Did I mention I love the Devil's Garden Campground at Arches? When I was a 6 my family stayed here for a couple of weeks. Our campsite had this huge sandstone formation next to it. I spent hours climbing up the sandstone and sliding back down. I wore out a pair of shorts doing that. When I reserved our campsite for this trip I really wanted to stay at the same campsite. I spent quite a while studying the little campground map and the tiny JPG pictures trying to remember the campsite my family stayed at. I ended up picking campsite # 44. As soon as we pulled up I knew that it wasn't the one my family stayed at, but it was the one right next to it. My family had stayed at # 39. I snuck over there and took this picture. This is the sand stone that I played on, and the boulder that my sister Lindsey played on.
Here is another picture of the sandstone that has such great memories for me. Thanks Mom and Dad for taking us there as kids. I loved it!
After packing up our tent for the last time we drove away from Devils Garden and headed over to the trail head for Delicate Arch. This cabin is at the beginning of the trail. Can you imagine living here?
Then we headed up the slick rock. I like this trail because it has a lot of different parts to it. First there are switchbacks, then slick rock, then a steep drop off, and finally a cool arch.
This was my third time hiking this trail. So even though it was one of the longer trails we did on our vacation (3 miles round trip) it seemed short because I knew the way.
We passed an interesting rock caren. Apparently some artists passed this way.
Here Brandon is on the ledge.
And here I am. This trail terrified me as a 6 year old. I remember asking my Dad to go on without me. (I'm glad he didn't). Several years later my Aunt Vera took us all up this same trail. My sister Hillary was about 5 and she wasn't scared at all of this drop off.
After the drop off part we rounded the corner and found the arch.
We went right up under it and a nice couple took our picture.
Then we ate snacks. This raven came right up to us. Brandon fed him a raisin!
The whole way down the trail I had to go to the bathroom super bad. I hurried down that trail as fast as I could. Brandon said he'd never seen me move so fast. Finally we got to the bottom and there were a whole bunch of people in line for the bathrooms. They were all nice enough to let me go ahead of them. So that is why there aren't any pictures of the way down the trail.
We drove out of the park and started our long journey to Vernal. We headed East along the Colorado River and passed the Fisher Towers.
And here is the Colorado River.
After saying goodbye to the Colorado River we drove through some pretty boring scenery. Then we came across this set for a commercial. The police man that guided our car though the set told us to drive carefully because, "these Hollywood guys left their brains in California"
There were tons of trailers lining the road as we drove by. We were surprised at how much stuff goes into filming a commercial.
We headed into Colorado for about 5 minutes then turned on top a tiny road that took us north. It also took us straight up a mountain.
After the mountain we found a nice quiet spot and pulled over for nap time. This is something we did almost everyday around 2 or 3 o'clock. We'd stop, grab the pillows, and zonk out for about 45 minutes. I miss it!
We drove through some more boring landscape and finally made it to Vernal. We tried to go to Dinosaur National Monument, but gave up after about 15 minutes of boredom. The problem with Dinosaur NM is that the visitors center - with the cool view of the fossil quarry wall, is structurally unstable right now. So it's closed. The rest of the park is just hikes and auto tours with crazy signs. Brandon borrowed a line from Jurassic Park and asked, "you are going to have dinosaur bones in your dinosaur park, right?" We gave up and drove the rest of the way to Vernal.
Where our KOA kabin was waiting for us. We knew that we would be sick of putting up our tent each night so we reserved a kabin for the last night.
It came with a full bed and a bunk bed. It was huge for just the two of us. It also had electricity which was a treat. The bathrooms and showers were close by too.
We ate left over taco salad, and then sat in the porch swing for a while. It was kind of rainy and we watched the sky. It was so pretty after all the boring stuff we saw while driving. It was also so green compared to the oranges of Arches.
We also passed the Dewey Bridge. This bridge caught on fire from a field that caught on fire when a kid was playing with matches. It is still a cool looking bridge.
Here is the newer bridge that has been used for years. It's not as cool looking.
And here is the Colorado River.
After saying goodbye to the Colorado River we drove through some pretty boring scenery. Then we came across this set for a commercial. The police man that guided our car though the set told us to drive carefully because, "these Hollywood guys left their brains in California"
There were tons of trailers lining the road as we drove by. We were surprised at how much stuff goes into filming a commercial.
We headed into Colorado for about 5 minutes then turned on top a tiny road that took us north. It also took us straight up a mountain.
After the mountain we found a nice quiet spot and pulled over for nap time. This is something we did almost everyday around 2 or 3 o'clock. We'd stop, grab the pillows, and zonk out for about 45 minutes. I miss it!
We drove through some more boring landscape and finally made it to Vernal. We tried to go to Dinosaur National Monument, but gave up after about 15 minutes of boredom. The problem with Dinosaur NM is that the visitors center - with the cool view of the fossil quarry wall, is structurally unstable right now. So it's closed. The rest of the park is just hikes and auto tours with crazy signs. Brandon borrowed a line from Jurassic Park and asked, "you are going to have dinosaur bones in your dinosaur park, right?" We gave up and drove the rest of the way to Vernal.
Where our KOA kabin was waiting for us. We knew that we would be sick of putting up our tent each night so we reserved a kabin for the last night.
It came with a full bed and a bunk bed. It was huge for just the two of us. It also had electricity which was a treat. The bathrooms and showers were close by too.
We ate left over taco salad, and then sat in the porch swing for a while. It was kind of rainy and we watched the sky. It was so pretty after all the boring stuff we saw while driving. It was also so green compared to the oranges of Arches.
We'll have to make you a copy of the video we have of arches when you were six.
ReplyDeleteOf all the places to heal after your miscarriage I can think of no better place than Arches. It is so pretty, and so quiet. I'm glad you chose to get out of your tent and go see the sights! You're a good example to me of people who choose to make life better in the face of adversity.
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