We woke up, played in the sand a bit, but wanted to spend the day inside Arches National Park. Arches has only 1 campground at the very end of the park so we decided to drive straight there to ensure a camping spot. This time of year we haven’t (knock on wood) had any issues finding camping anywhere…even in these popular parks.
We decided to do the longer hike out to Double-O arch near the end of the park. We rode our bikes from the campground to the trailhead.
Still a popular hike, but nothing quite like the Delicate Arch. It really was a beautiful hike walking through what is called the “Devil’s Garden” passing through many famous arches like Landscape Arch, the largest arch in the world spanning 290 feet, and not as well known arches like Navajo Arch, Partition Arch, and Double-O arch. We were often by ourselves at these arches which I didn’t realize would be as much of a treat as we did the Delicate Arch hike the next day. The hike was great! We walked through sand, on top of sandstone boulders, and even on top of fins with drop offs on either side. We are really liking this hike. Makes you want to run through the trail not, just walk, skipping from rock to rock, scrambling up the face of boulders. Totally my kind of hike. Usually the absence of water is very much on my mind when I’m in the desert, but there’s something about Arches that you don’t miss it in the scenery. It’s jaw droppingly beautiful.
On the way back we stopped by a few other smaller arches, but we found a home in Partition Arch
We went back to the campground and to hang out and enjoy the afternoon for a bit.
Then we went to do a sunset walk at Double Arch. One thing that came back to us as we were driving through Arches today is we came here back when Isabella was 1 year old. I’m pretty sure this was her 1st National Park and I specifically remember doing the short walk to Double Arch with her when she was a baby. Here we recreated her on my back 🙂
Edwin ran into Pandilea a globe-trotting couple he’s been following on facebook for a number of years.
Even though it was such a nice day and long day we still had a campfire that was really nice. The moon wasn’t out for quite awhile and stars were amazing!!
