Moab: Devil's Garden Campground

The campground on our second night was quite possibly the most beautiful campground I have ever been to. It's called Devil's Garden and it's at the very back of Arches. We set up our tent earlier in the day because we worried it was going to rain, but instead it was just really windy. We tried to take a nap but it was far too warm. We cooked our tinfoil dinners that had been packed in dry ice so they were still slightly frozen, but they cooked up great. After some s'mores, we went on another hike. We had planned to just relax around the campground, but we were next door to a group of 3 young families. They had at least 6 kids under the age of 4, which meant that someone was crying at all times. I'd like to think I have a pretty high tolerance for crying children because I've spent so much time babysitting and with my nieces and nephews, but we didn't think the parents were handling the situation very well. One kid would start crying and the parent would snap back and yell at them even louder than the tears and the sound just kept amplifying against the big rocks. It was kind of unfortunate for us, so we just tried to make the best of the situation and take more hikes!

In the evening, we went to the campground amphitheater for a ranger talk. The park ranger was a super cute gal who used to be an art museum curator in Chicago and then she discovered the outdoors, moved to Utah, and is now a park ranger. She taught us about the sounds we'll hear at night in this area and which animals they are. She went around and asked everyone where they were from and we felt REALLY cool to be locals.

It rained pretty much all night while we were in the tent but Greg's Marmot tent kept us completely dry! Woot woot. 

Moab: Arches

     

  

   

The next day we went to Arches National Park! I haven't been back since I was in 3rd grade and Greg had never been so we were feeling real pumped! First thing we did was head to Delicate Arch before it got too warm. The hike was longer, steeper, and hotter than I expected. But we pulled through and were greeted by the most amazing sight. It's really cool that you don't see the Delicate Arch until you finish the hike. Then you turn the corner, and there it is! Greg kept saying, "This is Utah, Bec! This is our license plate!" We love our license plates so it was fun to see the arch in person. 

After lunch we found another off-roading trail in the park. In the middle of the trail there was this wide open space which of course made me think of the Dixie Chicks. So we stopped the car and made a short music video until a car came past and blew dust everywhere. Ha! 

We also stopped by Double Arch and Landscape Arch this afternoon. Such cool landscapes and pretty walking trails. 

Moab: Gemini Bridges

   

  

  

   

  

After we left Crystal Geyser, we headed further down south. We were going to go on an off road trail to get to Moab from Crystal Geyser but it was a little longer than we wanted to spend on that trail. So we drove on the highway and went into town for a quick pit stop.

Then we headed up to the Gemini Bridges trailhead. We were using an off-road book that had an illustrated map so we didn't really know what to anticipate. But then we started driving up a steep mountain and there was no turning back! It was a little nerve-racking to be up so high in a car that could roll down the edge, but Greg handled it like a champ.

After about an hour, we made it to Gemini Bridges and had the whole place to ourselves! It was really cool to be so high on the rocks since I'm used to usually just looking up at them from the bottom.

After exploring around the bridges, we took a different trail that led us to the highway. That's one thing that I loved about off-roading in our car. Instead of having to go back to a trailer at the trailhead, you can just keep going anywhere you want. Fun stuff!

Then we went to town for dinner and had some mediocre Mexican food and headed to our KOA type campground for the night. They had showers and a really nice bathroom. Not exactly roughing it, but I didn't hate it. :) They even had a kitchen. We were planning to have those omelettes that you cook in a ziploc bag over boiling water. We tried it for a bit and got impatient, so we just nuked it in the microwave. Ha!

Moab Road Trip: Crystal Geyser

  

  

  

  

 

  

A couple weeks ago we went on a road trip to Moab! We had to book the campground about 7 months in advance, so needless to say, there was a lot of anticipation for this weekend adventure. We woke up early Friday morning, packed up the coolers and the new 4 Runner and headed down south. Greg wanted to make sure we used only paper maps the whole time! So it was a real adventure. 

We were driving along a busy highway and then Greg pulled off the road and started going on a groomed dirt road, then we turned off to a smaller trail and rode that for a bit until we got to Crystal Geyser along the edge of the Green River. It was so cool! The colors and textures were so incredible. They looked like they had been sculpted by an artist. I don't think I've ever seen that much bright orange in the natural world. It was really neat.