Our “Bucket List” has National Parks on it. America has so many breathtaking National Parks spread across the country and each and everyone has its own beauty. In April, Doug and I made a week-long trek to Southeast Utah to see the parks. Many (many) years ago we had spent time in Bryce and Zion parks, but had never experienced Arches, Canyonlands and Capital Reef. All the reports from friends and family had been very positive so it was an easy decision to make a Spring trip to our neighboring state of Utah. After Doug and Matthew shared their stories and pictures from a late March canyoneering trip to Poison Springs (south of Hanksville) I couldn’t wait to get on the road and see this area for myself.
Matthew (our outdoor/hiking/mountain climbing/canyoneering son) gave us a hot tip to take the side trip off of Hwy 70 through Cisco to get to Moab and it was every bit worth the drive. The pillars of red rock and the sparse desert make for countless OMG moments. We highly recommend that if you’re coming from the east into Utah during the day that you take this road into Moab. You won’t regret it! As you get closer to town you’ll be following the Colorado River and you’ll see lots of camping sites.
Just outside of Moab is Arches National Park. I had seen pictures. I thought it would be pretty. We drove through the park in the late afternoon and I was absolutely blown away with the size of the park and the rock formations and absolute uniqueness of the arches. Ok, I will say it. We were giddy at all the photographic possibilities. We planned out what we wanted to see on the following day and made our way to camp.
Ladies: First off, I want to tell you that Utah National Parks have the cleanest bathrooms of any National Parks I’ve seen so far!!!
Everyone that visit Arches National park will have a different perspective on what’s important and what’s special to see. If you’re an active outdoorist, walking/hiking type folks, I’d recommend 2-3 days there. There are short and long hikes that are easy all the way to difficult. There are many pull offs to just view the mountains in the background with the rock formations in the foreground. Countless, and I mean countless, photographic moments. We went back 2 days at sunset at Windows to capture the way the rock changes color and the moon rises through the arch. We had to come back to capture the incredible uniqueness of Double Arches in the daytime. We made the .8 mile hike to Landscape Arch and learned that it had been formed in 1991. Can you imagine being there when the rock broke away???
North Window, South Window, Delicate Arch, Landscape, Turret, Double, Balanced Rock, and so much more, offer an unforgettable vacation for folks of all ages. Get this one on your “Bucket List”. It was my favorite of all the Parks we visited. Make it a part of a wonderful Utah adventure!
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