Today we said goodbye to Capitol Reef and travelled to our next destination, which was Moab. Here we were hoping to crack two parks – Arches NP and Canyonlands NP.

The journey to Moab

As always we saw lots of stunning scenery on the drive, although the majority of the time we were seemingly driving on a straight (never-ending) road in through the desert, which at least made for an easy drive. En route we did go through a place called “Emery County”, although by the time we saw the sign we didn’t have time to stop or get a photo sadly, but you can see it on the map!

Our first night in Moab

When we arrived in Moab the first thing that struck us was the size of the town and the amount of restaurants/bars/shops there were around. Having come from small villages with hardly any options for food and drink, it was nice to see we wouldn’t have the same problem for our stay here. I mean there were two brew pubs on the main drag which was a bonus, considering the lack of them in other places – one was located handily across the road from our hotel so was obviously where we chose to go to on our first night.

Arches National Park Day 1

As we had 2 parks to cover in the space of 3 days we got up early in order to maximise our hiking hours. Now, if we thought it was cold on previous days, it was nothing compared to what greeted us here in the morning. I know I have used this term before but it was ‘bitterly’ cold. It’s the first time we have used our hoods, in order to try and keep our faces shielded from the elements. Even though I had gloves on my hands were still very cold. I made the mistake of removing my gloves in order to take a photo with my phone and I thought I was going to get frost bite, and then I couldn’t get my hands warm again after that.

• Total distance hiked = 12.78 miles
• Largest elevation change = 275 feet
• Coldest temp = -12 C

We had already got the information on hikes when we arrived yesterday so had already planned what we were going to do today – which was basically a shed load of walking, to lots of different style of arches.

Pine Tree Arch (left) and Landscape Arch (right)

The first hike we did was one of the strenuous ones, that involved not only walking, but lots of scrambling and climbing over rocks and boulders. This was really good fun as you had to use your hands in some places. The final destination of the walk was the ‘Double O Arch’, but there were a few other types of arches on route which we got to see.

Double O Arch

As previously stated our goal with this walk was to reach ‘Double O Arch’ and the terrain was interesting and challenging. Not only was there a lot of rock scrambling, but the trail also involved narrow ledges to navigate and exposure to heights. Despite the cold weather, fortunately there was very little ice on the ground, and none on the boulders, otherwise this walk would’ve been impossible. As we were out so early we didn’t see anyone else until we were on the way back. What was also challenging was going the right way. There were some markers on the trail keeping you in the right direction but at times you are blagging it and “hoping” you are going in the right direction. I think we only double backed on ourself once which was good.

This was the Double O Arch when we got there, so very impressive and worth the hike. We have tried to capture the nature of the walk and the views so hopefully you have an idea on what it was like.

Partition Arch

On the way down from Double O Arch there was an off-shoot which took you to see another one of the Arches – captured below.

Sand Dune Arch

After we had completed the first walk, we opted to do another trail, which takes in 3 arches – Sand Dune Arch, Broken Arch and Tapestry Arch. This wasn’t part of our plan, it was more an impulsive decision as we drove down the road and saw the car park. This proved a bit of a mistake as we ended up getting lost, and going miles out of our way to find our way back. I blame the lack of markers as it just wasn’t clear where you were supposed to go.

We made it to the first arch ok (Sand Dune), which was really cool.

Broken Arch

We found the second arch ok too, so all going well at this stage and nothing to worry about…

Tapestry Arch

And, we found the third and final arch of the trail. Our problems started when we then had to loop back around to Sand Dune arch. We tried various routes but could not find a way through the rock at all so we ended up in one of the campgrounds (open only in summer so was empty) and found the entrance and then just walked down the main road to where we had parked. It basically added an extra couple of miles to our walk so we weren’t happy. At least the scenery is still great to look at from the road!

Turret Arch

After a quick bite to eat, and recharge our legs after the 10 miles we’d already walked, we stopped and did a few smaller walks on the way back down the park. These are very easy, with (more importantly after our last disastrous effort!) clear paths and markers, meaning it was impossible to go wrong.

The first walk took you to Turret Arch.

The Windows

The second walk at this stop took you to the North and South Windows.

Double Arch

The last walk of this stop was Double Arch, not to be confused with Double O Arch which we’d done in the morning. Basically this is two arches that are joined at one end.

Balancing Rock

On the way back out the park we stopped at two scenic points, the first was home to the ‘Balanced Rock’, which is a unique rock formation. You can do a short walk around the base of the rock, but we decided against this as we’d already clocked up 12+ miles by this point.

The above is the La Sal Mountains viewpoint.

And that concludes our first day of walking in Arches. Lots of stunning arches to see, and great walks to be had as well. There are a couple of other ones we didn’t get to do as we plan on coming back on our third day, after we have been to Canyonlands.

Finally, we had an amazing burger (and milkshake) at a really quaint family run diner called ‘Milts Stop and Eat’ that was just off the main road. It was tiny so we were practically eating our food in the kitchen whilst chatting to the owner, but the food was amazing and we were made to feel really welcome. We were their first customer of the evening (obviously very slow business for them in winter) so I think they really appreciated our business.

Lucy