We arrived on Sunday around noon, so we took advantage of the early time and did a quick run to the Islands of the Sky area in Canyonlands. For those keeping count, this was our 6th National Park (and not part of the original planned 6, so we will have 7 total now). We only had the afternoon and it was hot (106F for the high!) so we mostly did car driving views and short hikes out to viewpoints, etc...We also had the dogs with us, so we had to keep the truck and AC running and take turns anywhere we stopped, with someone always staying in the truck. Still, it's a pretty cool place and we enjoyed looking out at all the monuments and deep canyons!
On Monday, it was Arches National Park, our 7th and final National Park for this trip! We were up early, but couldn't get too early a start as we couldn't drop the dogs at doggie daycare until 8am. Still, we were in the park by 8:15 in an attempt to hike before it got too hot. By 9am, it was in the 90's so it sort of worked, but was still hot going. It hit the high of 104F around 11:30. We hiked to various areas, including the Windows and Double Arch, the Delicate Arch overlook (steep uphill!), and the Landscape Arch (our longest hike of the day at about 2 miles round trip). It was so hot that we only did shorter hikes (2 miles or less round trip) out to see arches and skipped a couple longer hikes. We completed our arch viewing and hiking by about 12:30, then stopped at the inside Visitor's Center at the end, came back around 1:30pm for some pool time and then time wandering around town...
Pinetree arch from a distance on way to Landscape arch:
Tunnel Arch, also a short offshoot from the Landscape arch:
Landscape Arch, as wide as a football field and long and narrow. It was a hot hike out and Jackson quit and wouldn't go any farther about 0.1mile from the main viewpoint. You can't walk under this one anymore as their have been rocks dropping off since 1991.
Double O arch as seen from Landscape Arch:
An unamed arch, or maybe I just can't remember:
My favorite of the day was Sand Dune Arch, perhaps. It's not the best arch, but it's in this cool slot canyon with sandy bottom, and the canyon also makes it shady! Jackson also enjoyed climbing here.
We didn't hike all the way to Delicate Arch as it was about 3 miles, but we hiked a steep 0.6 mile trail to a viewpoint where we could see it well just across the canyon:
Near the Delicate Arch trailhead, there are some awesome petroglyphs.
And, and old ranch from 1899 called the Wolf cabin..
In the Windows area, we did about a 1mile hike and saw a bunch of different arches. This one is Turret Arch.
South Window Arch:
North Window Arch
This is called Balancing Rock:
And this one is Three Gossips:
Another favorite of the day and a hike of about 0.5 miles, also in the Windows area was the Double Arch:
Just some cool scenery here and a little unnamed peek through:
WOW! That's a lot of hiking in the heat. But for us armchair hikers every step and photo was so very worth it! Mesa Arch is my favorite when the sun/light are just right it glows.
ReplyDeleteIs Green River on your way? An awesome watermelon would taste so good on a warm day. The Mexican Food place next to the city park is pretty good. And the pups can run in the park.
Give me a cold winter day……maybe! Gorgeous area of nature’s sculptures. Please stay cool.
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