Stops:
Arches National Park, UT
Lakewood, CO

Music selections:
Dead Can Dance - Spiritchaser
Frank Zappa - Broadway The Hard Way
Joe Satriani - Crystal Planet

Click on highlighted words for pictures...

Off to Arches!!  The park is only about 2 miles from Moab, and on the drive in, I get to see the scenery I missed driving in darkness... Man, this place is beautiful... I find myself taking pictures of almost everything.  There's almost too much scenery for your eyes to absorb all at one time. What I don't realize is that it's pale in comparison to what I'm about to find inside the park.  I took 3 bottles of water, because I knew that there's no way I could handle hiking in that heat without it.

I arrived at about 8:30 am... the sun was bright, and it was about 90 degrees, not a cloud in the sky.  I knew it was gonna be HOT HOT HOT once the sun was up for a while.... I started the day with a hike down Park Avenue. The sheer size of the rock walls and columns is mind boggling.. this place is so beautful, I wish I could come here every day.  The hike down to Courthouse Towers was about 2 miles round trip... and the shade of the enormous rock walls on either side made it a really comfortable hike.

Next I was off to Balanced Rock, which is an 8000 lbs bolder balanced on top of a rock column... You look at these things, and it just astounds you the things nature can do.  From Balanced Rock, I took the turnoff to see The Windows, and Double Arch (pictured above).  If you can see the large boulder in the lower right... I sat on top of that boulder, and cooled off while I had a snack.  Totally cool.  You can't really see it in the picture, but you could see the moon through the arch, it was awesome.

From there, I made a quick stop at the Garden of Eden.  By now I was out of water, and I still wanted to see Delicate Arch. So I decided to go to the viewpoint instead of taking the hike...  LAME.  You hike 1.5 miles, and climb up a big ass cliff, and it's still like half a mile away.  You can't get a good shot of it without a zoom lens and a tripod.  Okay, this isn't going to do, so now I get to figure out where to get water from without driving all the way back into Moab.

I took a look at the map of Arches, and I can see that there's water up about 20 miles ahead at the parking area for Landscape Arch, as well as a few others.  So I hop in the car and blast up to the end of the park where it's located.... I figured, while I'm here I'm gonna hike up to Landscape Arch... it's 1.9 mile hike.  So I filled up my bottled, and headed off...  And again, very impressive scenery.. I don't think there's a BAD hike in this park.. they're all really cool, and each one has it's own "flavor" so to speak, so they don't end up being redundant.  Made it to Landscape, and by now the temperature is over 100 degrees, and it's about 12:30... I decided that if I'm gonna get to Delicate Arch and make Denver at a reasonable hour, I better make a beeline.  

I filled up my water again before I left for Delicate Arch, determined to get a good picture of it before I left the park.  The hike to Delicate Arch is 3.0 miles... but it is one of the more difficult hikes in the park...  It's mostly uphill on steep inclines, and the ground beneath you is sandstone, so it absorbs the heat.  It's so hot you can feel it burning your feet through your shoes.  By now the temperatures were about 110 or so... and the cliffs blocked the wind, so it felt like standing inside of an oven.  Combine the heat with the steep incline, and it makes this climb FUCKING BRUTAL.  But determined to see it, I forged on... and finally made it to the top.  When you come around that corner and see Delicate Arch there, it makes the whole trip totally worth it.

Climbing back down, I pulled a muscle in my right hip... so I'm hobbling around now.  I also got sunburn, even though I was wearing SPF60 sunblock.  I guess I must have sweated it all off.  I know that by the time I got done, my eyebrows were crusted over with salt from dried sweat.  I had to stop and a rest area on the way out of town, and dunk my head in a sink..

I would recommend Arches National Park to anyone who wants to see scenery so spectacular it's almost unbelievable that it's real.  This has got to be one of most beautiful places on earth... I shot 4 rolls of film there, and I never covered the whole park.  My tip would be to plan to spend 1 or 2 days there, and tackle the TOUGH climbs like Delicate Arch first thing in the morning before it gets too hot, or to go during a time of the year when it's cooler.  I'd really love to see Arches in the winter some time.

So by now it was 4:00, and I needed to head if I was gonna make Denver and still be awake... looks like I'm gonna have to skip Canyonlands all together.  BUMMER!!

Right after I crossed the Colorado border, I saw a sweet black WS6 Trans Am getting pulled over... bummer dude!  But if I had my T/A there, I probably woulda been hauling ass, too!  I ended up either following or leading that T/A for about 50-60 miles.  I think he was using me as a blocker for a while... so I slowed down, let him pass and then used him for a while.. hehehe.

I arrived in Denver (well, Lakewood actually) at about 10:00 pm.  Tired.  Hurting.  Ready to hit the sack.  I'm gonna be in Denver for a couple of days, and more than anything I'll probably just be resting.... so I wouldn't expect a lot of updates while I'm here...

And resting is what I will do.... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

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