by the time we made it back to camp it was 7:30.  We did quick hamburgers on the grill and heated up left over baked sweet potato for dinner.  Another cold night ahead of us and we’re hoping the winds will die down.

view of Park Avenue at Arches

arches and caves at Arches

Landscape Arch
the longest arch in the world

Delicate Arch, the most
photographed arch in the US

Capitol Reef 4/20 - 4/23/14

See slideshow on the right for Capitol Reef pictures

Capitol Reef National Park

Day 1

Sun 4/20/14

41° at 7am in Torrey UT.  We left the RV park at 8:40, and headed into Capitol Reef.  We got to the campground at 9:00 (we were not very far away).  We lucked out once again because there are several campsites to choose from.  After we got settled in, we rode our bikes a mile down the road to the Visitor’s Center and caught the Ranger talk on geology of the area.  We bought a book on the hiking trails and then rode back to RV.  The park is famous for the “Waterpocket Fold” which is a 100 mile long “wrinkle” in the Colorado Plateau.  There is an underlying fault which when pressured by the Pacific Plates, caused the rock cliffs on one side to fold up against the cliffs on the other side.  One side is at an elevation of 7000 feet.  Most of the formations here are not much different than what we’ve seen in other parks.  There are some petroglyphs and pretty cool hiking trails.  So far the weather is pleasant in the 60’s and the campground is in a great location, nestled in an orchard.  We don’t have electric hookups, cell service or wi-fi but it’s only $5.00 a night (for senior citizens) so who can beat it!

After lunch it started howling wind and pouring rain.  We sat inside and downloaded pictures from the camera and chill-laxed.  About 6pm, after the rain stopped, we jumped on the bikes and rode a little over a mile up the road to the trailhead for one of the hikes we are looking at.  The ride was on a paved road with some hills and little traffic (no bike lane so we had to ride on the shoulder of the road).   Back at camp (which is now completely full) by 6:45 (temp at 71°).  It was so pleasant we ate dinner outside:  grilled chicken thighs, sautéed sweet potato fries, steamed mixed veggies, broccoli slaw.

DAY 2

Mon 4/21/14

53° at 7:30 am

Grand Wash Trail

Cassidy Arch

It looks to be a great day.  We rode our bike back down the road to the trailhead we rode to last night.  The trail is “Grand Wash” and is 2.25 miles with no elevation change but you hike down a dry stream bed in heavy gravel/sand.  The trail takes you through the canyon where the rock walls tower straight up.  It was the old wagon trail thru the canyon and at one section (the “Narrows”) the trail is only about 16 feet wide.  It’s amazing that wagons could get thru there.  We walked for about 50 minutes (maybe 1.75 miles) then turned around and headed back towards the trailhead.  Near the trailhead, we took another trail which lead us 1.5 miles UP with an elevation gain of roughly 1000 feet.  The trail takes you to “Cassidy Arch” named for Butch Cassidy whom it was believed to have come thru this area as he was being chased by the law.  He may have even taken refuge at the arch (although the literature we read said there was no known accounts of that actually occurring).  The hike was pretty difficult for about half a mile then it leveled off as we hiked along the rim of the canyon.  Most of the trail was marked pretty well with cairns until we got to the top.  From there we had to walk and scramble up rocks to just find the arch.  There were cairns placed around the top but it seemed they were placed nilly-willy and showed no general direction to go in.  When we finally got to the arch, it was pretty fantastic!  We hung around for a while talking to others and just enjoying the view.  We finished the hike and the bike ride back to camp by 2:30.  Total mileage:  6.25 miles hiking and 6.5 miles biking.  My knee was shot when we finished.  I relaxed by stretching and lying on the bed with my legs straight up against the wall.  That really helped the stiffness

Rain clouds had been rolling in as we hiked down from the arch and by 3:30 we had a nice little downpour which lasted only about 45 minutes.  We were going to do another short hike about 5 but the rain clouds were still lingering and we didn’t want to venture too far from camp if we were caught in a downpour.  Once again the campground is completely full.

Greg took a "selfie"

We wound up taking a short walk around the campground about 5:30 and down a trail next to the Fremont River and fruit orchard.  We saw some mule deer, a rabbit, and a prairie dog.  Another pleasant evening so we ate outside again.  Stuffed bell peppers with taco flavored caribou ground meat, Spanish rice, and chips/salsa.  We sat outside until dark snacking on popcorn and watching the deer graze in the pasture next to the campground.

