So I believe I left you with Tara and I sleeping in some random dirt clearing about an hour from the Arches National Park entrance. When we woke up, we had a quick breakfast, which 90% of the time means we had oatmeal. Anyways, we got our stuff together and headed to the campground we were planning to stay at… obviously, it was full. We ended up down the road a bit at another campground which was a BLM (Bureau of Land Management… I didn’t know that either) area right along the Colorado River.
We got the Shasta squared away and made sure Murphy was tired and had water, then Tara and I headed into the park. Arches was actually a little… frustrating I guess would be the word. Mostly because, as you’ll see in the pictures, despite the signs saying “do not climb on arches” people were climbing all over the arches. I’ll admit, I probably over stepped the bounds at double arch, but I did feel bad about it after… and it’s not just the perseveration aspect that bums me out, it’s also the fact that no one wants 30 strangers in their picture of a beautiful natural setting. If I wanted strangers in my pictures I’d be a weirdo photographer with a tripod in Harvard Square.
Anyways, Arches was a pretty small park, and you can really see a lot in a day. We saw Double Arch, The Windows, Balance Rock, Penis Rock, and a number of other great views. One thing we didn’t do, but I think I would consider if we ever went back was Fiery Furnace – Permit required. No idea… just looks like a hike through the little valley which must get to unreasonable temperatures during the summer months.
After a few more view points, we headed back to check on Murphy. Usually we’re pretty certain he’s fine, but we just weren’t comfortable with the temperature and where the camper was with not a lot of shade, so… better safe than sorry.
Having returned to our campsite to find that Murph was fine, just well-rested, we figured it was still early enough in the day to take him on a hike with us. The Columbia River runs through a series of tall canyons so finding a trail to hike near where we were camped was easy. We picked “Negro Bill Canyon,” not for it’s politically incorrect name, but we heard that it was a good trail to bring dogs along with a creek running alongside the majority of the trail. The canyon itself is named after a man whose cattle used to graze through it.
After our hike, we spent some time walking around downtown Moab before heading back to our spot by the river for the night.
Again, Arches is a pretty small national park, and easy most everything by driving through so… it got one day. Tara and I decided that instead of heading into Arches again to do the (short) Delicate Arch hike, we’d head to Dead Horse State Park, a well known spot for mountain bikers. We didn’t really know much about it, well, at least I didn’t, but as Tara usually does, she filled me in on some facts while we drove. Dead Horse State Park, is named such because of Dead Horse Point. This point is along a canyon edge and juts out making it a narrow area. This area was used in the 1800’s by cowboys to corner wild horses. Unfortunately, some cowboys had wrangled a number of horses on the point and fenced them in (because it was so narrow), but the cowboys left the horses for too long, and when they returned, the horses had all died of dehydration… dehydration, while staring at the Colorado River… 2000ft below them.
Also, little known fact, which I learned from a few ladies at the point, this was also where Thelma and Louise met their end. One of the other points in the park is apparently where they locked hands and drove that car into the river. (I’ve never seen it… it’s just what the ladies said)
Walking along the canyon was really impressive. I believe this is referred to as “Utah’s Grand Canyon”. We ended up taking Murphy with us on the 4 mile-round trip hike… It was hot, but he made it. We stopped a number of times for him to lay down in the shade, drink water, and pee on everything he saw.
All in all, I’d have to say that this was a better alternative to the delicate arch hike. I’m sure delicate arch is incredible, but how many arches can you really see? (I know, poor us)
We are officially leaving Utah. Utah was way more impressive than I thought it would be. Oddly enough… I guess I really didn’t know much about it before we got here. Now we’re heading to Colorado. This should be interesting, since we’ve already noted that a number of roads in the Rocky Mountain NP are closed due to snow.
Fingers crossed.
withoutwhatifs 