We took advantage of President's Day and a PTO day to do a long weekend trip up to Moab, leaving the camper (and Percy) behind at Shawn's cousin's place. Saturday morning we set Percy up for a long stay by himself (though one of Shawn's cousins did check in on him once a day), and then took off fairly early as we had a long day of driving ahead.
A direct shot from our spot near Phoenix to Moab would be about 7 hours, but we decided to add an extra hour by detouring through Petrified Forest National park and break the drive up into smaller chunks. About an hour and a half before we got arrived at Petrified Forest, we saw signs for Meteor Crater and decided to stop and investigate. It is a 50,000 year old impact crater about 10 minutes off of the highway. There's a small museum covering meteors and viewing platforms at the crater's rim. The crater itself is 560 feet deep and almost 4000 feet across. We wouldn't recommend making a special trip for it, but if you're already driving along Route 66 it's worth the stop (though admission is on the pricey side).
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| Hundreds of feet deep, thousands of feet wide, tens of thousands of years old |
A short drive later we made it to Petrified Forest. This national park is centered around an ancient forest that has been petrified (no surprise there). The stone logs are cool to look at, especially the one that that forms a natural bridge over a small river. We drove north through the park, stopping occasionally to check out exhibits. Again, we wouldn't recommend making a trip specifically for this park (especially considering how remote it is), but it's worth checking out if you're already in the area.
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| Shawn with a petrified log |
From Petrified Forest's north exit we continued on to Moab, driving through the Navajo Nation for a large chunk of the drive. We had wanted to try to make a stop at Four Corners at the Utah/Colorado/Arizona/New Mexico border, but it closes at 4:45 during the winter so we had to skip it. We stopped at a diner in the small Utah town of Blanding along the way, and arrived in Moab without time to do much besides go to bed.
Sunday was dedicated to Arches National Park, and was possibly the best day of our trip to date. We absolutely loved this park. After a quick breakfast at the motel, we stopped by a sporting goods store to purchase some crampons. Then we headed into the park, beginning by driving all the way to the end of the road and working our way back towards the entrance over the day.
We started with a 4 mile hike in Devil's Garden. We set Double O Arch as our destination/turn around point. On the outbound leg, we got to see Tunnel Arch, Pine Tree Arch, Landscape Arch (one of the longest natural arches in the world) and Black Arch. The trail out to Landscape Arch is quite easy, but after that it turns a bit more technical with some scrambling required.
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| Landscape Arch |
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| Double O Arch |
After we reached Double O Arch, we came back along the same route but took the short side trails to see Navajo Arch and Partition Arch. We noticed the crowd really picked up at this point in the trail, so a lot of people must use those two arches as their turnaround point. When we got back to our car, the parking lot had gotten very full so we were glad that we started early and mostly beat the crowds. Our hike took us about 2.5 hours with all our stops to admire the views, but you can also double the length of the hike by turning it into a loop with the Primitive Trail if you have more of the day to dedicate to this section of the park.
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| Navajo Arch |
We ate sandwiches in the car and then began working our way back towards the park entrance, stopping at viewpoints along the way. The first stop was at Sand Dune Arch, which is a small arch inside a sandy slot canyon. It was very popular with children (probably due to how short the walk to get there is coupled with the plentiful sand). We also viewed Broken Arch (which despite the name is not actually broken) from here, though we skipped the mile round trip to approach it.
Next we got around to Bryn's main draw for the day: Delicate Arch. We started by checking out the short lookout trails. These are not worth it, unless you are unable to complete the Delicate Arch trail. The viewpoints are just too far away. So then we tackled the hike up the arch itself. This is only about 1.5 miles one way and is mostly over open rock. We did have to go a bit slower than our usual pace because Shawn was feeling some residual fatigue from the hospital stay at the beginning of the week. The trail was very popular and had a lot of people on it.
The last few hundred feet of the trail is on the shadowed side of a fin and ascends on a narrow ledge that gets quite high by the end. This time of year it is very icy as it never gets the sun needed to melt the snowfall that’s been compacted by hikers. We put on our spikes and had no trouble, but we did see one man attempt it without any traction and immediately slide off the side (fortunately still while the fall was only a few feet). If you're going to try this in the winter, absolutely bring traction devices for your feet.
When you round the corner from the ledge you are at the top, right near Delicate Arch. The arch itself is all alone at the edge of a large cliff. It is so thin and freestanding it doesn't even seem natural. Bryn was in heaven. This arch is definitely worth the hike and is our #1 recommendation while visiting the park.