Bell peppers with caribou tacos

DAY 3

Tues 4/22/14

51° at 7:30 am

Hickman Bridge

At 9:00 we drove the RV a couple of miles from the Visitor Center to “Hickman Bridge” trailhead.  We hiked 4.5 miles up the “Rim Overlook” trail and the “Navajo Knobs” trail.  It was pretty steep with hiking on sandstone rock most of the way.  My hiking poles did not work very well at propelling my up the sandstone.  About 2.25 miles up we stopped at the Rim Overlook.  Stunning views of Fruita Valley with it’s orchards and the campground in the distance.  I brought my phone with me and YEAH we had cell reception!  We sent a few texts to the kids then continued on our hike.  The next 2 miles were still steep but it was the last ¼ mile that did me in.  We had to climb up rocks to get to the top of the Navajo Knobs!  The panoramic views were spectacular!  The wind was blowing so hard we didn’t spend much time on top (actually it reminded both of us of the top at Guadalupe Peak in Texas).  We crawled and hiked down about a mile to get out of the wind and eat some lunch.   On our hike back to the trailhead, we took a spur trail to the Hickman Bridge.  It was about a mile more with some steep steps in stone.  It wasn’t a difficult hike but after doing the 9 miles up and back from Navajo Knobs, my legs were about shot.  The bridge (or was it really an “arch”?) was really pretty neat to see.  We weren’t able to climb on top of it but got some good pictures all around it.   Total hike today:  10.5 miles; 6 hours; elevation gain 1600 feet. 

Climbing up to Navajo Knobs

View from Navajo Knobs trail

Back at the trailhead and the RV by 3:30; we changed clothes and I laid in the back with my legs elevated while Greg drove about 20 minutes into Torrey.  Brian was sending a package of mail to us via Fed Ex and it was to arrived about 4:30 at the RV park we stayed at the other night.  We got the package and drove into town parking at the general store.  They have public showers so we both took one….at a cost of $6.00 each!  I only showered, if I had known it was so expensive I would have shampooed my hair and shaved my body.   But after a 6 hour hike I was not in the mood to dawdle in the shower (a nice soak in a bath would have been much more to my liking!).

On the way back to the Park, we stopped at a restaurant for pizza and beer.  It was sooooo good.  They didn’t have wine so I shared a pitcher of Polygamy Porter beer with Greg.  I don’t normally drink beer, but it tasted so good with the pizza!

Pizza and Beer!

While we were eating, the wind began to gust and weather reports state it would get worse overnight.  I was so tired by the time we got back to camp that I had a very hard time staying up til 8:30.  It did not take anytime to go to sleep and I heard NOTHING all night!

DAY 4

Wed 4/23/14

45° at 7:30

Greg said he heard the wind blow a few times overnight but not me; I had a great night’s sleep.  It’s breezy and overcast this morning.  We walked across the street from the campground and hiked up the “Cohab Canyon” trail.  Stories state that the early polygamists hid in the canyon with their wives and families.  The first quarter mile was up about 400 feet in elevation gain, but the rest of the hike was relatively easy.  We took our time hiking thru soft sands and looking up at the pock-holed canyon walls.  It was like looking at a bunch of bird houses.  We took a side trip up to a couple of overlooks.  The hike was just over 2 hours long and maybe 3 miles.  It was something easy to stretch our legs and recover from the hard hike yesterday.  The temperature change was not that great from 9am to noon (51° and 58° respectively).  Not a great day to lay in the sun.  We relaxed in the RV until about 3:30 then drove down the road (the Scenic Highway) about 12 miles until it becomes a gravel rode.  We then rode our bikes another 2.25 miles down the gravel road to the trailhead for “Capitol Gorge”.  The hike into the gorge is on dry stream bed with soft sand and gravel.  A short hike in from the trailhead is the viewing spot for 1000 year old petroglyphs.  They were really faded and had so much graffiti around them it was hard to see.  Just a few feet up the trail and across the canyon on another wall and about 50 feet up is another carving with several names and the date of 1911.  This is the list of US geological survey members who were working in the canyon.  It is pretty amazing that the names are engraved perfectly at that distant above the canyon floor.  No one knows how it was done.  Further on down the trail is a historic register from early pioneers who traveled thru the gorge on wagon trains.  Some of the names date back to 1871 (this is like the “register” we saw at Hueco Tanks outside of El Paso).  Once again, there is so much graffiti that you can hardly read the older inscriptions.  I was almost over-come with emotion to see how present day tourists are so disrespectful.  Maybe in another hundred years someone will be teary-eyed over the 2014 inscriptions that make me mad today!  Back at the trailhead to the gorge there is another trailhead leading to the “Golden Throne”.  It is 2 miles up for an 1100 feet elevation gain.  The Golden Throne is a huge sandstone monolith that is only visible at the end of the trail.  We had waited until later in the day to do this hike because the guide book says that if you “hike towards day’s end you may see the golden cap glow with sublime salmon and yellow colors.”  Unfortunately, 5:30 pm in April is not late enough in the day to see the “sublime salmon and yellow colors”.  If we had waited until later, it would have gotten dark on us for the hike down and we still had to ride our bikes over 2 miles to get back to the RV….. oh well, we can only imagine what the colors of sunset on the Golden Throne look like.

Cohab Canyon

Golden Throne

Bike ride from parking lot to
Capitol Gorge trailhead

We managed to get back to the campground by 7:20.  Generator usage is from 6 – 8 at night so I had about 30 minutes to get dinner heated (we saved the left over stuffed peppers and Spanish rice for just this reason).  We did not get to eat outside tonight, but we did stay up until around 10.  Greg had to walk over to one of the neighbors RV and ask them to turn their music down.  They were having some kind of dance action going on that we weren’t invited to!  Even though the campground has been full every night, there has not been any noise or distractions of any kind until tonight.  Thankfully the music was immediately turned down and we didn’t hear anything else the rest of the night.