By Shelby
This was a busy week for us. After working at the local library Monday, we went to REI to get some new hiking things. We got micro spikes, I got new hiking boots and wool socks, and Spencer got new base layer pants. We expect the national parks in Utah to be pretty cold and snowy, so we needed warmer clothes and better traction for our shoes. For dinner, we had leftover hamburgers and hotdogs.
Tuesday after work, we went to a local taproom, Handlebar, to get dinner and play trivia. Normally, we’re not the greatest at trivia. It seems like most questions are aimed at people older than us. But this time, we did really well! We won in small groups. We got a hat for the prize.
Wednesday morning, we got breakfast from a local cafe in downtown Grand Junction. It felt like a real luxury to have toasted bagels. Since we don’t have a toaster, it’s a rarity for us to have anything toasted. After breakfast, we went to the library for the rest of the work day. That evening, we got haircuts, did laundry, and went grocery shopping in preparation for our trip through Utah.
Thursday, we got up early and set out on the two and a half hour drive to Arches National Park. We could have taken the interstate, but we chose to take a slightly longer route that was more scenic and followed along the Colorado River.
Arches National Park was great, but surprisingly busy for March. I couldn’t imagine how busy it must be in the summer. We did a couple different hikes to arches and viewpoints through the park. The sand dune arch was my favorite. It was an orange sandstone arch surrounded by tall canyon walls.
Spencer liked the trail to Delicate Arch. It was very busy, but didn’t feel overly crowded because you could walk wherever you wanted for the most part. A large section of the trail was climbing up a bare rock face. Delicate Arch is the arch shown on most Utah license plates, so it was pretty cool seeing it in person.
Besides the arches, the park also had amazing views of the snow-covered La Sal mountains in the distance. The snow contrasted nicely with the orange sandstone rock formations. March seemed like a good time to go to the park. Without the snow on the mountains, I think it would be less scenic.
After our last hike to the Double Arch, we drove to the visitor center to wait until dark. We got ready for bed at the visitor center and drove to a free camping spot twenty minutes away. Unfortunately, every site was taken, so we ended up parking by the day-use welcome sign. But it was still dark and quiet and we slept fine.
Friday morning, we drove half an hour to Canyonlands National Park and ate breakfast at an overlook. It was much colder and cloudier than the day before. We did shorter trails in this park than Arches National Park. The view of the canyons below the overlook was really cool. There were canyons in the canyon. It looked like a painting or something you would see from an airplane. The area we were in was called Island in the Sky. It was a plateau surrounded by canyons far below the cliff sides.
Our first trail was to Mesa Arch, a natural arch on a cliff side. The trail to the arch was lined with snow. Canyonlands seemed to have much more snow than Arches. Fortunately, the trails, for the most part, were clear from snow.
Another hike we did, the Upheaval Dome hike, was very windy. The trail led to two viewpoints of a large crater that is theorized to be caused by a meteor impact. The trail to the second overlook led up a very exposed rocky section. We were nearly blown right off the trail by the wind. After the hike, it was starting to rain, so we drove to Shafer Canyon overlook and played video games in the car. Luckily, we had finished everything we had wanted to in Canyonlands before the rain started.
After a quick stop at the visitor center to fill up our water bottles, we drove out of the park and headed north to Green River, a small town on I-70. We stopped at a viewpoint along the way to go through some pictures. We stayed at a Love’s Travel Stop in Green River that night.
Saturday, we paid for a shower at Love’s. There was a long line ahead of us, so we had to wait almost two hours, but it was worth it to get clean after the past couple days. After that, we drove to a small park in Green River and made chicken alfredo for lunch. We took Saturday off from traveling, so we could make food for the next couple days and also not get burnt out from doing too much. Sunday, we plan on going to Capitol Reef National Park. After that, it’s going to be a long week of national parks in Utah and Arizona.
Fun Facts from Week 46:
- Arches National Park has about 2,000 known arches.
- The soil at Arches National Park is alive. It is known as biological soil crust. It’s made of lichen, moss, algae, fungi, and cyanobacteria.
- People have lived in Canyonlands National Park for over 10,000 years.