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| Delicate Arch |
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| Bryn at the Delicate Arch |
On the hike back down we did a very small spur trail to see some petroglyphs that are near the start of the Delicate Arch Trail. After we made our way down we spoke to several groups who were considering trying to rush the hike before sunset. Sadly we had to advise against it, as none of the ones who asked us about the hike had traction devices.
We had time to head to the Windows Section for our own sunset arches. This section has a bunch of arches in some very short loops, so we would definitely recommend this if you are visiting the park but are very tight on time. We walked the loop to see Turret Arch, North Window, and South Window before heading to the nearby Double Arch as the sun set. Double Arch is also a spectacular arch that we loved, and the golden coloring from the setting sun made it even better.
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| Double Arch |
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| Double Arch at Sunset |
As we drove back to the park entrance we had to stop for some deer that wanted to cross the road. One of the group was a buck with a massive 6 point rack. It's kind of strange he had such a big spread without more points. We stopped back at the motel to shower and then headed to Moab Brewery for dinner and post hike beers (we totaled 13 miles this day). We got into a conversation with a man next to us who is also on a long-term camper road trip.
Monday (Presidents Day) we headed out early to see Canyonlands National Park. The section nearest Moab is called Island in the Sun. Our plan once again was to drive to the end of the park’s interior road and work our way back. We started the morning with the Grand Overlook hike, a 2ish mile out and back trail that leads you to a viewpoint overlooking a large portion of the park’s canyons and rock formations. We were thankful once more for our traction devices, as the trail was quite icy.
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| Grand Overlook |
From Grand Overlook, we drove to the trailhead for Upheaval Dome. This strange, bright green substance can be viewed by hiking around the rim above it. There is an easy viewing area about 1/4 mile in, or you can continue to a higher viewpoint that is much more difficult. We encountered icy and muddy conditions until we reached what we thought was the trail end. Unfortunately, we realized we had somehow missed a turn somewhere along the way. The view was still great and we still recommend the hike!
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| Upheaval Dome |
After a quick lunch break we headed to the Mesa Arch trailhead. This arch is extremely popular for sunrise and is an easy 1/2ish mile loop. The trail was muddy but we made it to the arch and saw for ourselves why it is so popular. Looking through the arch, you can frame a beautiful view of the canyons below.
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| Mesa Arch |
Our last stops were some simple overlooks before we refilled our waters at the visitor center and headed south to the Needles portion of the park. This section is only 19 miles from the Grand Overlook, but a 2 hour drive from one visitor center to the other. You have to drive all the way around the east side of the park. Going into the park, we made a quick stop at Newspaper Rock, a several hundred year old collection of petroglyphs.
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| Newspaper Rock |
We headed straight to a hike that leads to an old Cowboy Camp and caves. This is a simple hike made exciting by two ladders along the loop. Once more we encountered a ton of mud and standing water. Cold and soaked, we drove to the end of the park road to the Needles Overlook. The sun was beginning to set at this point so we headed to our final destination: Pothole Point. This area has small and large potholes that hold water. It was a recommendation for sunset, as the view of the Needles is great as well as the light reflecting off the pothole pools.
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| Pothole Point |
It was another long day and we were exhausted but still had more driving ahead of us. Our destination for the night was a cheap motel in Blanding, with a stop for dinner in Monticello. We had hot showers and passed out.
We had taken PTO on Tuesday to extend the long weekend. Tuesday morning we left Blanding and began our long drive back to Phoenix, but similar to our drive up to Moab we planned several interesting stops to break up the drive. The first was Monument Valley, which is a tribal park with grand rock formations. We did the scenic loop, which is a 17 mile dirt road through the valley. It took about an hour and had great views. There are many unique formations throughout the park.
From Monument Valley we drove a couple hours to Horseshoe Bend, a very sharp turn in the Colorado River near Page, Arizona. This is a popular scenic view, and it's about a 10 minute walk from the parking lot.
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| Horseshoe Bend |
After the short walk and checking out the view we continue on to the Grand Canyon National Park. We drove along the south rim and stopped at lookouts along the way. It was very chilly and windy, but the canyon was still spectacular.
As dusk fell we exited the park and began the remaining drive back to Phoenix. We stopped at a diner in Flagstaff along the way and made it back to the camper at Shawn's cousin's ranch fairly late. It was an incredibly full weekend, and probably the best multi day stretch of the whole trip.
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