Arches and Canyonlands National Parks
28 October 2014 | Moab, Utah
Ellen
We do so much in a day that it feels like ages since I last wrote anything but in reality it's been less than a week. We met up with our friends Pat and Les in Moab, Utah. They drove down from BC in their new RV. Our first day was spent getting groceries, campsite, laundry and that sort of stuff. Our campsite was great, it was a BLM campsite which stands for Bureau of Land Management. They have campsites similar to our Forestry campsites in BC. Here they are very abundant which is great because they are both cheap and nicely kept. There is no electricity or running water but they do have toilets and garbage disposal. We spent 4 nights in Moab and stayed in a different campsite each night and each time we thought it was the best one.
Day 2 we got going late after a big breakfast. We went to Arches National Park and drove part of the route through the park stopping to do some of the easier hikes to the arches. By about 4pm we were tired and ready to call it a day. Not because we were tired of the awesome scenery but just the heat of the day and walking the different trails we were looking forward to 'happy hour'.
Day 3 we went back into the park a bit earlier as we planned to do a slightly longer hike. Pat and I did a few miles while Les and Ian carried on further. Then we went to see Delicate Arch but only from the upper viewpoint as it was a 3 mile hike through rough terrain. We called it a day by 3pm as it was getting harder to find a campsite because it was the weekend and very busy. Ended up in an open field but was beautiful because we were surrounded by the red cliffs.
Day 4 we drove up to Canyonland and were blown away by the beauty and size of the canyons. The park is situated on what is called Island in the sky because it is a big mesa which juts out into this humungous and deep canyon. You can drive right to the end and there are lots of hikes you can do from the very easy to the overnight longer trips. We did an easier hike which only took us a couple of hours to do and followed along the rim of the canyon. It was really beautiful but none of us were too comfortable getting close to the edge. That night we camped in Sand Flats just outside of town but up fairly high. It was a beautiful campsite but the wind started to blow and the sand was in the air. We were in the middle of dinner and within seconds dinner was full of grit.
Day 5 Ian and I drove south and went to the south end of Cayonland as well as to Newspaper Rock which is a rock with petroglyps on it. Pat and Les had to stay in town to have a small repair done to their RV so were delayed in leaving. We did meet up later on in Bluff where we are camped for the night at an RV park with great Wifi which is how I am able to post this blog and new photo gallery. Enjoy and stay tuned.