Arches and Canyonlands

Tuesday we arrived in Moab. Wednesday was a little cool with rain threatening. So, we decided to do laundry, do a little cooking, and look around town. Late in the afternoon, it hailed and then poured. The next morning when we awoke, it had snowed just a little.

We headed up to Arches National Park. While in the park we first signed up for the Fiery Furnace hike on Saturday. Then we proceeded to tour the park and do several hikes. We hiked around balanced rock, did the windows and double arch trails, and then the trial to delicate arch. This is a pretty neat trail. It climbs about 500 feet over 1 1/2 miles. You can't see the arch until you're very close to it. See the picture here on the blog.

Friday we headed to Canyonlands National Park - the Island in the Sky district. We did a rim walk, the hike to upheaval dome, and a short hike to Mesa Arch. The same day we headed over to Deadhorse Point State Park. This park had some beautiful views of the river. The name comes from a story that some wranglers drove a herd of wild horses to the point. They then selected some horses and left the others behind a baricade to die of thirst.

Today, Saturday, we headed again into Arches NP. At 10:00 this morning we did a ranger (volunteer) led 3 hour hike into an area called Fiery Furnace. It was a really fun hike climbing through arches, through slot canyons, and up and over lots of slickrock. Next we drove to the end of the road at Devils Garden and did the hike to Landscape Arch.

For dinner we decided to try the Sunset Grill up on the hill above Moab. The meal was excellent, but the service left a lot to be desired. The restaurant used to be the home of Charlie Steen, a geologist who first discovered a huge pocket of uranium back in the 50's.