Arches National Park

Saturday - 15 June 2002: Moab, Utah - We had the most fabulous day! More amazing sights. Today, while hiking, we were trying to decide which amazing sight was the most amazing... hard to decide. I still think Joshua Tree and the huge boulders were fabulous... DT thinks Arches are the most visually-striking. Luckily, I print this journal when I get home (and edit it too) so I can always remember the amazing sights of the day.

Today we went hiking. Hiking in Arches National Park. Hiking in 100 degree heat with not a hint of shade. We were again covered in sun screen and wore hats and carried vats of water. We are again over-heated and covered in red dirt. It was wonderful.

We entered the park just before 9 am, and were at the trailhead to Delicate Arch by 9:45 - stopping several times along the way. It is only a 3 mile hike to Delicate Arch, so you might think it is a "walk", except for the STRAIGHT UPHILL part. The trial is over sandstone. Nothing else. Cairns mark you way. The trail goes along rock drop-offs - naturally-formed shelves in the sandstone. You have to watch your step, but I don't think it is really dangerous... unless your hiking partner is angry with you. (He wasn't.)

The Happy Couple at Delicate Arch

Yeah, we are hot and stinky, but we are happy! (Lisa just HATES my hiking hat and will not be seen in public with me when I don the lovely chapeau - good thing she is not with us!) The above photo was taken by a very nice man who had just finished his PhD at The Indiana University in Pennsylvania (?) and wrote his dissertation on Edward Abbey. (Abbey wrote Desert Solitaire after living in a trailer here as a park ranger.) This trip was a reward for his graduation. We met many nice people up at the top of our first hike - and saw many young families carrying babies in back packs! Lucky kids. Of course, most of them were sacked-out and will have no memory of their parents sacrifice. It was so hot it was nearly unhealthy to hike.

 
The trail goes right along the top of this rock (left)
Ute petroglyhs near trail show people on horses, big horn sheep and dogs (right)


The Wolfe Ranch

The Wolfe Ranch is at Salt Wash, which had a little water - and a few fish - flowing through the homestead today. Wesley Wolfe and his son, Fred, built the cabin and root cellar. They raised crops and cattle in 1885. It was 30 miles to the nearest supply point at Thompson, Utah. His family joined later and they stayed here until 1908 - when they moved to Moab. You cannot go inside the house, but just sticking our heads in the opening - we could feel how cool it was in the log and adobe hut!

After our first hike, we drove to the Devil's Garden trailhead and put ourselves through more punishment. This trail branches-off in several directions and gives you spectacular views of more arches.

Local resident - leopard lizard


Landscape Arch


Your correspondent at Pine Tree Arch

We loved Delicate Arch, but thought Pine Tree Arch was the prettiest - with the pine tree growing at the bottom... but what do we know? You can't find a postcard of Pine Tree Arch. On this trail we hiked with a group of Korean students (5 boys and 3 girls) attending UC Riverside. They were huffing and puffing and dragging, so I told them in Korean to hurry-up. They were so shocked to hear those words come out of my mouth that they became our new best friends. They rented a van and are touring the West - including Yellowstone, where it was snowing a few days ago. They wanted photos taken with us - imagine that! Nice kids, and it’s always good to meet nice kids.

Okay - enough hiking in the blistering sun! FOOD! We had a picnic lunch out of the back of the BC2. It wasn't so much lunch as it was fuel. Later, we stopped at several more vista points and hiked (no, walked closer for the view) to snap a few more photos and then came back to Goldie to rest and watch the US Open.

 
Balanced Rock and The Garden of Eden

I am going to post this early today - and who knows what we will do tonight. I think the brew pub across the street may be involved - and I put those pintos in the crock-pot this morning with chopped onion, garlic, two jalapenos and covered it with chicken stock. It is smelling mighty good about now!

This is what you do when you don't go to Denver.

Added later: The beans were VERY good! But, I could not trust the "the beans do not need to be soaked" instructions on the bag and soaked them overnight anyway. They were right - so my beans had too much liquid, but were still nice and firm. No worries - after our dinner, I added the spiced ground turkey leftover from the tacos last night to the beans, and now have a nice soup. I will freeze the soup for next Friday night!

RV Park: Canyonlands Campground