Tuesday, 7/12, Arches National Park, Travel from Moab, UT to Richfield, UT

What an exhausting day!!  We checked out of the hotel at 8:00AM!  A new record! 

We all woke up (or got woken up) between 6:00 and 6:30.  We wanted an early
start to get to the Arches National Park early, before it would get too hot.  We
got the map at the Visitor's Center and decided to first do the Delicate Arch
trail.  This is a 3 mile (roundtrip) hike that is estimated to take 2-3 hours. 
It is considered 'strenuous' by the park services.  Then we would go to some of
the other easier hikes to other arches.  The Delicate Arch is one of the
pictures that comes with Windows 7 (at least on my computer) and is part of the
natural landscapes screensavers.  So this was our chance of seeing it in person,
after all this time only seeing it on my screen.

While driving to the start of the trail, we took notice of all the cool shapes
of the rock formations that just seem to pop straight out of the ground.  There
were the usual comparisons, like a dinosaur or alligator, but the best one was
from Josh who observed a likeness to a spear of asparagus!!  Josh loves his
asparagus.  Other cool ones looked like one of the old guys on The Muppets, who
sit up in the theater box and criticize everything, and a lion's profile.

Grumpy old muppet?

Simba?

So we made it to the trail and started up at around 9:15AM.  We all took our
sport water bottles, and I carried a gallon jug and a few umbrellas (for
shade, if needed) in a backpack.  It started off relatively easy on dirt and
gravel paths, and then it hit slickrock.  Whoa, that was the toughest part. 
Pretty steep and very long.  Towards the middle, maybe closer to the top, a few
people on the way down stopped to chat to let us now how much further it would
be.  So we got to chatting for about 5 minutes.  I thanked them for taking the
time, since it really gave us time to rest up a bit.

After the slickrock portion it was back to dirt and rocks.  I was soaked already
at that point from sweat.  Actually I was probably soaked from way back before
there.  We all made sure to keep drinking.  Thankfully there was decent cloud
cover so the sun was only beating directly down for bits here and there.  The
kids already went on ahead of us.  Everyone on the trail was very friendly and
often greeted each other in passing.  And lots of Europeans on the trail too.

It's a LONG way up!!

Slickrock

 

Finally, we made it to the first arch.  It was up on a steep rock hill, but
climbable.  Karen wasn't up to it, but I went up.  I was a little nervous about
getting down.  It's often much easier to go up than down on these rocks.
Everyone was offering to take pictures of each other.  From the middle of this
arch, you could see Delicate Arch.  I was able to spot the kids there and
screamed out to them.  They heard the second time and waved back.  So I knew it
was not that much longer of a hike.  It took us about an hour for the climb up.

Delicate Arch in the background

Delicate Arch is a truly amazing site.  It's probably the most famous
natural span in the world.  Just sitting there on top of this mountatin, 500
feet up from the bottom.  It is HUGE.  You can't really tell the size of it in
pictures with nothing else around to put it in perspective.  You can just make
out the kids in the picture here.

Those little specks in the bottom middle are the kids

After we got our fill of Delicate Arch, we headed down.  Boy did it feel better

knowing we were on our way down.  Those poor souls on their way up in the heat
of the day!  We got down to the bottom in about a half-hour.  On the way down,
we saw ahead of us some rescue workers carrying someone down on a stretcher.
There was an ambulance waiting at the bottom.  On the way up we passed someone
who looked like he was in some distress.  His family was helping him stay cool
and hydrated while laying on a rock.  But it looked serious.  Not sure if this
was the same person on the stretcher.  We kept saying how thankful we are for
being able to do this hike.

Once back to the van, we ate lunch in the car.  From there we decided to go to a
few more arches trails.  They would be nothing compared to Delicate Arch.  So we
headed for the top of the road loop to do Landscape Arch first.  Took about 15
minutes to walk to it, with only a couple of decent hills.  It's a really
long arch (longest natural rock span in the world - 306 feet!)  They don't allow
hikers right up to it ever since a big chunk of it from underneath fell out and
made the opening even bigger.  A tourist was there at the time and took pictures
of it happening.  The picture is posted at the arch.

Landscape Arch

Then we did the Skyline Arch, a simple walk to it from the side of the road. 
Then on to the Double Arch.  A 5-10 minute walk to it.  Some scenes from an
Indiana Jones film were done here.  Like it's name implies, it's one arch right next to
another one, forming a triangle shape.  It's pretty neat.  The kids (and I)
climbed up some steep rocks to get right up inside of them.

Double Arch

Double Arch in background

 Then a quick stop to take a picture of the Balanced Rock.  It's a massive
boulder that appears to be teetering on a much skinnier tall rock structure.
Adina tried knocking it over but she couldn't.

Adina!! Careful!!

Steaaaaadeeeeey!!

On our way out we met a couple who asked where we are from.  She said she's from
Denver, and her son is studying now in Lakewood, but he's moving to another
yeshiva in Brooklyn next year.  They're not observant at all, but her son
decided at age 16 to become religious.

We drove back into Moab to pick up some souvenirs (and the obligatory ice cream
too).  There are a bunch of shops right near each other on the main drag.  The
last place we went to, we were greeted by the owner with a "Mah Nishma" (Hebrew
for "How are you/what's going on?")  We told him how we met other Israelis
yesterday, and he thought we meant another Israeli store owner a few doors down.
Like we didn't already know, he informed us that there is no kosher food around
these parts.

Then we started the 2.5 hour drive to Richfield, UT, where we'll stay overnight
before heading to Las Vegas in the morning.  We found a nice park to have a
hotdog bbq, with some of the trimmings (canned corn and baked beans).  My
ceramic knobs on the bbq lid worked well.  Except the flame kept going out.  I
think when the lid is closed fully it goes out easier.  When I kept it a touch
open, the flame stayed lit.  So I learned a new trick for the next time.  We'll
see if the theory holds.

Josh loves his French's

View from the park in Richfield, UT

Meeting niece Shani tomorrow!!! We may get to Las Vegas in time for her
flight and be able to pick her up.