Arches National Park, Moab, Utah--Delicate Arch and Park Avenue

Driving from Devil's Canyon Campground to Devil's Garden in Arches National Park was about two hours. We stopped at Wilson Arch south of Moab to snag a geocache.

Once we arrived at Arches, we still had eighteen miles to travel before we reached our destination! The campground is located at the end of the park road. The views were amazing as we traveled through the park to our site.

After setting up camp we sat outside and  scoured the park brochure to find out what hikes were available, their length, and their locations in the park. Then it was down time. It was such a beautiful day, Bob and I both sat outside and read our Kindles! Later that evening we took a walk around the campground. This is the view at the back of our campsite.

Thursday morning found us readying for a hike. We decided to be tourists and hike one of the most popular trails first--Delicate Arch. If you have ever seen Utah's license plate, Delicate Arch is the one pictured on the plate. The hike to Delicate Arch is 3 miles round trip. There is a change in elevation of 480 feet. And I can say it changes pretty fast going up!

The first stop on the hike was Wolfe Ranch. It was settled in the 1880's. It is hard to believe that 5 people lived in this one room cabin at one time! There was barely room for the kitchen table.

Then it was onward and upward. The trail had switchbacks at the beginning, then it was a straight up walk on slickrock (not slick unless it is wet, just the name of the rock!) to get to the top of the ridge.

Once at the top of the ridge and down a ways on the other side, we had to walk a ledge to get to the viewing area for Delicate Arch.

Of course, we didn't stop there, Bob and I continued on to the base of the arch. There was a huge bowl that had been carved about the same time as the arch that made walking interesting.

We stayed for a while, taking pictures of tourists and having our picture taken.

 

I have to say there was more German and French conversation wafting in the breeze than English. That has been our observation at all the national parks and monuments so far this trip. We ate a protein snack, Bob dropped a peanut and out of no where a ground squirrel came and snatched it!

Time to make the descent! It was our turn to tell people, "keep going, you're almost there, just over the ridge and across the ledge, it is worth the trip!" Usually when we said across the ledge some faces looked aghast. We explained it was a WIDE ledge and worth the walk.

This is a view of the slickrock as we were going back down to the parking area.

When we got down the slickrock and almost to the parking area, we took the side path to view the petroglyphs. An elderly couple with canes was trying to decide whether or not to make the trip to the arch and we told them about the slickrock hike to the top. They decided to go to the lower viewing area a bit further down the road.

Once back in the car, we returned to the rv for lunch and to plan our next adventure. Our decision was to head into Moab to find the post office so we could get our mail forwarded before we leave the area. On our way back to our campsite, we decided to stop at Park Avenue to do the one mile hike which for us was two miles as we didn't have anyone to pick us up at the other end!

 

We enjoyed our late afternoon hike as there were very few others hiking at that time of day.

 

Then it was time to head back to the rv to plan our second day of adventure at Arches National Park! And yes, we have phone and Internet at the campground!