Arches National Park!

Last week Deborah and I decided to take some days off work and head to the Red Rock of Utah. We left very early Thursday morning, stopped in Price, the town of my birth and childhood and then continued on our way. We got there at about 11:00am and set up camp and then took off for the first hike of the day. We hiked first to Landscape Arch, It wasn't a bad hike a little steep in places but for the most part it was pretty easy, despite the desert and never ending red rock you would be amazed to see how green it still was there. I was grateful for the the shade that we found along the trail under the random trees that decided to split the rock and grow. The hike was really pretty. That day we also hiked to Navajo Arch which was really cool. and the shade we found under that Arch gave us some reprieve from the heat as well. My best advice to anyone who goes to Arches especially in the summer is, take lots of water. We had plenty of water but it still never felt like enough. After Navajo Arch we had some Lunch and then headed into Moab to do a little souvenir shopping and buy another ice block for the cooler, and some coals to cook our dinner that night. To our demise we bought the wrong kind of coals. We wanted the kind that just light when you put the match on them but we we got normal coals instead. We did not realize this until we were back at camp and trying to start them to cook our tin foil dinners. Luckily we had some wood from the previous campers so we took the hammer (because of coarse we did not have a hatchet) and started splintering the wood for kindling with the back side of the hammer. Deb worked on this for a bit while I got some news paper stuck in between the coals and then I took over with the hammer. After a few pieces of wood had come off I slammed the hammer into the wood and then dropped the wood so the hammer would wedge down in it and then break off. well the wood broke off easier then I thought and as a result the hammer rammed right into my knee and gave me a pretty deep cut, not to mention some pain because it hit square on top of my knee cap. Soon the blood started trickling and Deb took the hammer from me and got the first aid kit and I cleaned it out and bandaged up the wound. Needless to say despite the injury we eventually got enough wood chips and pieces to get the coals going and our tin foil dinners turned out wonderful. who cares if we at at 9:30 at night it was still good. :D After dinner clean up I got out my camera and tri-pod and started taking some pics of the stars. Some of them turned out really good and I had fun experimenting with my shutter speed and aperture. The next morning we woke up early and went to hike the famous Delicate Arch (the one on the license plate) It was a nice cool morning and it didn't get too hot on the way up. we reached the Arch at about 8:30 and stayed up there for roughly a half hour, taking pictures and resting from the hike which was a mile and a half up hill. The hike down was much easier and quicker then the hike up and good thing too cause it was starting to get warm. On the way to to the car I saw some tadpoles swimming in some stagnant water and then Deb spotted two frogs. So I whipped out my camera and took a few pictures. We saw on of them swim away and it was so funny to see his legs stretch out behind him. Who knew such a small a frog could have such long legs! After Delicate Arch we headed up to the Window Arches and Double Arch. The heat was starting to set in and there was no shade to be found except for under Double Arch, so we packed our lunch in our backpacks and hiked up to double arch, which really is like a ten minute walk. So we sat under the arch and ate lunch and I took more pictures and then we went back to the car. By now the heat had really settled in and it was HOT!! Deb and I were too tired and too hot to want to hike anymore so we went back to camp and sat in what little shade we had there trying to ignore it by reading our books and attempting to play cards. Finally we had had enough so we drove back into town and went to City Market, I don't think I have ever been so grateful for AC in my life! We walked around the store for a bit and had a cookie sample and then decided that we should get back to camp so we could start dinner. So we bought yet another ice block for the cooler and headed back to camp. We roasted hot dogs and had baked beans, macaroni salad and potato salad. Thanks to our neighbors who had left early that morning and left a pile of wood behind which we "borrowed" we were able to get a fire going pretty quickly and there was still plenty of day light to eat by. :) After dinner we went down to the Delicate Arch view point so I could get some sunset pictures, to my disappointment the sunset was not very pretty and so I didn't get many pictures that I really liked. Once we got back to camp we started another fire and roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. I attempted to take more night time pics but they didn't turn out as good as the first night. The next morning we woke up early and did a sunrise hike to Skyline Arch, it was very very pretty and very peaceful seeing how we were the only ones on the trail that early in the morning. After that hike which wasn't long at all we decided to go back to camp and go back to bed. so after another two hours of sleep we got up ate breakfast and packed up camp. On our way out of the park we did the very last hike before you exit the park which is called Park Avenue. It was pretty cool cause you hiked down into a little valley and you had rock walls on both sides of you that looked like buildings. I took tons more pictures and had a great time, we planned on staying for most of the day on Saturday but the heat was so intense that we decided to go home early. So we went to the visitors center, washed off our feet in the water spigots and headed out. We stopped in price to get some gas and ate lunch on a bridge that spans the canal that I grew up by. It was a fantastic trip and quite the adventure. I think the over 500 pictures that were taken are proof enough. :D