May 2008

We pack up and head out to the boonies. Actually we're in the boonies already. We get on Interstate 70 and Jere is surprised by the sign informing us that there is no services for the next 106 miles on the interstate; we really are in the boonies.

We don't stay on the interstate very long. We take a scenic side route to Capitol Reef National Park, stopping at Goblin Valley State Park on the way.

We walk down into the "valley of goblins" for about an hour before continuing our drive to Capitol Reef National Park.

The scenery on the way to Capitol Reef is interesting:

We first go to the park's campground to make sure we can get a campsite for the night. This campground is first come/first serve and we've been told it fills up by mid-afternoon (and it does today). The campground is very nice with large sites and lots of trees. No water or electric, but the scenery makes up for the lack of utilities.

We stop at the visitor center to see the displays and film and then head out to explore the park.

Our favorite part is the hike we take through the canyon at the end of the scenic drive. It's an easy hike through interesting scenery, petroglyphs, and wildflowers.

In the evening after dinner we sit outside to relax and at least 25 deer roam over next to the campground eating the grass. Some of the deer even come right into the campground to eat the grass between the campsites.

No electric and no generators allowed after 8pm, so we have an early bedtime tonight.

Nothing exciting today. It's a day of chores, with the biggest one being to catch up on home-schooling paperwork. Plus we do wash and some cleaning. Jere and Joe walk across the street to the John Wesley Powell Green River Museum, while I work on Joe's home-school portfolio. When they return we go out for an early Mother's Day dinner at the Tamarask Restaurant next door. Our food is surprisingly very good (this town is small and many sections of town are run down), so a good end for a long day of chores.

We get up early, pack up the trailer, and head out to Arches National Park. We have tickets to take the ranger-led Fiery Furnace Hike, which is a 3-hour hike through the "fins" area of the park. They require tickets or permits to limit the number of hikers in this area of the park. From what I understand, several years ago they found that this area of the park was being spoiled from too many hikers, plus it is easy to get lost in the fins.

It's a beautiful sunny morning. We drop off the trailer at the visitors center and head out to the park. The park looks wonderful with the blue skies (versus the gray skies of Wednesday when we were here).

We get to the Fiery Furnace area of the park, where we'll hike between the fins:

The hike last 3 hours and is fun and interesting. They offer this hike twice/day and take 25 people on each hike.

The hike is listed as Moderately Strenuous. It really isn't that strenuous; however, I was glad that I wasn't any wider :-) Some narrow passages on the hike!

After the hike we go over to Delicate Arch viewpoint, eat our packed lunch and hike up to the viewpoint. We enjoy the occasional wildflower on the hike to the viewpoint. There aren't a lot of flowers in bloom, but I appreciate the ones that are in bloom.

We drive out of the park to pick up the trailer and find a note on our trailer door. A friend of mine is at Arches today, recognized our trailer and left us a note. They just arrived at Arches today, but we are leaving. Very frustrating to be this close, but not see each other. Sometimes timing is everything.

We drive around two hours to Green River KOA and call it a day.

Busy day today. We visit two parks. First we drive out to Dead Horse Point State Park. On the way there we stop at a scenic overlook:

We stop at the visitors center, check out the exhibits and then head out to the point.

We have lunch on the edge of the canyon and enjoy the scenery. Then head over to Canyonlands National Park (the Islands in the Sky section, which is a few miles from Dead Horse Point State Park). On the way we drive through open range and stop for cattle crossing the road.

We stop at the Visitors Center, check out their exhibits (sound familiar?) and then head out to Grandview Point.

We walk the rim trail with it's incredible scenery of the canyon. Joe has fun as we walk:

We make several more stops around the park and take a few short hikes. We enjoy Canyonlands more than Dead Horse Point State Park, probably because it has more trails.

This RV park is full tonight so we need to pack up and go to a different park for the next two nights on the other side of Moab, Utah. Since check-in is not til later today, we head over to the Visitors Center at Arches National Park to watch their film, look through the museum, and buy our tickets for the Fiery Furnace Ranger-led tour (for Friday morning). Then we head to the RV park to set up, eat lunch and head back to Arches NP.

We drive through the park and take several short hikes to see lots and lots of arches.

There are flowers blooming in the desert, though not many cactus. Here is a pic of one small blooming cactus:

The morning is beautiful blue skies but by late afternoon we get some rain, so we head back to the RV park for dinner and relaxation.