On to Moab and Arches National Park

[This one should get me caught up. Covering Friday thru Saturday afternoon.]

Up early to finish packing and break camp in Fruita. We intentionally stalled a bit to wait for Gifford House to open at 8am so we could buy one of their homemade cinnamon rolls that we had spied the day before (delicious, but we both agreed our daughter Victoria's are better!).

On the way out of the park, we stopped a couple times to take in some of the views, including petroglyphs - art carved/painted into rock faces by ancient natives around 600-1300 AD.

Fruita barn on the drive out of camp

Fremont culture petroglyphs (figures in the middle of the photo)

We drove about an hour through sparsely populated, gray-but-beautiful landscape before stopping for a great breakfast and solid wifi at Duke's Slickrock Grill in Hanksville, Utah. We blindly stumbled onto this place - and it was delicious. We've been pleasantly surprised by the quality of food at roadside restaurants - most serving locally raised/grown food.

Somewhere between Capitol Reef and Hanksville

Cowboy breakfast at Duke's Slickrock Grill

We got to Arches NP around noon and decided to check things out, even though we were staying outside the park Friday night. We drove a few miles into the park, stopping frequently to snap pictures and take in the scenery. It felt a little like driving through the gallery of a clay sculptor with massive, incomplete sculptures lying around.

The one in the middle is appropriately called 'Balanced Rock'

The one on the left is called 'Three Gossips'

After an hour or so, we headed into Moab to check things out and pick up some groceries. Restocked, we headed to our hotel, the Red Cliffs Lodge, which was significantly nicer than we were expecting - a pleasant surprise. It's a 17 mile drive out of Moab along the Colorado River, through a canyon of soaring red cliffs. 

Drive to the Red Cliffs Lodge

The Lodge has large, cabin-style rooms with decks looking out over the river, a large pool, laundry facilities (much needed at this point in the trip!), a restaurant, horse stables, and more. We learned that several movies have been filmed here - include 'Rio Grande' starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. We quickly did laundry, replenished our ice and water, then showered and headed to the pool for half an hour before a 6:45 dinner reservation at the Lodge restaurant. Dinner was amazing! The whole experience at the Lodge was an unexpected-but-much-appreciated guilty pleasure - we're supposed to be roughing it, right?!

Poolside R&R!

The view from our dinner table on the deck of the restaurant.

Early to bed, up at 6, packed and on the road to Arches at 7. Karri had identified a few shorter hikes to views of some of the park's signature arched rocks. We had read that Arches is one of the busiest national parks and, as usual, wanted to beat the crowds. We were treated to some beautiful, morning-sunlight sights.

Turret Arch

South Arch

Double Arch

Delicate Arch

We stopped at our campsite at Devil's garden - at the northern end of the park road, dropped off some stuff, then drove back down for one more hike.

Sand Dune Arch

Broken Arch

At this point, we felt we had seen most of the sights - with plans for a 7.5mi hike (Devil's Garden) Sunday morning to see a couple more. The skies turned dark and my WeatherBug app popped a lightning alert for the area. As any responsible hikers would do, we decided to seek cover... and drove back to Moab for a cold beverage, an afternoon snack (that turned into dinner), and wifi at The Spoke on Center - a cool bike-themed restaurant/bar in the heart of town.

We're considering another revision to our plan... maybe only 1 night camping in the park, as we feel we've seen most of it. Karri is scouting options for Sunday afternoon/evening - centered around giving us an opportunity to hike Corona and Bowtie Arch Trail on Monday, which is highly recommended - and not located in a national park. We'll decide in camp tonight...

Song Spot: Several, but 'Can't See The Light' by Reuben and the Dark got me through a couple hikes

Hiking: ~7mi (Sat)

Biking: 0