May 21, 2012, 9:28 pm  Landscape Arch For our first day in Moab my son-in-law suggested a hike in the Devil’s Garden area of Arches National Park that would take us by several arches. Landscape Arch, pictured above, was the largest. In fact, it is probably the longest natural occurring sandstone arch in the world. Kolob Arch in Zion is in the running, but I think Landscape Arch has been determined to be the longest. Kolob Arch is certainly a lot harder to get to (we hiked to Kolob Arch back in 2009).
Landscape Arch is nearing collapse. Over the last 20 years, significant rock-falls have narrowed the thickness to only 11 ft at its thinnest. Kolob Arch appears that it will last much longer.
After Landscape Arch, the trail became more interesting, traversing slick-rock and sandstone fins. After checking out Partition Arch, Navajo Arch, and Double-O Arch, two of the kids started complaining about how much their feet hurt. Wow! Each of them had quarter-sized blisters rubbed raw. We thought they had good shoes for hiking. We slapped on some tape, and shoulder-carried the 4 year-old, but the hike back was not so enjoyable (compounded by the mid-90 degree temperature). The kids seemed to feel much better after getting back and swimming in the pool.
Links
—Arches National Park 2012 photo gallery
May 20, 2012, 10:14 pm  Beautiful cliffs along the Burr Trail The B&B in Escalante was very nice, as was breakfast. We just wished it would have been bigger. Not that it was meager, just that we were hungry and wanted to be fully stoked for bike riding.
About 30 miles from Escalante, the Burr Trail heads east from Boulder. It’s paved for 18 miles, and is a scenic bike ride. Because we needed to be in Moab by 4 pm, we drove out to Deer Creek and rode east from there. We also avoided some short, but steep, climbs this way.
As we headed to Moab to meet our daughter and family, we discovered we were about 15 minutes behind them on the freeway. Because we had rented a house for our stay in Moab, we needed to shop for groceries before we could fix dinner. Here’s a hint—late afternoon on a weekend is not a good time for shopping in Moab. In a crowded, unfamiliar store it seemed like it took us forever to find the things we wanted.
Anyway, now we are looking forward to lots of fun exploring with the kids and grandkids.
(All these photos were taken with my iPhone. It’s just too hard to carry my Canon dSLR while bike riding.)
Links
—Biking the Burr Trail 2012 photo gallery
May 19, 2012, 9:07 pm After our hike in Bryce yesterday, we drove to Escalante for the night. Escalante seems like it is in the middle of nowhere. The little town feels like it is fading away, and probably would if not for folks like us. There are few accommodations and they are pretty basic. For the uninitiated, a visit to the town might seem like a small, poverty-stricken settlement in the middle of barren desert. In fact, those were our thoughts the first time we passed through the area. Luckily, we learned the Grand Staircase National Monument is a treasure just waiting to be explored.
 Kodachrome Basin State Park sedimentary pipes I had in mind exploring the narrows of Cottonwood Canyon, but a stop at the visitor center to check on conditions put that on hold. The road was closed for repair. However, we could go as far as Kodachrome Basin State Park and then on to Grosvenor Arch.
We did a six mile loop hike in the state park, passing by many of the unique sedimentary pipes. It was an enjoyable hike, but one visit will be enough for me.
 Grosvenor Arch Driving on south from the park we made a brief stop for photos at Grosvenor Arch, a unique double arch high up on a cliff wall.
Tonight we’re staying in a nice B&B instead of a cheaper motel. I think accommodations were tough to find because Bryce was promoting a big event to view the annular eclipse tomorrow.
Links
—Kodachrome Basin 2012 photo gallery
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Consider this:“I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another.” 2 John 1:5 |
