Arches NP/Canyonlands Island in the Sky District 2010
We got up early to go to Arches NP. After a stop at the visitor center, we used the switchbacks to climb up to the top of the mesa at the southern end of the park. We saw tickets being written along the road so drive slowly there. We had decided to go to the top of the park to the area called the Devils Garden to do the longer trails in the cool of the day. They wouldn't entertain the renaming to Red Devils Garden either. Can you believe it? I thought the visitors were always right. In Devils Garden we did the trails to Pine Tree Arch and Tunnel Arch which were easy enough. We then graduated to Landscape Arch then Partition Arch then Navajo Arch. Double O Arch was beyond what we wanted to do. The Landscape Arch is very impressive in that it is over 300' in length. In the 90's, a 70' piece fell which resulted in closing the trail where visitors used to go under the arch to view its bottom. It will fall completely someday so do not hesitate too long. Our favorite was the Partition Arch. It was here at the Devils Garden that we got our first taste of cairns - piles of rock to show where the trail is. When you are hiking across rocks, it is hard to see where to go next at some points in the trail hence the use of cairns. As we left we saw a long line of vehicles trying to find a parking place. We benefited greatly by taking the longer trails early in the morning where it was not crowded and parking places were easy. By the time we finished at Devils Garden, it was getting hot and very crowded.
We stopped at the Fiery Furnace Viewpoint but did not do the ranger-led tour into the Furnace. A month before we left, I tried to get tickets but they were sold out. If this interests you, try to get tickets much earlier than I did. It is possible to perhaps get tickets for a non-ranger-led experience. Check the website for details.
We then went to the Lower Delicate Arch (Delicate Arch has become the symbol of Utah) Viewpoint. The arch was so far away we decided in spite of the heat to take the trail to the Upper Delicate Arch Viewpoint where we took better pictures. There is a moderate 3-mile round trip trail where you can actually touch the arch but in the heat for us it might just as well been 13 miles. So we skipped it. It was now very hot so we decided to leave the park to cool off and eat.
After eating in Moab, we decided to, in the heat of the day, to drive to the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands. I had not realized how 'connected' Arches and Canyonlands are. For example, books, brochures, maps etc. can be found in the Arches Visitor Center for both Arches and Canyonlands. At one time the superintendent for Arches was also the superintendent for Canyonlands. Anyhoo we thought that there were very few trails in the upper park of Canyonlands that we would take so it would be a driving tour in an air-conditioned car - maybe. At the visitors center in Canyonlands, the ranger told us of several trails and view points that we could do. So we drove to the Grand View Point Overlook (The Colorado River here used to be the Grand River at the confluence to Rocky Mountain NP till the politicians did their usual stupidity which renamed the Grand to the Colorado). It was impressive. As we looked out, on the left was an immense canyon dug out by the Colorado River whereas on the right was an immense canyon dug out by the Green River. At the confluence of these two was a bigger, more impressive canyon of course. We could not see any river from this viewpoint. So we went to the Green River Overlook where we could see some of the Green River. We also did the Upheaval Dome Trail which was interesting but hot. The ranger had told us that to see the Colorado River, the best place was Dead Horse Point Overlook which is a Utah park just off the road we took into the Canyonlands. Because of time considerations we passed on that.
It had now cooled to the point that we thought we were ready to go back to Arches to finish our visit. We went first to the Balanced Rock area which was neat but still hot. We continued to the Windows Section to see the North and South Windows. We also saw the Turret Arch. It was hotter than we thought it would be at around 7 pm.
We returned to just inside the park where we did the Park Ave Trail by going about 3/4 mile north then retracing our steps. Everything was in the shade of the rocks at this time so it was bearable. At this time we declared that our work was done in Arches so we left to try the hot tub (do you see a contradiction here) and swimming pool at the motel in Moab. Tomorrow would find us going to see the Needles District of Canyonlands then on to Arizona to spend some money to help them since they are being boycotted and I have relatives in Phoenix.
