We broke down our tent and got out of mosquito city as quickly as possible in the morning, got breakfast in town and then headed to Arches. We talked to the Ranger and got our permit for hiking Fiery Furnace, complete with a conservation video. We drove to the end of the long, long park road to the Devil's Garden trail and got to it.
Though I've done the trail twice before, it's always really enjoyable. The rocks at Arches are so great to walk on.
We climbed up to the top of Double O Arch of course. It's a tradition now so whenever I come back I'll have to do it. Other people were following us up this time.
We got on the primitive trail and started looking for a place to climb. I found a great place that looked really challenging. It was. But that made it super fun. It continued to have challenges as we followed the climb up. This part was fun. Maybe I was a bit overconfident, but I had no problem doing it.
We went out to the very edge of the rock and checked out the view before heading back basically the way we came up. I went down a different way along the side and climbed down.
Joanna climbed down the way that we initially went up and ended up in the same situation as I had in Colorado. It was a slow, careful descent down this steep section, but she made it.
We took the rest of the primitive trail around. I love that trail. It has a bunch of little climbs and narrow areas to navigate. The long walk on the sand isn't the best though. We did find thirty dollars on the trail though. Gas money.
We took a bit of a break for water and food when we got done the hike. Then we headed down to the Fiery Furnace parking area and psyched ourselves to go back out in the hot heat. Once we did that we took the trail down into the area they described as maze-like. They suggest you have a ranger guide, but we're too cool for that.
We descended into the group of tall rocks that reminded me of the hoodoos at Bryce. It's not at all what you'd expect when you get down into them.
We climbed around on some areas, trying to find a path that led to slot canyon areas, but kept coming up to dead ends. There were some cool places to climb over (and under.)
We explored for a while and found a few slots that went in far enough to climb around a bit, but none of them were very long so we just kept going in one and out and then in another. The constant dead ends, the extreme heat and our exhaustion led us to the unspoken conclusion that we should head back to the car.
To contrast the desert hike, we went to a waterfall in Moab to cool off. Apparently it's somewhat manufactured, but that didn't matter to me. I got in the ice cold water. My feet were numbing. It was a strange sensation to be standing in desert heat while my feet are losing feeling. And it looks like I photoshopped my head on another body since my sunburn/farmer's tan is so pronounced.
It was a hard to get in by the falls so we went downstream a while to get in the calmer water. It was still cold just easier to walk around in.
We returned to Moab Brewery for dinner. We had an awesome waiter. I tried several different beers this time. We got a bread bowl of veggie chili and tasty spinach manicotti. We were going to leave, but as I talked to our waiter I decided I wanted to stay and try more beer like the Scorpion Ale and Oatmeal Stout. Both were very good.
I felt good after those beers and we went over the campground to shower before going down to a different campsite at Ken's Lake. No mosquitoes this time.
We broke down our tent and got out of mosquito city as quickly as possible in the morning, got breakfast in town and then headed to Arches. We talked to the Ranger and got our permit for hiking Fiery Furnace, complete with a conservation video. We drove to the end of the long, long park road to the Devil's Garden trail and got to it.
Though I've done the trail twice before, it's always really enjoyable. The rocks at Arches are so great to walk on.
We climbed up to the top of Double O Arch of course. It's a tradition now so whenever I come back I'll have to do it. Other people were following us up this time.
We got on the primitive trail and started looking for a place to climb. I found a great place that looked really challenging. It was. But that made it super fun. It continued to have challenges as we followed the climb up. This part was fun. Maybe I was a bit overconfident, but I had no problem doing it.
We went out to the very edge of the rock and checked out the view before heading back basically the way we came up. I went down a different way along the side and climbed down.
Joanna climbed down the way that we initially went up and ended up in the same situation as I had in Colorado. It was a slow, careful descent down this steep section, but she made it.
We took the rest of the primitive trail around. I love that trail. It has a bunch of little climbs and narrow areas to navigate. The long walk on the sand isn't the best though. We did find thirty dollars on the trail though. Gas money.
We took a bit of a break for water and food when we got done the hike. Then we headed down to the Fiery Furnace parking area and psyched ourselves to go back out in the hot heat. Once we did that we took the trail down into the area they described as maze-like. They suggest you have a ranger guide, but we're too cool for that.
We descended into the group of tall rocks that reminded me of the hoodoos at Bryce. It's not at all what you'd expect when you get down into them.
We climbed around on some areas, trying to find a path that led to slot canyon areas, but kept coming up to dead ends. There were some cool places to climb over (and under.)
We explored for a while and found a few slots that went in far enough to climb around a bit, but none of them were very long so we just kept going in one and out and then in another. The constant dead ends, the extreme heat and our exhaustion led us to the unspoken conclusion that we should head back to the car.
To contrast the desert hike, we went to a waterfall in Moab to cool off. Apparently it's somewhat manufactured, but that didn't matter to me. I got in the ice cold water. My feet were numbing. It was a strange sensation to be standing in desert heat while my feet are losing feeling. And it looks like I photoshopped my head on another body since my sunburn/farmer's tan is so pronounced.
It was a hard to get in by the falls so we went downstream a while to get in the calmer water. It was still cold just easier to walk around in.
We returned to Moab Brewery for dinner. We had an awesome waiter. I tried several different beers this time. We got a bread bowl of veggie chili and tasty spinach manicotti. We were going to leave, but as I talked to our waiter I decided I wanted to stay and try more beer like the Scorpion Ale and Oatmeal Stout. Both were very good.
I felt good after those beers and we went over the campground to shower before going down to a different campsite at Ken's Lake. No mosquitoes this time.
1 comment:
nice stock photo, cheater. also, i noticed today in the other waterfall pictures you took of me that my legs look photoshopped on. that photo doesn't do your tan lines justice.
p.s. don <3 matt 4e
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