It's About the (RV) Journey....: Moving to Moab...............

Our new backyard is in Moab, Utah. We are surrounded by red rocks, and the Colorado River is not too far from us, though we can't see it from the campground. We are in the middle of a couple of National Parks, and stunning scenery everywhere. Arches National Park is about 1 mile from our campground, so that was our first excursion. For more information on Arches National Park, click here.

our new backyard

great views

a little bit of everything

The park is beautiful, with all sorts of landscapes...not just sandstone and arches. The most iconic arch is Delicate Arch, which is a very popular photo on travel brochures and calendars, for good reason. The arch can be seen from an overlook, or you can take a nice hike right to the base of the arch. There are also two short trails that lead to views of the arch, which is what we chose to do. Just beautiful, but....there are many more arches in the park. According to the park literature, there are over 2000 arches!

the road leading into the park...switchbacks up the rock there

close up from the viewing area

hiking up to another viewing area

the scenery all around us is gorgeous...

spring blooms in the high desert

okay...we can go up the trail even more Susie:)

love the awesome landscape

there it is again...Delicate Arch

need to go on a ledge to get to the base of the arch ...ah...never mind

heading back down the path-lots of up and down around here

We stopped at some scenic overlooks along the way. The park has beautiful scenery! Our next hike was lots of fun. We combined the Sandstone Arch, Broken Arch and Tapestry Arch, which also happened to lead us through the campground, where we sort of got lost! Can you imagine? Anyway, it was listed as an "easy" hike, but we did a bit of scrambling at some points. It definitely was fun:)

cool views everywhere

Sand Dune Arch - a favorite with the kids

hope I fit through the fins

looks a little tight

oh good...I can fit through

fun walking in the sand

bad picture...the arch is connected to that rock on the right, which is in shadow

heading out of Sand Dune to walk across the meadow to another arch

nice and flat

there it is...Broken Arch

on my way

every trail meanders...nice

I see the arch right up ahead

are you game?

Broken Arch

this is a wide one

nice

okay...I headed through the arch...and now we are on the other side heading out

its a bit steep going down the slickrock

heading to another arch near the park campground

the views were great along the way

i think we're lost

no...this way

see the arch up ahead on the right

good one

time for a water break-love the trees here!

consulting the good map...'cause now we're lost in the park's campground!

nice campground!!!

heading back now

the views are fabulous

its an interesting hike

ok...we have finally climbed out of the campground and headed back...the trailhead was at a campsite! #51

here we go...

I might add...this was described as an "easy" trail with minimal elevation difference

I'm still here Tom

Grace....haha

still heading down (and so glad we didn't come up this way-ugh!)

okay...I made it:)

sweet

actually this was a really fun trail

still heading back

cool trail

another arch (there are over 2000)

We stopped at a lovely picnic area for lunch before moving on to the Devil's Garden area to check out a few more arches on "easy" hikes. There were a lot of people at Devil's Garden, which is the trailhead for several different arches.

great picnic area

hungry?

right behind our picnic table was a cave with footsteps in it

hard to believe the Native Americans climbed up to the dwellings over this kind of rock

busy area here...

again, great views

heading for the arch

we went to both

tunnel arch

another view

cool

heading to another arch

Pine Tree Arch...nice view through it

starting to get a bit toasty

going back up the hill

kids love this sand hill!

On the way back out of the park, we stopped at the Skyline Arch, and walked up to the base of it. Its amazing how unstable sandstone is. In 1940, much of the arch just crumbled and fell, making the arch even bigger. The sandstone rock that fell off remains at the base of the arch, and is a bit of a reminder that the arches and all of the sandstone rock in the area is forever changing from the forces of wind and water.

great views

heading up to Skyline Arch

almost there?

good view

check out all the rock that fell from the middle of the arch! Woah!

photo op

that camper came all the way from Switzerland!

great views

Fiery Furnace is another area with great rock formations, called fins. There is no trail through the narrow canyons there, so visitors must go with a park ranger on this strenuous hike, with ledges. We enjoyed the views from the overlook!

the landscape is so nice...this is "high desert"

Fiery Furnace area

you can easily get lost in there...must go with a ranger

this hike has scrambling and ledges

I like the view from here

We passed more beautiful scenery as we left the park. One area that we may want to hike in a few days is Park Avenue. The rock spires are tall and thin and interesting-looking from the overlook.

how cool is that?

amazing landscape all around

these are "petrified sand dunes"

some of the rock spires are fallen arches, or could be

Park Avenue

its so cool how the rock formations are flat

a hike for another day?

After leaving Arches for the day, we took a little ride down Scenic Byway 128, that followed the Colorado River through the red rock. The views were amazing, and unfortunately I did not capture the beauty of it, though I tried. There is a paved bike path that goes along the river (and many places throughout the Moab area) and continues right past our campground and into the town center of Moab. We have our bikes here with us, but Tom is still on "medical leave" from that kind of activity. Looks great though...if you are in the area with your bike. There are also many many mountain bike trails in the area. This is a big mountain biking area!