We had the great fortune over President's Day weekend to go camping in Arches National Park. The trip was made possible by Isaac and Melanie, who generously loaned us their tent trailer (Mel said somebody should be using it--they've got a lot of babies right now). We drove down Sunday after church. The Devil's Garden Campground is first come-first served until March 1, when it switches to online reservations, so we just showed up and hoped for the best. We were greeted at the pay station by a "Campground Full" sign which turned out to be an error. There were lots of spots. We chose one right next to the water and bathroom, for convenience.
I drove the truck back into Moab to fill it up with gas while Drew got the tent trailer set up and made us some hot dogs for dinner. Then we tucked in for the night. With the double layers of sleeping bags and cutest woodland linens, no one was cold, even with the heater off.
In the morning we got up and had breakfast. I had packed the cooler, but had not double checked Drew's list (he menu planned and shopped while the girls and I were at the ballet for Grandma Paula's birthday), so we had no eggs. But we had delicious pancakes and orange juice and tasty hash browns that I think Drew might have salted to oblivion if I hadn't snapped him out of it. He was in the seasoning zone. After breakfast we bundled up...
And headed to the Devil's Garden Trailhead.
Ready to hike!
We decided to "collect" as many arches as possible by taking pictures with them. And by "we decided," I mean "I decided" and everyone kindly went along with it. This was the first one we spied. I don't know what it's called.
But Pine Tree Arch was the first labeled on the map.
Someone took our picture for us.
Next up was Tunnel Arch.
Collected!
Then we walked...
...to Landscape Arch. We just don't know how long it's going to be there!
Annie got a sneak peek of Partition Arch that we would visit later.
From there we took the Primitive Trail.
There was a convenient handrail along one passage, oiled smooth by thousands of hands. There were other people in the park, but there was space between them. We'd usually arrive at an arch when another group was leaving, have a good moment to ourselves with the arch, then another group would arrive when we were about ready to go.
The kids found a shelter they were excited about living in. It's at the turnoff to the side trails, so they had a chance to "come home" a few times throughout the hike.
We saw the aptly named Black Arch from afar.
Here's my handsome Drew in front of it.
...before getting up close to Double O arch.
The kids were great hikers. Even Merrick walked on his own two feet the whole way. There's something so fun about hikes over sandstone. It fires the imagination more than just plodding along a dirt trail. Snap! The job's a game.
We came to the end of the fins and had to recreate a picture...
They're so cool!
And slick. All the sandstone was torn up from people's winter spikes. It did make it easier to follow trails at times.
We decided to walk out to Dark Angel.
It was a good turnaround point.
The clouds around it were super cool.
Bu this is my favorite angle of the angel.
It reminds me powerfully of this painting by Arnold Böcklin
The kids spent the entire trail back to Double O arguing about the true mythology of the Dark Angel, which they were making up on the spot. They were so consumed with the debate they didn't notice when they took a wrong turn and started wandering off towards the labyrinthine Fin Canyon. Luckily we heard Annie's little voice afar off and were able to call them back.
I saw a crack I wanted to try to climb before I remembered that I am heavy and weak.
It was fun to walk along the fins. It gave us a warning view of the storm brewing over the La Sals.
We decided to go see Navajo and Partition Arches before calling it a hike. Some of our party were not happy about the side quest.
Their feelings were mirrored by these concerned sandstone faces.
But I think it was my second favorite arch.
Annie was losing it until I placed Merrick on her shoulders, then she switched into comforter mode, clutching his knees--"I got you Merrick!" I think it's good to have a little scare every now and then. You feel very proud of yourself when you come through it.
We passed by a group on our way out and they asked with a hint of amusement, "Did you get the shot?" We got a shot.
This was the one I was hoping for. There's always next time!
From Navajo Arch we went to Partition Arch. I never got a great shot of this one, but it has the big circle, then on the right there's a partition, and the next shadow to the right is a continuation of the circle.
We tried to take another picture together, but Merrick was not having it.
Not at all.
We had seen Partition Arch from below while viewing Landscape Arch, so I had a sneaking suspicion that if we walked down the fin a little bit more...
...we'd be able to see Landscape Arch from the back! Rafe came with me.
Then it was back down the Primitive Trail.
Merrick had run out of good humor. Understandably. This was a 10 mile hike, and he is only 4 years old.
He still has this terrible condition with his legs where they stop working suddenly. This nurse is stumped. I think it might be incurable.
We let the kids ride in the back of the truck around the loop back to the campground. They earned it!
We had a quick lunch back in the tent trailer out of the wind, then we decided to squeeze in one more hike before sunset. There were more arches to collect!
Such fascinating shapes.
But we were happy to risk a little rain for this famous view!
Collected.
At this point the wind had picked up and the rain wasn't messing around, so Drew started back with the kids while I spent just a few more moments with this amazing sculpture.
How often do you get to be the only person in sight at Delicate Arch??
I ran (carefully) back down the trail to catch up to the hikers.
I was not the only thing running down the mountain.
Since we were trying to be fast, Merrick got to ride back to the car.
There was a green hill far away without the parking lot. No, Sabrina, don't do that.
Lots of soaking kids in the parking lot! We made them strip down to their dry layers for the ride back to the ten trailer.
We didn't want to risk anyone getting too cold when we knew we were in for a cold night!
One of the kids knocked over our bucket of markers on their way out. It's so fun to pick up markers off the ground in the rain!
For dinner that night Drew grilled us some Korean kebabs on our little portable grill inside the trailer, so everything we had set out to dry smelled delicious! We set off the fire alarms a couple times. BEEP BEEP BEEP "Fire." BEEP BEEP BEEP "Fire."
We tucked the kids all together for bed that night and turned the heater on. We were warm, but the wind was intense and would whip the sides of the trailer every now and again, sending a spray of cold water droplets across whatever part of you was sticking out of the sleeping bag.
Drew woke up very early to drive into Moab and find a cafe where he could work for a few hours. We woke up much later and got ready for the day...
...walked down to the campground entrance to study the map...
..."waited" for everyone to go potty, but actually just ran wild around the campground...
...then struck out on another adventure.
There is a fun hike just south of the campground to a couple more arches. I think it was a little less than four miles all told. We went clockwise, which turned out to be the right direction because then all of the arches were suddenly revealed around corners. Oooooo!
We saw Tapestry Arch...
...where there were lots of sandstone walls to climb up...
...and down.
Then there was Broken Arch. The kids are being broken pieces on the rubble pile.
Merrick was a great hiker this day too. Just look at his mooscles.
One more view of Broken Arch, for coolness.
From Broken Arch we crossed a long flat place to some more fins. The field was covered in tumbleweeds.
And cute little bugs.
My phone got too cold on the way in to Sand Dune Arch and kept spontaneously shutting down, so I don't have nearly as many pictures of this one as I'd like to. I think it was my favorite.
It felt like maybe there were jawas watching us just out of sight.
On the way back we picked out a careful way to our final arch of the trip--Skyline Arch! It was windy up there. Rafe was very brave and stood up for the picture. They kept asking me to choose on the way back to camp who had been the most brave on their hike, or on the trip, or in the last 5 minutes. I did not choose a winner. Because everybody won on this trip!
When we got back to camp Drew had returned and already put everything away, so we hopped in the car and got home just in time for my call shift that night. It was the perfect getaway!
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