Five years have passed since our wedding. Five years of adventures, laughter, acceptance, chaos, exploring, and the occasional power struggle. I won't say they've been easy or perfect, but I wouldn't trade them for anything.
To celebrate our first five years, my sister threw us an absolutely gorgeous party! Isn't she awesome? Oh wait, that was her party. It was so fun celebrating Emily and James's wedding! Those two know how to throw a party! Oh and did I mention they're smart as well as beautiful?
Since we were already in Utah, we chose to explore some of the national and state parks we've been wanting to see (or return to, in my case). After brunch with my sisters and their men, we headed to Moab. It's a 4 hour drive, but due to all the rain this summer, It was green and beautiful.
We arrived at the trailhead to Delicate Arch one hour before sunset. Perfect! It's an easy 3 mile out and back. The national Park calls it a difficult trail, but they lie. The were tiny kids doing just fine. My mom took all four of us as little kids. Anyway, we caught a stunning sunset up at the Arch. It's truly amazing this thing is still standing. It looks like a solid wind or a slight rumble of the Earth would knock it over.
Finding camping ended up being significantly harder than I thought it would be. We finally found a rest area and spent the night in the back of the Mitsubishi Outlander we had rented. As we discovered, we had lost our tent out of our checked bag. It ended up working out just fine. The car was safe and the back seats laid flat. Oh and it was a free option, can't beat that.
The next morning we went straight to Arches. We filled water bottles and hydration packs and drove all the way through the park to Devil's Garden. This consumed our entire morning. It's an incredibly beautiful red rock area full of arches, interesting landscapes, and sand. So much sand.
We visited every arch on the trail. There are many, some requiring walking side trails. I personally loved Landscape Arch because of its fragility. There was never a moment where we didn't see other people. It's a busy place. We took the primitive trail (just a trail rather than groomed path) back. It was definitely less crowded and more beautiful.
Afterward, we did a quick little walk to Skyline Arch before stopping for another 3 miles wander around Sand Dune Arch, Broken Arch, and Tapestry Arch. They were lovely and far less crowded.
Our feet were feeling pretty tired by this point but I made Mike go over to visit Double Arch and the Windows with me. Double Arch would've been our favorite by far had there been less people. It's massive, gorgeous and you're allowed to climb all over it! Finally, we went into Moab for some bomb Mexican food and WiFi. It was a much needed rest after our 15 miles of trekking.
The next morning, I made Mike go walk park avenue to finish out Arches. I lost a contact, but the sun was low enough to make it not a big deal as we walked among the towering walls of the Courthouse.
We drove into the Colorado River BLM land and finally arrived at Hauer Ranch. After a few minutes of paperwork, we were each assigned a horse, probably based on our weight, but who knows. I was given a black and white paint named Cash while Mike was assigned a wildly painted Appaloosa named Scout. Since all we did was walk in a nose to trail line, it probably didn't matter which horses were given to whom. The ride was about 3 hours through the BLM land with lovely desert landscapes. I loved the ride, but I think we were super spoiled in Mexico where we were actually allowed to go faster and our horses were allowed to have personality.
This area was the land of John Wayne movies and Westworld. The view was lovely in all directions, made incredibly interesting by the color contrasts: red dirt, brilliant blue sky, green and yellow plants, dark gray gnarled dead juniper trees. The skyline was made up of mesas and towers.
In a cruel twist of fate, we ended up spending that afternoon in Dead Horse Point State Park. This is a sky high Mesa that overlooks Canyonlands National Park. There's an awful legend accompanying it that makes me hate people. However, aside from that, it's a beautiful place with spectacular views.
We followed that up by actually entering Canyonlands. We only spent a few hours here. We visited the lovely Mesa Arch and hiked to Second Lookout of Upheaval Dome in time for sunset. Sunset was one of those deceptive events. I thought it would be fast since there weren't many clouds in the sky. However, after sinking below the horizon, the sun illuminated wispy cotton candy clouds all over the sky for a lovely ethereal end to the day. Central Utah is a dark sky area due to its isolation from major cities. The stars there are worth a few minutes of Wonder. The milky way is highly visible and stars pepper the sky.
The next morning was spent dealing with a flat tire and actually going out for breakfast. We then drove an hour and a half to Goblin Valley State Park. It's a formation of dried mud hoodoos that resemble little goblins covering a remarkably large area. Basically, you're allowed to explore the whole area, climbing on things and imagining creatures or animals in the statues.
We started with the Carmel Canyon and Goblins Lair trails. The canyon was a nice little loop that dropped is back in the parking lot, oops. We headed back out along the edge of the formation to a big cave that was fun to play in. We climbed all the way down in. There was a dark little tunnel off to one side that we crawled around in until Mike decided that he didn't like the idea of going in any further without gear or real lights. We explored a few more caves along the back side before heading back for a picnic lunch and to wander the valley of goblins.
We spent over an hour wandering the valley. There were goblins to climb, handstands to do, and things to spot in the formations. It was really fun. Finally we snuck into the campground for much needed showers. I mean it was definitely time. Yikes!
We found a campsite under a big Mesa on San Rafael recreation land about a half mile from the next morning's trailhead. If the stars at Canyonlands were fabulous, the stars near Goblin Valley were even better. I wish we'd had a telescope. Also, I need to learn to use my camera for long exposures.
We packed up early the next morning to hike Little Wild Horse Canyon to Bell Canyon. I had seen on a blog somewhere that it was a really cool slot canyon. It more than lived up to the hype. I had no idea it was there and was beyond thrilled to have written it down. Little Wild Horse is a 3.6 mile slot canyon. The trail follows a stream bed, so it's obviously very important to know what the upstream weather conditions are. Since it had been very dry, we were safe. The canyon was amazing with cool rock formations, sandstone curves, and huecos. I may have taken way too many photos.
We did a short dirt road walk surrounded by tall vertical faces that promised fabulous rock climbing routes. The sky was a super intense blue and the waning moon still glowed overhead.
Bell Canyon is half the length of Little Wild Horse Canyon. It still has some fun little things to jump on or climb over, but wasn't as contained or winding. Still, I love the red sandstone cliffs. We saw a bunch of little lizards and a couple of birds.
The hike was a perfect send-off for us. From there, we drove back up to Northern Utah to spend a day with family before flying out.
