Arches National Park

Sunday June 11, 2006

Last night we spent a lot of time doing research on cabins and such up in Wyoming. We’re hoping that cabins might be a bit cheaper than hotels in the Grand Teton area, but still give us a bit more stability than camping. We got up a little later than we hoped (still exhausted) but got into Arches and to the Devil’s Garden trailhead around 8:15 am. The first part of the Devil’s Garden loop goes by a lot of the more popular arches in the park, such as Landscape Arch and Double O Arch. But after these first couple of miles it turns into a “primitive” trail and the solitude is great. The trail was wonderful, going in and around the large fins of red sandstone that gives the Garden its name. We also saw a few more of the 2,200 or so named arches in Arches, and surprised a mule deer that was munching away in a wash. The hike was about 7.5 miles total, so we finished right before noon. Another hike I’ve wanted to do is Tower Arch, which is only accessible by a 9 mile drive down a dirt road. The first half of the road was fine, and our VUE was doing well. But then the road got incredibly bumpy. We slowed down to about 5 MPH and it still felt like all the wheels were going to come off. Considering we need the car to get us another 5,000 miles or so, we turned around. (Also, about the car name: Dad, your suggestion of Yogi sounded good at first, but it just doesn’t take for some reason. But thanks for the suggestion.)

After the failed attempt at Tower Arch we hiked around a few other arches in the Windows area, then headed back to Moab around 2:00 pm for some shopping and an ice cream cone at Kaleido-scoops. We got back to the hotel and decided to call some places in Grand Teton about lodging. Lucky for us our first choice, a rustic cabin in Grand Teton, was actually available for a few nights starting June 16. We booked it, though we’re not 100% sure if we have to share a bathroom or not. Soon thereafter Travis called our room to say him and Lisa have arrived in town. They came up to the hotel to use our shower, then we all went out to dinner at this GREAT Mexican restaurant dubiously called La Hacienda. I must say, I don’t eat Mexican food that much, but I’ve determined that the reason is that it is hard to find really good Mexican food. La Hacienda had REALLY GOOD food. And it offered breakfast all day, which always earns an extra star in my book. After dinner Travis and Lisa came back to the hotel to use the laundry, so we hung out for a while and planned to meet up tomorrow at Canyonlands. For us, though, we have tickets to the Fiery Furnace hike at 9:00 am at Arches, something we’ve been looking forward to doing for 3 years, ever since our first visit to Arches.

On one final note…after re-reading some of these blogs I realize that it sounds like I’m complaining a lot. I can imagine some people reading this saying, “this bozo quit his job to take the summer off, to travel around the country seeing some of the most beautiful places and wildlife this country has to offer, and he’s moaning about SCHLEPPING???” And you’d be absolutely right. I’ve been called a curmudgeon on more than one occasion, so my first reaction to almost anything is to highlight the annoyances, the pains, the glass-half-empty part of life. I’m trying to be better, to highlight what’s great about the trip and not so much the negatives. Hopefully it’ll come across more in future blogs.