6/19/07 – Arches N.P. to Canyonlands N.P.

Taking full advantage of the Inca Inn, we woke up just in time for the free continental breakfast, which for us consisted of handfuls of danish’s, several sleeves of muffins and coffee. Before leaving Moab, we stopped at the local food mart to stock up for the next leg of camping. Several gallons of water, 4 cans of chef Boyardee, one package of apple chicken sausage, pasta, more pb and j materials and another bag of trail mix. There are several things that tend to be sacrificed on multi day camping trips, and ones access to decent food happens to be one of those things.

Arches N.P. was our first real Utah experience and we had high expectations. For several weeks leading up to our trip we had seen dozens of Utah propaganda commercials. The commercials consistently showed people doing awesome things and having an awesome time in Utah, perhaps you’ve seen these commercials? Regardless, they were one of the main reasons why we decided to make Utah a multi day destination. You’ll be happy to know that Utah and Arches in particular did not let us down. From the roads, Arches offered awesome views of rock sculptures like nothing we’d ever seen. However, even more impressive, were the hiking trails through the balanced rocks, arches and fins. From these trails Arches N.P. became more like a giant terrain park. Jumping from rock to rock and climbing from arch to arch with the only barrier being fear of heights or personal injury (which turned out to be a concern of some legitimacy). After spending several hours longer in the park then we had planned, we stopped at the air conditioned visitor center to relax and watch the parks video.

Determined to fit in as much of Utah as we could, we left Arches and headed for Canyonlands N.P. The drive from Arches to Canyonlands was only about an hour and half but we arrived at the park late enough for it to seem like we were the only ones there. Unfortunately, the entrance booth had already closed down for the night so we were left only with the small map from our guide book. In an attempt to find the visitor center, and with the small map as an excuse, we made a wrong turn and found ourselves on White Rim Road, a “jeep road”, which hugs the canyon rim for nearly 80 miles as it drops 1,200 feet into the valley. With the promise of incredible views and great photo-op’s for the Land Rover we decided to push forward. With our first views of the park coming from this drive, it was obvious that Canyonlands was a worthwhile stop and another notch on the Utah post. We drove through the remainder of Island in the Sky (the northern segment of the park) with few sightings of other people and awesome views of the setting sun. The Canyonlands’ small campsite was full so around 11:45 pm we ended up finding a site in a nearby National Forest. It was around this time that we realized we had incidentally taken some of Arches and Canyonlands with us. Our feet, legs and hands were covered in a dark layer of desert sand. Hygiene is another one of those things that seem to get lost on a multi-day camping trip. With no running water around, we cooked our dinner of sausage and pasta (which was actually really good) and passed out.

- Alex