We finally made time to visit one of the Big 5 parks here in Utah. I am not sure which one of us planned this trip but it was pretty awesome. I wanted to see Dead Horse Point and Jesse wanted to see Arches. I just wanted to see Delicate Arch, it is the most famous one and it is on our license plates. Evidently there are a whole bunch of Arches to check out. Good thing Jesse was there with me, he insisted on seeing some of the others.
We left early and made the six-ish hour drive to Moab, Utah. There was a hotel near the Moab Brewery so that is where we chose to stay. It ended up being perfect and within walking distance of the brewery. Before heading to the hotel we decided to go right to Arches, it was on the way anyway. This was a good time of year to go since it was not super busy and we were able to find one of the few parking spots left at the Delicate Arch trailhead. I cannot imagine what it must look like during peak season. It was also helpful that we were there on a weekday.
The hike to Delicate Arch was not too bad, there were some steep parts and alot of slick rock, but there were all types of people making the trek to see the arch. I did not like the part where you had to walk along a ledge with a drop off on the side. Heights are not my favorite. It was worth it though, the arch was massive and rather beautiful.
We hiked back down the car and kept driving through the park to see other arches, getting out of the car at various trailheads to see the Broken Arch and this cool slot canyon that lead to another arch. After driving and walking all around we felt as though we saw all we could see, plus we were hungry. After checking into the hotel we headed to the brewery for dinner and beers. Everything was great. We did some shopping in the gift shop and headed to the room to get some sleep. We had another park to visit in the morning.
After checking out of the hotel we went to Dead Horse Point State Park. I was particularly excited about this one because of the views of the Colorado River. We had also planned to run a bit on the rim trail. The story of this park is very sad and hurts my heart to think about. But I am glad it is a protected area and the story gets told so people know about it. The ride to the park was also beautiful. I did feel like a dork since I stalled my car at the park ranger gate while getting our pass to get in; I was trying to do too many things at once. We found the main rim trail and started working our way around, stopping often to take pictures. It was just breathtaking. After doing the East Rim we went and did the West Rim, but the clouds were starting to darken and we decided being on the top of this canyon during a storm would not be wise. As usual we were hungry so we went back into the town of Moab and back to the brewery for lunch before heading back to Salt Lake City.
This was an awesome overnight trip to two really great parks. Now we just have four more to go and we will have seen all of the Big 5 (Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef and Zion is what we have left). Who knows which one we will hit up next?
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