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Published: November 8th 2012
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Delicate Arch
Arches National Park We stopped in at Moab (pop: 5100) for a few days which was very welcome after travelling every day so far. It is known as an adventure sports town with many activities on offer – skydiving, climbing, off-road 4x4 driving, mountain-biking, hiking, rafting and more. We didn’t have enough time to take up any of these as we were here for the nearby national parks – Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park.
The weather is a little deceiving when you’re at altitude. It can be clear sunny skies, but you still need a jumper because it’s only 10 degrees. You basically learn to forget what it looks like outside and go purely off the weather forecast.
The first night Jamie and I were quite peckish and fancied a good BBQ joint. We momentarily had a lapse in concentration and forgot that American servings are much larger than Australian servings. Several ‘sliders’ and a rack of ribs each later, and we were well and truly mortified by what we had just done. The last few bites were definitely driven by pride, not hunger. But it was delicious!
The next day we drove out to Arches National Park which
Double-O Arch
Arches National Park contains over 2000 natural sandstone arches. The most famous arch is ‘Delicate arch’, which features on the Utah license plate. It is surrounded by a natural ampitheatre and we were very content to sit and watch as the sun went down (with 50 other keen photographers). Several ‘tourists’ (I will refrain from naming their nationalities) seemed oblivious to this fact and thought it prudent to go and stand right in front of it for ages, taking their own personal photos. Thus ruining everyone else’s. I struggle to fathom that some people are so unaware of their surroundings. Or perhaps they just don’t care. I did notice that most of them were in desperate need of an uppercut so maybe that was the issue.
The next day was spent at Canyonlands National Park. The first stop was Dead Horse Point. It is not named after some really tasty tomato sauce as you might naturally expect, but horses. The story goes that old cowboys would funnel the wild horses out onto the point in order to round them up and capture them. The horses would be faced with capture or a 1000 foot drop. One time the cowboys caught
the horses they wanted to keep but the remaining horses did not leave and all died of thirst and starvation. How nice! The area was also used for the final scene from Thelma and Louise, which I'm told is a somewhat popular movie.
The rest of Canyonlands consisted of a lot of cliff-faces, 1000 foot drops and stunning views. Some people might not know that I suffer from a medium case of Acrophobia, and I’ve been quite happy with how I’ve managed my fears. Many of the photos you see of me standing on cliff edges with nothing but airspace and earth below take quite a lot of self-motivation I can tell you! I’m definitely grimacing on the inside.
The following day we hit the road again on the way to another small little town called Torrey (pop: 179). By the way, many of these towns aren’t special and weren’t specifically picked out. There just aren’t many big towns out here, and one place is as good as any it seems. Now that it is low season, a lot of shops and restaurants close up for winter. We found this out in Torrey as the only place open
White Rim overlook
It's a bit difficult to tell, but this ledge is an overhang, and there is a large drop below. Instant heart-rate elevater!
Canyonlands National Park was a small supermarket. It was a stretch to even call it that. We feasted on microwaved burritos and soup that night.
Our route took us to Goblin Valley State Park. There are a lot of weird rock formations here. It’s a little difficult to explain these formations so you better just check out the photos. ‘Giant rock mushrooms’ is about the best I can do. We also stumbled across some caves and there was a Smeagol sighting or two.
We also took yet another scenic drive through Capitol Reef National Park and went for a short hike to another arch. You really could spend a week or more at most of these places.
I can really say it’s very enjoyable hiking through these parks. There really are no barriers to where you can go, and a lot of the time Jamie and I would just wander off the track and get away from the other humans. Scrambling over rocks and exploring hidden gully’s definitely made us feel like kids again.
The environment here is just so alien, I can’t remember how many times we said ‘It feels like another planet’. It really is amazing when
you think about how these landscapes came about. Even still, after some time in these places it just becomes normal and sandstone spires that once would have blown our minds now just becomes part of the background. It’s funny how quickly we humans can become accustomed to things.
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Chris Feld
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What's up with Denim Dan? Looks like the president, chairman, and CEO of Levi Straus. Hey where'd you get the Canadian tuxedo?