Canyonlands National Park and Arches National Park

Mar 7th

The six of us piled into our truck, and drove to Canyonlands National Park. There are three distinct sections of the park, and they all have separate entrances that are hours apart from each other. We entered the Isle in the Sky district, and stopped at the visitor’s center, where the girls received their junior ranger packets. The Isle in the Sky, is the mesa that we were on, and when we got to a look-out point, you can understand the name. From this massive mesa, you can look down at the rest of the park. It is more stunning than the Grand Canyon and the shear drop off made me a little nauseas. We drove to the end of the mesa where there is a hike to the furthest point of the Isle in the Sky. The hike is only 2 miles round trip, but the trail is on the edge of the mesa, which is dizzying, but has amazing views. At the end of the trail, you can sit on a rock at the edge of the drop off with 270-degree views of the canyons and snow-covered mountains in the background. I enjoyed the views from a safe distance to the cliff. We hiked another trail on the way back, that took us to the top a rock formation. I liked it better, because we were not on the edge of oblivion. I forgot to mention, that it was very cold. We were hiking with our warm jackets, hats and gloves on. It's the price we had to pay, to avoid the crowded busy season.

Mar 8th

Our water tank was frozen this morning. Yeah, it’s that cold here. Luckily, we have gallons of drinking water that we keep inside the trailer, so we were able to get by. All of us drove to Arches National Park this morning. Again, we stopped at the visitor’s center so the girls could get their junior ranger packets. There are over 2000 arches and many more rock formations in the park, and miles of trails to view them from. This is a very popular park, and there are lots of people. I can only imagine how many people are here during the peak season. Arches NP is so popular, that it might be imposing a reservation system soon. At our first stop, we hiked a short trail to the East and West Window Arches, followed by the Double Arch. We decided to drive to the far end of the park, for our next hike, because it is supposed to be less crowded. On the way, we stopped and had a picnic lunch in some beautiful rock formations. Throughout the drive, you can see some spectacular scenery. We made it to the trail head parking lot, only to find it almost full. So much for avoiding the crowds. We hiked to Landscape Arch, the biggest one in the park. After the hike, we drove to a look out to view the most famous arch in the park, Delicate Arch. It is the arch featured on the Utah license plate. We had originally thought we would try the 3-mile round trip hike to the arch, but we were glad we didn’t. From the look-out, we could see the throngs of people climbing along the mountain to the arch. We barely made it back to the visitor’s center before it closed, were the girls received their junior ranger badges.

Mar 9th

We packed up and drove into Moab today. We did our normal chores: laundry, shopping, dumping and filling the water tank. Moab is a tourist town because of its proximity to Canyonlands NP and Arches NP. We met the Canadians at another BLM site about 15 miles south of Moab. This site has some beautiful views of the snowcapped mountains behind us. As soon as we had set up, it started snowing on us. It didn’t last long, and melted right away. It is going to be very cold for the next few days. Kathy devised a way to hold open the bottom bunk during the night, which helps to heat our water tank.

Mar 10th

The water tank did not freeze, but looking at the weather, tonight, is going to be the coldest yet. Fingers crossed! We originally had planned to go to the Needles district of Canyonlands today and hike, but the temperature is not going to get above 35 degrees. Instead, Mia and I drove into town to get some more books for her to read. She goes through them too fast. Kathy stayed at the trailer and worked. We found a thrift store in Moab and bought several books that will hopefully last us until we get home at the end of the month. One of the books is a puzzle book for kids. Moab has an entire food-truck park, and Mia and I ate some delicious quesadillas. After we got back to the trailer, Mia spent the rest of the day with her puzzle book.

Mar 11th

We packed up this morning, and headed towards the Needles district of Canyonlands NP. We had planned to meet Shannon, Margie and Sequoia at some BLM land just outside of the park, set up camp, and then go into the park and hike. They left before us, and once we got to the BLM land, we couldn’t find them. We had no cell service, and couldn’t reach them. We unhitched the trailer, had some lunch, and then got in the truck to go find them. We found them about a half mile from us, and they were very worried about us. They had pulled over at one point, and neither of us had realized that we had passed them. The campsite they were parked at, was much bigger and had a little cell service, so we moved our trailer to theirs. Another family that the Canadians had traveled with also joined us, and tomorrow the family we camped with in Yuma will also show up. The new family has two children, a girl 10 years old, and a boy 8 years old. By tomorrow there will be six kids here. Mia is so happy. Our new campsite is, once again, gorgeous. We are surrounded by red canyon walls, with amazing rock formations all around. All eleven of us hiked to some of the rock formations, and the kids (adults too) climbed all over them.

Mar 12th

We all drove to the Needles District Visitor’s Center, where Mia and Sequoia received their junior ranger badges for Canyonland NP. Margie had researched many hikes, and we had all agreed on the Chesler Park Overlook trail, which is 6 miles round trip. We packed lots of food and water, plus some treats to keep the kids motivated. It turned out to be the most incredible hike we have been on during this trip. We scrambled over rocks, walked through slot canyons, and hiked along cliff edges, all with the most spectacular views. Once we were back at our vehicles, we had hiked over 7 miles, and the kids (and adults) were exhausted. When we got back to our campsite, the family we had met at Senators Wash Reservoir, Stephen, Melissa and their two kids Lillian and Thomas, had arrived too. Even after a 7-mile hike, the kids were so excited, that they ran around all evening.

Mar 13th

It was much colder again today, and the winds had picked up. Everyone spent most of the day indoors, or doing repairs. The children all played together outside, then all gathered in our trailer to play in Mia’s room. In the afternoon, all four families drove back into Canyonland NP, and took a short nature hike to some old Puebloan ruins.

Mar 14th

All four families drove into Moab today to replenish supplies and do laundry. Everywhere we went, we ran into one of them: the grocery store, laundromat or dump station. We all met again late in the afternoon at another BLM site about 20 miles north of Moab. The children put on a talent show for us tonight, dancing to songs from “Encanto.” Today being “Pi day”, we had chicken pot pie and an apple pie for dinner.