Day 25 - Canyonlands & Arches National Parks

Canyonlands & Arches

What a fun day today... though I think I'm ready to be done with the desert. The above picture was taken at Turret Arch at Arches National Park. Also, my pictures for today are all in my Moab Area album, but the hotel Wi-Fi is still having problems, so I'm not sure when they will upload (probably at breakfast in the morning).

Canyonlands National Park 

 This is Schafer's Trail. It was originally used by settlers to get cattle up and down the mesa. Some people choose to drive it... we are not some of those people.

Mesa Arch at Canyonlands. Notice the mountains visible through the arch.

Canyonlands was beautiful. If you look really closely you can see the Colorado River or the Green River (not sure which it was at this lookout). They come together in the park. Fun fact: Canyonlands is split into 3 sections by the convergence of the rivers and there is no way in the park that connects the 3 sections. You have to leave the park and drive around to a different entrance which is up to 2 hours away.

Arches National Park

These are windows, not arches... just in case anyone was interested. On another note, after our experience with Zion, I was very concerned Arches would be packed (especially since everyone we've talked to said it would be). But it wasn't. I'm not sure if the timed entry system helped or what, but it was not crowded today. 

Double Arch... if you look really closely you can see both arches.

Turret Arch... cool shot with the sun shining through in three first picture. And in the other shot, if you look really closely you can see the kids.

Fiery Furnace... sometimes they do love each other <3

Random Pictures Around Moab

We always mess with Isaiah that he likes the "beat a dead horse". So I needed his pic in front of this sign. We ultimately decided not to go in the park, both due to the cost and due to the fact that we were really just tired of desert hiking. Also, we wanted to get to Arches today. Maybe next time, since I've heard this is an amazing State Park.

We barely made it to a decent spot to watch the sunset. I would have loved to watch from one of the national parks, but we needed to get back to the hotel and this was closer. As I've mentioned with a few of our other desert locations, it's a beautfiul area. But, if we ever come back it will not be in the summer. I'm ready for some cooler weather so we can really hike!

So far, we have driven 6,000 miles on this trip. We have been to 13 National Parks, 4 additional historic sites, 1 presidential library and been through 13 states.