Moab/ Arches Nat'l Park/ Canyonlands Nat'l Park

This is a long one, so grab a drink & a snack & here we go....

The next leg of our journey took us into the beautiful state of Utah... the scenery began to change dramatically & the rocks were getting a lot more red!

We had been driving for most of the day and didn't get in to Arches until around 5:00 or so. Arches is the only campground we encountered that recommends reservations, the rest being first come first serve... of course we did not have the aforementioned reservations, but early the next morning some sites were to be released... so we decided to drive into Moab (a few miles up the road) and get a hotel room, some good grub, and a hot shower before returning the next morning to snag a campsite.

We stayed at the Gonzo Inn... a super cool place right off of Main Street that more than exceeded our expectations (not to mention the nod to Hunter S. Thompson). We were able to catch a quick swim & shower & then head into town for probably THE BEST mexican food we've ever had (authentic Baja cuisine...delicious albeit probably more so because we had been camping out up until this point.)

The next morning we arrived at Arches early & secured a campsite for the next 2 nights. We decided to head out on our first hike before it got too hot.

We started out with the intentions of doing a small hike, but it quickly morphed into a much longer one... we started at the Devils Garden Trailhead & decided to take the Primitive Trail which loops around... probably only about 7 miles or so, but with all the side trips to see the various arches, it turned out to be much more, plus did I mention it was about 105 degrees that day? Yeah, we should have named this post "Adventures in Heat Exhaustion".

Landscape Arch
In 1991 a tourist caught some video tape of a huge chunk of this one falling off... you can kind of see a chunk missing from the far right side... it's the arch that all the rangers say to go see b/c who knows how long it will be here. It's the longest arch stretching more than the length of a football field.

Ross feeling quite powerful...

Fun Fact: the Moab area used to be a series of inland seas that would fill & retreat over time, archaeologists have found the fossils of crustaceans that made these seas their home... when the water receded for good, layers & layers of sediment were left. The arches were formed when these layers were under great pressure & compressed and then eroded by water, wind and gravity. In this picture you can see the erosion of the sediment into what's called "fins", with further erosion the fins get blowouts that eventually become arches.

Shhh... I think it's definitely frowned upon to climb named arches...

Yet another fun fact: this is biological soil crust (or cryptobiotic)... it's dirt that is actually alive! It's made up of cyanobacteria, mosses, soil lichens, green algae, microfungi and bacteria. It can retain moisture & provide nitrogen to itself & nearby vegetation... that's why you see so many plants & shrubs in an environment that can't otherwise sustain them! Neat! They are super serious about staying off of it & only on marked trails b/c it can be destroyed easily & doesn't recover very well.

Are you ready for another game of "Find the Trail"... yup, it's there somewhere!

At the tail end of our hike, I started to become heat exhausted... I was well hydrated (my head didn't hurt & I wasn't nauseous), but I looked down & my chest was covered with tiny little red spots (heat rash) & Ross' jokes were becoming increasingly UNFUNNY! We finally got back to our camp site & there was no shade except for a small, low tree. We stretched out our Crazy Creek Chairs underneath it and tried to cool down. Then it was Ross' turn to freak out over the heat. We decided the best thing to do was to go down to the visitor's center & be in the AC, then we went into Moab again for dinner. We went to the Moab Brewery. We ordered & were sooo happy to be sooo close to food when the restaurant began to fill with smoke & they announced they were closing due to "electrical problems"... right... We eventually wound up at the Slick Rock Cafe. The owner there said that the hoods above the grills at the brewery probably caught fire b/c that's what happened to him recently, apparently they can't take the heat either.
But at least we had a nice drive back to camp!

It didn't really cool down all that much that night, but we woke the next day ready for another hike. This time we did the 3 mile hike out to Delicate Arch.

Delicate Arch is Utah's state symbol... It is perfectly perched overlooking a canyon. It is also called "Cowboy Chaps" and "Ladies Bloomers".
We also saw some petroglyphs on our way up to Delicate..

After our morning hike, we were beginning to feel the effects of the previous days activities again... we thought the best thing to do would be to drive to Canyonlands (the Suby's AC was calling us!) Canyonlands is a HUGE, mostly driveable park with 3 main areas separated by the Colorado & Green Rivers. We took a drive to the Island in the Sky district & saw some amazing overlooks... the views were a bit clouded by smoke due to a huge brushfire burning in Utah during the time of our visit.

We didn't spend too much time at Canyonlands due to our heat exhaustion & the smoke... while we were there though we realized that we failed to pack any lunch fixings & were forced to pull off into a picnic spot for a sad little lunch of roadside Mac & Cheese... yeah, it was time to head back to camp! Before we did, we grabbed some shots of some other famous sights at Arches...

Rollins with "Balanced Rock"
"The 3 Gossips"
Once back, I will admit, I finally wussed out... I had had enough heat & knew that it would not get any cooler that evening. Ross, being the AMAZING, PERFECT husband that he is, drove us into town & got us a motel room... 1 air conditioned room & 2 cold showers later we felt like new people... AND it turns out we are absolute GENIUSES because that evening a storm rolled in & there was thunder & lightening all night...The desk clerk at the motel said we were lucky b/c people have been struck by lightening at the campground we were staying at! So I prefer to think that my animal like skills are so honed that I knew to seek shelter, rather than having a complete & utter heat freak out.

The next morning we awoke to a light drizzle & my handsome hubby's birthday!!!!!!! Next we're heading through Colorado on our way to Taos, stopping at Mesa Verde Nat'l Park... I promise that post won't be as long!!!! Are you with me??!!