Moab Weekend Review - Arches NP, Dead Horse, Goblin Valley (many pictures of rocks inside)

DAY 1

There is a dirt road my coworker told me about that will take you to the back entrance of Arches, giving some unique views (and skipping the timed entry ). It is easy to follow and doesn't really need any crazy rig to get through. Just a little bumpy in spots.





After the dirt road you will enter the park around Devil's Garden and the Skyline Arch Trail. That was a quick one (.2 of a mile) so we did that first then walked a couple of miles through Devil's Garden. I think the whole thing is 8 miles. We made it to Landscape Arch and turned around.









I think this one is called Pine Tree Arch, looks like it will be losing a little more rock in a few thousand years, watch out!






After that hike we were getting hungry and decided to head to the hotel, of course taking our time on the scenic route. There is a viewpoint of Delicate Arch from below, a nice little appetizer, but we definitely wanted the main course.





DAY 2

We started out on the Delicate Arch Trail (3 miles total). Great weather, low 70s, overcast, with a nice breeze. This was such a cool hike, with tons of different rock formations and beautiful landscape views. The first part is a fairly standard trail, then you get to the open rock section where you can sort of make your own path. That one is decently steep, all uphill, so carrying a 35 lb child on my back, I had to take a few breaks.











And here we have the Utah license plate, live and in color. The last part of the hike is absolutely perfect, {SPOLIER ALERT} the arch is hidden by a cliff that gets smaller and smaller and slowly reveals it. It is a shame I will only get to experience it for the first time only once. But such is life.

The breeze turned wild by the time we made it up, probably blowing 40-50 mph. It was great to experience some of the conditions that helped form these arches.

The other thing that stood out to me is how massive the arch actually is. I think pictures make it look small because those cliffs you see are incredibly far away.




We stayed and admired the views for 30 mins or so then headed back down.






Our next stop was Sand Dune Arch. This was a great spot; barely any walk, a couple of slots, nice soft sand my kids loved to play in, and of course... beautiful rocks.





We had time for one more hike before heading out to our next adventure and headed down the Broken Arch Trail (2 miles). Got a great surprise with this family of mule deer feet from the trail at one point. My youngest was too loud and spooked them, but they didn't run too far and I was still able to have a photo shoot.





And there's just something special about the serenity this arch brings, I think it was my favorite.








We drove to the Double Arch Trail, but didn't walk it. Might be my only regret after seeing some pics online of it up close. But the far shots do make me happy. Next time, I suppose.



Looks like an elephant, right?



Pothole Arch on the drive out.



After leaving the park for the day, we drove along the Colorado River. Absolutely beautiful, but I didn't get any pictures, you'll just have to take my word for it. There were tons of people rock climbing on all the cliffs.

We were heading to see the Potash Ponds, which are privately owned for business and definitely not a tourist attraction, but it was a really cool dirt road and a fun experience to get there. After seeing up close (and from high up at Dead Horse Point) I have determined that the cool pictures you see online are taken by drone. Bummer.






A lost bull we passed by, looking like he's seen better days. We passed a lot of cattle on the way to DHP the next day, so if he was with them he was about 5 miles away and 2000 ft below them. Poor bastard.






The road does make a huge ring all the way to DHP, but we turned around shortly past the ponds and headed in for the night.