Arches and Canyonlands

We woke up Thursday and decided that we hadn't spent enough time at Arches, so we headed back after breakfast. We headed for the Devils Garden trailhead, parked, and began a moderate 2-mile hike. We left the main trail twice to check out a couple of formations (Tunnel Arch and Pine Tree Arch). The trails in this area took us through some sand, which is the absolute worst thing to hike in! I'd rather hike in mud. Eventually we made it to Landscape Arch, which looks like it's going to fall at any time because it was so long and skinny. Very impressive.

Once finished with that hike, we drove to another trailhead and hiked out to the Skyline Arch. We were out in no-man's land so we ditched the trail and climbed around on the rocks for a while. We shimmied through a couple of slot canyons and eventually made our way back to the car.

We hit a few more spots (Sand Dune Arch and the Fiery Furnace), and then we took off for Canyonlands NP. We knew we weren't giving ourselves as much time as Canyonlands deserved, but we were also keeping in mind that we still had a lot of the state left to cover.


The drive was short, and we arrived at Canyonlands (Island in the Sky area) with roughly 3 hours of daylight. The picture:

We ran into a ranger who told us how we could get the most out of our short time there. First thing: the Mesa Arch trail. This was a fun trail that led us out to yet another amazing arch with grand views of the canyon in the background. We admired the vistas for a few minutes before running back to the car to head to our second trailhead: the Upheaval Dome trail. This one was fun! Lots of rock scrambling opportunities and once again, the views were stunning.

We drove to the southernmost tip of the Island in the Sky district, to the Grand View Overlook. The sun was going down, so we only stayed for a few minutes because the ranger told us the best area to watch the sunset was at the Green River Overlook. So back into the car we went and drove back up north a little ways. There were a few others there (mostly photographers) but there was plenty of room for everyone. We found a spot on a rock and watched the red sun sink behind the rim of the canyon. Definitely one of the best sunsets I've ever seen.

We stuck around and watched the moon rise, and then we jumped in the car to head back to our tent. It was a long, busy, and tiring day. We both slept very well that night!