Blogs from Arches National Park, Utah, United States, North America - page 11

After surviving the blizzard, we arrived in Durango and stayed overnight there. In the morning we headed to Canyonlands Natl Park. We did a 3mile hike in the “Needles District” of Canyonlands, which is a huge park. There were a few other people hiking but overall it was deserted except for a few climbers and a bunch of cattle. According to the park ranger and the signs, there are usually mountain goats below the ridge we hiked. However, the park information specifically states “Contact park ranger in the event of a mountain goat sighting” and we didn’t see ANY - so perhaps they aren’t so common…. From there we went to Moab to stay with Dana’s “Uncle Jim.” He’s got a nice apartment behind his house where we can rest and cook. On Saturday we went ... read more

Plan on spending at least a few hours in the park, exploring the scenic drive and several of the viewpoints and short trails. If time permits, longer hikes lead to many spectacular rock formations, including Delicate Arch, and the Devils Garden Campground provides an excellent base camp for multi-day trips. Also, consider attending an interpretive program. Guided walks, short talks and campfire programs are offered daily March through October. Arches is open year-round, 24 hours a day. The visitor center is open daily during the following hours: April through October: 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. November through March: 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The visitor center is closed on December 25th. By Mail Arches National Park PO Box 907 Moab, UT 84532-0907 By Phone Visitor Information (435) 719-2299... read more

May 24 Day 10 Grand Jct Arches NP Dead Horse Pt Green River, Ut. We left Grand Jct around 9:30 after loading up on the Best Western's fine breakfast. In just a few minutes we are heading west on Interstate 70 where the speed limit is 75 and most everone is going faster than that, including the trucks. It's 35 miles to our next turn and I never touched the gas pedal almost all the way. Stick it at 80 and that's it. We crossed the state line and entered Utah. We turned south on Hwy 131 for about one hour and entered the county seat, Moab. It's a good sized town with all the amenities, including an excellent MacDonald's and an automatic car wash which I used to clean off the encrusted bugs on the ... read more

I woke up from the camp site and enjoyed the beautiful mountain morning with the sunrise. After a little bit more exploration, I realized that there was a natural arch just behind my camp site. The mountain was beautiful bathing under the morning sunlight. The tempreture warmed up quickly with the sun. I truely enjoyed the camping experience here at the Devils Garden's camp ground. No wonder it was usually fully booked from March to November. I was really glad that I could experience it. With a long drive planned today, I quickly packed everything and drove off. I enjoyed the final view of the arches and rocks on the way out of the park. My next stop was the four corners monument, where the four states (Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico) met. After three ... read more

After breaking camp in Bryce Canyon early in the morning, we made our way towards Arches National Park. We were in the process of moving across the US so we were trying to make time but also wanted to see everything we could along the way. We hoped to hit Arches and still get some distance under our belt during the day. I have to say, Arches is an amazing place...unbelievable really. We drove through the entire thing. I had several virtual geocaches to find and amazingly enough, they led us to many of the sights we would have seen anyhow. We went to Balanced Rock, Turret Arch, Delicate Arch, and the Windows. The pictures don't do them justice and it is hard to describe how incredible they look and are in person. I highly recommend ... read more