Canyons and Archlands

We awoke early in the morning to drive to nearby Arches National Park.  Our hope was to get there soon after they opened in order to beat the crowds and the summer heat.  Arches National Park is best known for...arches--over 2,000 of these sandstone formations.  We didn't plan on seeing most of the arches, just the main highlights.

After entering the park, we first drove to the start of the hike to the Delicate Arch, Utah's quintessential natural formation that adorns its license plates.  Having learned my lesson from the previous day, we all carried hydration packs full of water.

At the start of the trail is the Wolfe Ranch, a primitive and remote
settlement that dates back to the turn of the 19th and 20th century.

Despite our attempts at an early start, the sun and heat were already out in force once we got started.  To say that the hike was grueling is an understatement.

The trail led up a barren rock face for about 1.5 miles, gaining 500 feet in elevation.

Our legs ached from the rocky incline, and our faces were singed by the penetrating rays of the sun.

Highwaymen were another peril on
the journey to the Delicate Arch.

After standing next to the Delicate Arch, we
gained an appreciation of it's immense size.

The lack of other interesting geological features nearby further accentuates the spectacle of the Delicate Arch.

On the way back from the Delicate Arch, we viewed more petroglyphs,
evidence of habitation in the past by indigenous people of this region.

We were all pretty hot and cranky from the hike to the Delicate Arch, but we still had plenty of arches to see.  We drove to the next area to hike The Devil's Garden Trail where eight impressive arches can be seen.  The path is broken up into the easy "main trail" followed by a more rigorous "primitive loop trail" where hikers would lead up a rocky path with a 500 foot elevation change.  The entire journey for both trails is 5 miles.  While the arches in general were impressive to see, none of us were interested enough in them to do the full Devil's Garden Trail in the sunny 95 degree heat.  We decided to wuss out and just hike the main trail.

With a length of 100 yards, a game of football can be played atop the Delicate Arch.

The Skyline Arch formed when a large boulder broke off and fell from inside the rock formation.

By noon, we had our fill of arches and hot sun.  On the long drive back to exit Arches National Park, we stopped by the many interesting rock formations that were officially named (likely by some chemically-impaired people.)

"Balanced Rock"

"The Three Gossips"

"Sheep Rock"

"The Organ"  What?!?

We left the park and drove the short distance back to Moab.  We had a late lunch at a relaxing, vegan-friendly restaurant called Eklecticafe Coffee and Collectibles.  We all ordered meat dishes.  We were initially a bit wary because the dining area was mainly outside on their patio.  However, the copious amounts of shade made the air quite comfortable.

On the outskirts of Moab, The Wife purchased a basket of really sweet local peaches.

BLT and avocado wrap

Hamburger

Salmon burger

Indonesian satay

We spent much of the afternoon shopping at the many boutique stores in downtown Moab.  There are an eclectic variety of shops selling products ranging from high-end artwork to outdoor adventure gear to the touristy graphic T-shirts.  We went low-brow and bought several shirts.  Since we had a full-sized kitchen in our townhouse, we decided to cook dinner at home.

We stopped by this butcher shop to purchase some meat for our meal.  Their jerky was indeed very good.

*****

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

We had another early morning wake up so that we could get to Canyonlands National Park which would be a farther distance's drive than Arches.  Canyonlands is actually a huge park that is divided into 4 separate regions--Islands in the Sky, the Needles, the Maze, and the Green and Colorado River.  As such, there are three official entrances to get into the park.  Tucked away in the southwest corner of the park is the Maze which is the least accessible portion of the park.  Because of its proximity to Moab, the Islands in the Sky region receives 75% of the visitors to the park.  We would be adding to that percentage that day.

It took about an hour to get to the entrance to Canyonlands.  We were stuck behind slow trucks on a lengthy two-lane highway.  Since the temperature was going to be in the upper 90's for much of the day, we decided to just do a simple hike.  We drove all the way to the southern tip of this portion of the park and hiked the Grandview Point Trail, a distance of 2 miles round-trip.  It was a pretty easy hike with relatively no elevation changes.

From our vantage point, we could see magnificent views of the canyons and plateaus below.

Despite the high cliffs, there were no guardrails 
that would detract from the natural scenery.

There was no set path for the trail.  Instead, cairns marked
the general direction where visitors should travel.

Colorful sandstone mesas dotted the horizon for miles.

Despite their best efforts, The Kids could not destroy this thousands of year-old rock formation.

The Boy enjoys the spectacular views.

At the end of the Grandview Point Trail, we could see the the Needles area to the south, the Maze area to the southwest, and the River area below us.

After making our way back to our car, we drove to a site called the "Upheaval Dome."  This large 2 mile crater is filled in the center with a shale and sandstone rock dome.  One theory is that the site was formed from a salt dome that developed millions of years ago when the area used to be an ocean.    

The most likely theory is that the crater was formed by an extraterrestrial object such as a meteorite or crashed UFO

Our last stop at Canyonlands was the Mesa Arch.  Despite seeing my share of arches the day before, I still thought it was a worthwhile stop, especially since the structure was only a couple of minutes walk from the road.

Our last stop at Canyonlands was the Mesa Arch.

Despite seeing her share of arches the day before, The Girl still thought that this place
was worth visiting, especially since it was only a few minutes' walk from the road.

At the Mesa Arch, there are more views of the miles of rocky canyons below.

After leaving Canyonlands National Park, we decided to make a stop next door at Dead Horse State Park.  This area is best known for two things--an awesome name and the iconic spot where the protagonists drove off a cliff in the movie Thelma and Louise.  

I had considered driving off this cliff, but I was only driving a SUV, not a convertible.

