June 16: Moab, Utah

Another early start had us cruising towards Bryce Canyon. Once we arrived, we put on our hiking boots and got ready to take in the hoodoos. We picked what was advertised as “the best three-mile hike in the world.” Not having done all the three-mile hikes in the world, we can’t officially say this is true, but it would definitely be hard to beat. The beginning of the hike was particularly fun – especially since it was downhill. We explored the various rock formations and were very glad it was slightly overcast and still relatively cool. We got our exercise at the end of the hike when we had to climb back up the canyon. Due to confusing signing and our lack of a trail map (we left it in the car) we almost descended once again into the canyon. Thankfully we were skeptical about going down after having just climbed back up and we managed to find the appropriate path back to the car.

We left Bryce a little sweatier than we had started and began the drive across Utah towards Arches, opting for the slightly longer but more scenic route. Utah impressed us with its immense volume of exposed rock and apparent lack of towns, people, and soil. We drove through Capital Reef National Park, hoping to find some orchards overflowing with fruit as our guidebook had advertised. Instead of the Garden-of-Eden-like conditions we had hoped for, we found a few trees and more rocks. However, they were very beautiful rocks and I’m sure if it had been the right season the orchards may have seemed more inviting. We also got to see some petroglyphs, which were very cool.

We continued driving, stopping to explore a cave along the side of the road, and reached Arches just after 5:30. The campground at the park was full so we had to find another option for sleeping. We drove into Moab and Louisa was struck with inspiration: we could find an unobtrusive corner of a hotel parking lot and sleep in the car there! As we drove into town we scoped out which parking lot seemed best and settled on the Holiday Inn Express.

We went out to diner at a nice Mexican restaurant, where we both feasted on delicious fish tacos, and then wandered up and down the main drag of Moab, indulging in (and belatedly celebrating Louisa’s birthday with) some ice cream. We killed time until it was dark and then headed over to the Holiday Inn Express.

The plan worked flawlessly except for the fact that it was sweltering hot and a few mosquitoes came in through the cracked windows. Nevertheless, we awoke the next morning rested and ready to check out Arches.