I had no idea Utah was so beautiful. For some reason, I thought it was a big, flat desert. Arches National Park totally changed my perspective of Utah. I had never heard of Arches before visiting here. Allison tells me that it is pretty famous. Am I the only one unaware of it? This national park features great hiking trails, interesting wildlife, and of course arches! However these are no ordinary arches. They are created naturally through years of erosion. They are truly a spectacle. This is another example of something that is very difficult to express in writing. Please enjoy some pictures from our time at Arches.
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| We took a 2 mile hike in Arches through a little valley, and it was pretty! |
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| The Balanced Rock at Arches- way cool |
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| At arches- I don't remember which one this was, but we really liked it |
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| Standing in an Arch! |
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| Our campsite near Arches was beautiful! |
Our next stop was further west. We arrived at Zion National Park around lunchtime. I am very grateful Allison booked a campsite in advance. Every single campsite in the park was booked! After a quick lunch, we changed into our hiking gear and went exploring. We braved a long, steep hike to the top of a mountain. At the top was a beautiful pond, called the Upper Emerald Pool. Along the hike we also saw the Lower Emerald Pool, and a waterfall!
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| At the lower Emerald Pool- the water fell from the ledge above, all along where the gate is |
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| After a long, hot hike to the upper Emerald Pool- it really was beutiful |
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| A pretty pile of rocks on the trail |
These pools are very special, given the desert climate. After taking some time to relax and reflect, we hiked back down. Our after-hike treat was a delicious soft serve twist cone. Hiking in the desert makes ice cream taste extra sweet. The guy ahead of us in line was very particular about his ice cream. He wanted the bottom half of his cone to be chocolate, and the top half to be vanilla. The employee informed him that they couldn’t do that. So, he settled for a twist cone, but not without giving the poor employee a little ‘tude, first. Weary from our hike, we hopped on a shuttle bus. The bus took us around the rest of the park. We were able to hop off and explore as we wished. Allison and I went for a few more small hikes in between sightseeing. One stop was the Weeping Rock, which was a big soft rock. The rock absorbs water, and slowly drips it out. I guess it is sort of like a giant rock sponge? Our last destination was the riverside walk beach. We didn’t feel up for hiking the whole riverside walk.
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| A pretty little river at the riverside walk- this guy was very opinionated about how his subject was standing, and was very noisy, so I just took a picture of him! -Allison |
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| We also found some kind of eggs in the river! |
If memory serves me, this trail was pretty long. Allison and I were both tired from the last few days. Between Colorado, Arches, and Zion, we did a lot of hiking! It was dinnertime when we got back to our campsite. Allison whipped up Velveeta Shells and Cheese, with some black beans and a can of Rotel. Delicious! Just as the sun was setting, a family of six pulled up to the campsite next to us. I believe they hold the Guinness World Record for the LOUDEST children. One kid was placed in the car for time-out. He proceeded to roll down his window and yell “Hey killer!” to his dad. Geeze. Shortly after this happened, we went to bed. Somehow, we were able to fall asleep, despite all the noise. Since our day at Zion was so productive, we decided to cut our second day. We proceeded to the Grand Canyon, in favor of seeing our family, sooner.
-Marc