After driving back to Moab, we stopped at the Quesadilla Mobilla food truck.  The wait was long, there were no open seats to sit down, and there wasn't much shade from the hot sun.  Nevertheless, it was all worth the trouble as the quesadillas were all awesome.

The Southern Belle, New Mexico Identity Crisis, and Sweet and Spicy quesadilla's.

Overall, we enjoyed our time in Moab and the surrounding area.  Compared to Zion and Bryce, Arches and Canyonlands were nowhere as spectacular.  However, at least they weren't as bad as Capitol Reef.

The Fake Barrier Reef of Utah

The Wife and I awoke early to catch the sunrise over Bryce Canyon.  Despite it being July, it was very cold outside because of our elevation.  Unfortunately, just like what we had experienced at the Grand Canyon, the clouds were out in force preventing us from seeing a beautiful sunrise.

The early morning sun did highlight the various hues of the rock formations in Bryce Canyon.

After checking out from the Bryce Canyon Lodge, we drove back to the entrance of the national park.  Our last stop was the Fairyland Canyon overlook.

Fairyland Canyon is so named because the hoodoos resemble tower spires ala Cinderella's castle.

When we were planning our trip, The Wife and I had planned to take an entire day to leisurely drive eastwards to Moab.  When we finally did arrived in Utah, we were quite embarrassed to find out that we had completely overlooked an entire national park near our route.  Never having heard of Capitol Reef National Park, we decided to make a half-day detour.  

Our journey first took us through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.  This controversial area became a protected region in 1996 (It has since been shrunk by half in late 2017).  This remote and rugged region contains canyons, cliffs, and plateaus of the "Grand Staircase."  In this geological formation, different stratifications of sedimentary rock with exposed cliff faces form a set of "stairs" that extend from Bryce Canyon all the way down to the Grand Canyon.  

This vast cliff wall represents one of the "steps" of the Grand Staircase.

As we drove through the area, we could see why this area was one of the last places in the United States to be fully explored and settled.  The terrain was rocky, harsh, and desolate.  As late as the 1930's some of the remote towns in the region still received their mail using mule trains.  

In 1940, Highway 12--"The Million Dollar Highway" was finished linking several of the rural
  towns in the region.  The project took tons of dynamite and five years of back-breaking work.

As evinced by this green valley, not all of the area was inhospitable.

After driving for much of the morning, we approached Capitol Reef National Park.  This region is part of the Waterpocket Fold, an 87 mile monocline that was formed 65 million years ago when two continental plates collided.  The pressure caused the end of one plate to be lifted higher up than the surrounding land.  Over the next several million years, erosion created canyons, cliffs, and domes in the exposed softer rock layers of the earth's crust.  This erosion also created basins that would form waterpockets allowing vegetation and sustainability of life.  Capitol Reef is an oasis among the harsh, desert-like conditions in the surrounding areas.  Small groups of indigenous people and Mormon settlers were able to colonize the area--the latter even planted successful orchards which led the settlement to be named Fruita.

As dry as this geological explanation is, it is still the most interesting thing about Capitol Reef National Park.  When a place is given the name "reef," there is an expectation that there will be some colorful fish and coral.  Nope.  The name is false advertising.  No angel fish, no butterfly fish, no Nemos.  The only things worth seeing at Capitol Reef were a couple of interesting-looking rocks.

Near the entrance to Capitol Reef National Park is the rock
formation known as the "Castle."  It wasn't the fairyland variety.

Several petroglyphs drawn by ancient Hopi and Zuni Indians can also be found in the Capitol Reef area.

The Capitol Dome formation is the park's namesake.  It can be
seen without leaving the comforts of an air-conditioned car.

One of the other must-see formations is Hickman Bridge which is not visible from the road.  From the parking lot, the round-trip hike is only a little less than 2 miles.  Therefore, I decided to leave the hydration packs behind and take a bottle of water.  The Wife insisted that we bring a second one just in case.  It was definitely the right decision.

I didn't account for the fact that we were beginning our hike at noon and that there would be absolutely no shade on the trail.  We were roasted by the midday sun the whole time.  We went through the first bottle of water in no time and was almost done with the second by the time we reached the arch.

The Hickman Bridge was impressive, but we questioned whether it was worth the hike.

The bridge did provide us with
the only shade from the sun.

By the time we made it back to the parking lot, The Boy was feeling pretty woozy and was dehydrated.  Therefore, we decided to recuperate by stopping at the Gifford's Homestead, a single-family Mormon settlement dating back to the 1880's.

There is a museum with relics from the past and a small general store where we purchased some baked goods.

The settlement still has an old barn and obsolete farming equipment.

Fruit orchards still thrive at the Gifford's Settlement.

But the big reason people stop by are for the fruit pies baked with the farm's produce.

After the brief but relaxing respite, we left Capitol Reef National Park, unimpressed by our time there.  We drove for two hours east through desolate landscapes until we reached Moab.  Unlike the rest of Utah, Moab has less of a conservative Mormon presence.  The throngs of tourists like us that visit the city probably contribute to this different atmosphere.

We had booked a rental property on the outskirts of the city for the next several days.  After having spent the last couple of days in cramped national park service cabins, we were ecstatic to be able to spread out in the spacious townhouse.

Living room

Full-sized kitchen

Master bedroom

Guest bedroom

We drove back into town for dinner, stopping off at a quaint Mexican restaurant called El Charro Loco that received good Yelp reviews.  Apparently, others had seen the favorable ratings, so we had to wait awhile for a table to open up in the small restaurant.  It was worth it as the food was tasty and the presentation was better than expected from such as small, unpretentious restaurant.

Chile relleno

Quesadilla rellena con pollo

Horchata

Pina loca (so much food that The Girl and I couldn't finish it)