Day 10 – Moab, UT to Arches National Park, UT to Canyonlands National Park, UT to Hovenweep National Monument, UT

Miles driven today: 268 Cumulative miles: 2520 We got up at 7:30am after kind of a crappy night of sleep. The air was perfectly calm last night when we went to bed, making the tent overly warm and making it difficult to sleep. Sometime in the night, a strong windstorm blew in. The tent shook and the rain fly flapped in the wind. It cooled down in the tent, but now it was so loud that Daniel and I both spent several hours tossing and turning. By the time we got up, the wind had stopped, the tent was warm, and the air inside was stale again. We packed up camp and headed to the clean, free showers (okay, so you pay more at KOAs then at most National Park campgrounds to camp and are essentially paying for the showers up front, but at least you don’t have to get out five minutes into your shower covered with soap to feed in more quarters). Afterwards, Daniel made a quick breakfast; we re-stocked our Gatorade supply (water bottles and powdered Gatorade mix) and were on the road by 8:45am. It was only about a 20-minute drive to Arches National Park. We spent some time at the Visitor Center and figured out which hikes we wanted to do in the park. We took our time driving out to Wolfe Ranch where we hiked the mile and a half out to Delicate Arch (3.0 miles round trip). The first bit of the trail is on a dirt path, then it crosses slickrock that is off-kilter to your right and going uphill. The path is designated by rock cairns (stacks of rocks) as it is quite easy to lose on the rocks. Back to a dirt trail for a while. Then, for the last third of a mile, you go along slickrock jutting out below a sandstone fin, only a few feet wide and 40-feet or so up from the ground at some points. Finally, you come around the edge of a bowl and on the opposite side of the bowl stands Delicate Arch, which has been hidden from sight the entire hike up to this point. Moving around the upper edge of the bowl is tricky as it is both slick and slanted. Daniel and I worked our way around to get different vantage points for photos. It was difficult to capture the Arch without people in or around it as it seems that every yahoo has to have their photo taken with it instead of enjoying the beauty of the Arch itself. After a half hour at Delicate Arch, we made the hike back to the car, stopping briefly at the Petroglyphs on the way. The hike and photos, etc. took us just under two hours from start to finish. A half hour drive later, we reached the Devil’s Garden Trailhead and caught a glimpse of the Devil’s Garden Campground where we had planned to camp next week. By passing on the ugly campground at Monument Valley, we also ended up passing on possibly the most beautiful campground on our trip (at least thus far). It sits out among the sandstone fins and formations and right near a trailhead to several arches. We took the shorter option for the trails as it was nearly 1:00pm and scorching hot. We walked the half mile round trip to Tunnel arch and Pine Arch. Back to the car for a leisurely drive down to the Windows Section of the park and a 15-minute/ quarter mile hike to Double Arch for some photos and oohs and ahs. The sun was taking its toll on us, so back to the air-conditioned car for the drive out of the park and on to Canyonlands National Park. We arrived there about 3:30pm and stopped by the Island In the Sky Visitor Center. Knowing that most of Canyonlands is accessible by 4-wheel drive only (85% of the park is back country; White Rim Road in the Island In the Sky Section is 100 plus miles long and takes two to four days to traverse with a 4-wheel drive vehicle), we opted to see what we could from the 23 miles of paved road (and we drove all 23 miles of it!) and take one short hike. We picked the Mesa Arch hike as it was only a half mile round trip and only took a half hour to do. It was also fairly easy, so we decided to leave our flip flops on for this one. The scenery at Canyonlands National Park was beautiful. Both this and Arches National Park are on our list of places to come back and spend more time (preferably in cooler weather too). We only spent two hours at the park due to our vehicle limitations, the exhausting heat, and the long drive we had to make yet today. By the time we got back on the road, Daniel’s sunburn was becoming more evident. Apparently he forgot the sunscreen on his arms and legs, so now he has sleeve and sock lines. (I got a little burnt on my neck and shoulders coming out of Supai, but they are better now.) We looked at our route for the rest of the day and opted to take out the visit to Natural Bridges National Monument as it would be pretty late when we got there and even later when we made it to our campsite for the night. So, we drove south along the same highway we had driven up on yesterday. The only excitement being when I slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting a dog and our big flashlight flew from the very back of the car up to the gear shift. We decided that meant we needed to re-pack everything in the morning. Two and half hours into our drive, we followed signs and our map and turned onto a dark road. I think we were driving through fields, but it was too dark to tell. We only passed a few cars going the opposite way and seemed to be going further and further out into the middle of nowhere. Our headlights were hardly useful along the way as there were no markers alongside the road, no reflectors, and the road lines were either non-existent or in desperate need of re-painting. The road itself could use some paving and patching as well. All I could really see were the shrubs creeping over the edge of the asphalt and the occasional bunny with a death wish running out in front of me. Every time we started to think we missed a turn, we would catch a glimpse of a sign saying Hovenweep (our destination) with an arrow – the signs were also in need of re-paining, so they were difficult to see. After about an hour of this kind of driving and a few turns onto some even more primitive country roads, we saw the entrance sign to Hovenweep National Monument and the dim lights of the Visitor Center (closed of course since it was now 9:00pm). We followed the arrows to the campground and hoped there was an after hours pay station. Fortunately there was, so we took the loop around the campground to pick a site. It was pitch black except for a light at the bathroom and quiet except for crickets and other bugs. All we could see was whatever our headlights happened to hit – empty site, empty site, empty site, serial killer type van (you know, like what they always have them drive in the movies), more empty sites, another serial killer van, more empty sites, an SUV with a normal looking guy and a dog, more empty sites. We picked one near the bathrooms and, just a bit further on, we saw an RV and pickup truck at the camp host site. We dropped our cash and information in the drop box and set up camp. We skipped dinner as we had a late lunch after leaving Canyonlands National Park. Instead, we spent about a half hour looking at our photos that Daniel had downloaded to the laptop and went to bed around 10:00pm. Wildlife seen: deer, lizards Miles hiked: ~4.25