Day 10 - Arches National Park

Sunday July 8 (I think)
We wanted to get an early start hiking in Arches National Park since it was so hot. We got a 6:00 wakeup call; had breakfast at the hotel and set out. We drove up to the trail head for Delicate Arch. It was a 2 hour walk; signs everywhere warned to take plenty of water. Our good friends Herb and Dianne did this walk and some additional a few years ago and they also warned us to take plenty of water. So, we headed out with 4 liters. I had a couple of liters on a belt holder thingy I had purchased before we left Portland and Carla had a container with a shoulder strap for another 1.5 liters; we carried a small bottle by hand to make the 2 liter / person recommendation. The walk was beautiful and once I figured we wouldn't die I started to enjoy it.

These photos may be nice, but I recommend you go look at it in person.



I thought we had done somehting special, then a Japanese family followed us up and the girls were wearing ballet shoes and flip-fops!

My favorite part was on the way down telling people they only had another hour to go when in fact they were just a few hundred yards away. Carla put an end to my fun though. We only needed half our water - because it was relatively cool whn we left. It was definitely warm when we came back; I was astonished to see so many people starting the walk at 10:30 in 90 degree + heat starting with just a small bottle or no water at all.

Close to the parking lot on the way back was a spot where there are petroglyphs from somewhere between 1600 and 1850 AD.

We continued to tour the park and took an easy .5 mile walk up to Double Arches
We then headed back for lunch and a quick doze. Then we went back for some more quick tours of Arches. We just did some short walks; in fact, lunch didn't agree with me, so I sat in the car a couple of times listening to the Dodgers on the radio while Carla did the foot tours. One of the most interesting rocks was Balancing Rock; I recommend you see it soon; in a few years it will be renamed "Falen Rock".

We ate dinner at the Desert Bistro; a wonderful place our friends the McDonnells told us about. It was the perfect end to a wonderful day.

The next day we were to get up and head off to Ogden Utah on our way to Boise. We heard some GREAT news that day (but you'll have to read that blog entry to get the details).