It was a brutal drive. Jonathan and I had both already been to Salt Lake City and neither one of us really liked it there so we decided to go for it and make it to Arches National Park in one day. With construction it ended up being a 9.5 hour drive but we made it to the campground and got to sleep. We had booked a fancy campground with full hookups, a pool, hot tub and laundry. We needed a boondocking break.
Recharging in Camp
We finally got to use a piece of the camper we had not yet gotten to try out. The AC! We either did not have electricity when it was warm enough or when we did we did not need it. Well here in Moab we definitely needed it and it worked like a charm! The only down side is that it is very loud so sleeping is your best option because talking is a bit rough but sleeping was exactly what we were doing.
We had timed tickets to get into Arches for 3pm so we got to sleep late and get some chores done. I did a deep cleaning of the camper and we did laundry and other sundry maintenance items. Sunny (the name of our camper) has stood up incredibly well but we needed to give her some touchups here and there. Around 2pm we headed out to check out the town of Moab and then head to Arches National Park to see what there was to see. Moab is a small tourist town so we did not spend too much time there.
Arches National Park
The red rock hills we saw driving in the night before gave us a taste for what we would get to see at Arches and we were both looking forward to it.
Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park
After entering the park there is a 36 miles road that winds up and around Canyonlands National Park with places to stop off and hike or just view the valley and formations. It was definitely impressive. Despite the heat (and yes, a bit of whining on my part) we did hiking on several of the trails. The landscape looks like you are on an alien planet. It is very dry but 96 degrees is still just too damn hot. Once the sun started to set it did get cooler. The weird part is the hottest part of the day is actually about 6pm.
We enjoyed the Arches but reached a red rock saturation point by the end of it and got back to the camper in time to make dinner and watch the debate. Oh yes, did I mention there is great Wifi service here? We actually watched a TV show!
Morning Time is Best for Canyonlands
Having learned from our Arches run, we decided to get up at 6:30am to go to Canyonlands National Park the next day to beat the heat. We arrived at Canyonlands before the crowds and we got to our first hike into an overlook and WOW! Thank you Hanna for telling us to go here. We were blown away! This park was far better than Arches in my opinion. The views were breathtaking! The canyons were multi-level drops of thousands of feet with ridges of different colors. We spent about 5 hours hiking and driving around both Canyonlands and nearby Dead Horse Point State Park.
Next Stop: Colorado!
We are heading up to CO tomorrow to a place (again recommended by my fabulous niece Hanna) called Glenwood Springs where there is hiking and hot springs! We are planning on spending a night at a HH in the area and then moving onto Rocky Mountain National Park for a couple of nights. The campsites are booked up but we got lucky and found a HH about 20 minutes away. I am looking forward to the cooler weather the next few days but Utah has been great and will miss the red hills. Back into the mountains we go!
