So...I went to Utah! It may not be everyone's dream vacation destination, but during our five day whirlwind road trip this state proved itself well worthy of a trip accross the country. A few months back, my friend (or big sister ;)) Jessica mentioned that she and her roomate were planning a trip to visit the "Mighty 5" National Parks in Utah. I invited myself along that same day, and it didn't take much convincing to get CJ on board as well. After a whirlwind month of buying plane tickets, brainstorming itineraries, and getting excited, and a few flight delays, we landed in Salt Lake City, UT at about midnight and went to go pick up our rental car.
Spoiler alert: one of the highlights of the entire trip occured at a National rental counter. CJ and my sleep deprived eyes lit up when the sales person told us we had the choice between a Chevy Impala, a Dodge Caravan and..... a Mustang convertible. A drive through the American Southwest in an Impala is a nice trip, but driving through the American Southwest in a Mustang with the top down is a roadtrip. Long story short, we drove off to our super swanky accomodations (a Super 8) in a pretty sweet ride.
We slept for about 4 hours, scarfed down an interesting motel breakfast, might have stashed some fruit and sticky buns in our backpacks for lunch, and hopped into the car for a two hour drive to our first destination - Arches National Park. As we left the mountains, the interstate and frost covered ground slowly changed to windy roads through the desert and scorching heat. Red rock formations appeared in the distance, and there wasn't much we could do but stare out the windows.
We arrived in Arches in early afternoon and, despite the fact that a large portion of the park was closed, decided on quite a few short hikes to embark on. The park is pretty large, and you have to drive from trailhead to trailhead, so there were also a lot of scenic overlook stops and panoramic pictures (from here on out referred to as 'panos') involved as well. Here are the highlights:
Delicate Arch: This is the arch you've probably seen a million pictures of, and it lived up to it's hype. It is about a two mile round trip hike to the arch, all on flat sandstone. It took us a little bit of time to realize that the small stacks of rocks everywhere serve as trail markers. The actual arch was pretty crowded, but the view of the rest of the park was breathtaking. We hung out for a while, took some pictures, and climbed some other rocks at the top. On the way down, we swung by some petroglyphs carved by Pueblo Indians. Tip for any future visitors: this park is hot in the summer so bring plenty of water! We were there during a 'cold' spell, but still almost emptied our Camelbacks.
Sandstone Arch: Another hike to another arch. Still pretty cool :) We ate lunch at the foot of this formation, and I broke the 'leave no trace' rule when my apple rolled out of my backpack and bounced down a steep rock into the desert. RIP little red. We drove and hiked to another arch as a well... is it bad that I don't remember the name?
Stargazing: We checked into our hotel in Moab (a really cute town) and grabbed dinner and a beer at a BBQ joint called The Blu Pig. Then drove back to Arches for some stargazing. We sat atop the Balanced Rock, and watched the sun set and the stars come out. Even though it was cloudy, the sky was awe-inspiring - it seemed endless. And there weren't any fellow tourists in sight. Plenty of bats though...
Then it was back to the hotel and time to get ready for Day 2!
Spoiler alert: one of the highlights of the entire trip occured at a National rental counter. CJ and my sleep deprived eyes lit up when the sales person told us we had the choice between a Chevy Impala, a Dodge Caravan and..... a Mustang convertible. A drive through the American Southwest in an Impala is a nice trip, but driving through the American Southwest in a Mustang with the top down is a roadtrip. Long story short, we drove off to our super swanky accomodations (a Super 8) in a pretty sweet ride.
We slept for about 4 hours, scarfed down an interesting motel breakfast, might have stashed some fruit and sticky buns in our backpacks for lunch, and hopped into the car for a two hour drive to our first destination - Arches National Park. As we left the mountains, the interstate and frost covered ground slowly changed to windy roads through the desert and scorching heat. Red rock formations appeared in the distance, and there wasn't much we could do but stare out the windows.
We arrived in Arches in early afternoon and, despite the fact that a large portion of the park was closed, decided on quite a few short hikes to embark on. The park is pretty large, and you have to drive from trailhead to trailhead, so there were also a lot of scenic overlook stops and panoramic pictures (from here on out referred to as 'panos') involved as well. Here are the highlights:
Delicate Arch: This is the arch you've probably seen a million pictures of, and it lived up to it's hype. It is about a two mile round trip hike to the arch, all on flat sandstone. It took us a little bit of time to realize that the small stacks of rocks everywhere serve as trail markers. The actual arch was pretty crowded, but the view of the rest of the park was breathtaking. We hung out for a while, took some pictures, and climbed some other rocks at the top. On the way down, we swung by some petroglyphs carved by Pueblo Indians. Tip for any future visitors: this park is hot in the summer so bring plenty of water! We were there during a 'cold' spell, but still almost emptied our Camelbacks.
Sandstone Arch: Another hike to another arch. Still pretty cool :) We ate lunch at the foot of this formation, and I broke the 'leave no trace' rule when my apple rolled out of my backpack and bounced down a steep rock into the desert. RIP little red. We drove and hiked to another arch as a well... is it bad that I don't remember the name?
Stargazing: We checked into our hotel in Moab (a really cute town) and grabbed dinner and a beer at a BBQ joint called The Blu Pig. Then drove back to Arches for some stargazing. We sat atop the Balanced Rock, and watched the sun set and the stars come out. Even though it was cloudy, the sky was awe-inspiring - it seemed endless. And there weren't any fellow tourists in sight. Plenty of bats though...
Then it was back to the hotel and time to get ready for Day 2!
No comments:
Post a Comment