Wolfe Ranch
The hike into the arch is a mixture of sand trail and slick rock. Total distance of the hike is 3 miles round trip so it would be a good one to warm up on
On the Trail to Delicate Arch
The final 200 yards of this trail follows a ledge that drops off significantly. As we rounded the final corner our eyes were greeted by the arch.
Delicate Arch
A family was standing under it so Linda and I sat down and waited for them to get their pictures and talk about their adventures. I climbed up on some sandstone ridges just above the arch and looked out over a beautiful panorama. The family quickly departed leaving Linda and I alone, something that we later found out would be rare.
Little Bug Big Arch
A young couple came over the rise to join us just as I was setting up a timed photo and they were more then happy to take the picture, thus keeping me from tripping as I ran to get into the shot and falling into the endless labyrinth that surrounded the arch.
Delicate Rock
They were very nice and mentioned that they knew where Coeur d’Alene was and that they had heard about the Ironman competition. We left them to enjoy the arch by them selves and started our hike back. On the way we met several groups of folks hiking in. We noticed that many of them were not prepared for hiking and were very out of shape. We talked about each group as they went by, many of then didn’t seem very happy about being in such a beautiful place. It is kind of hard to understand how this could be.
Views, Views, Views
Back at the Jeep we ate some food and drank a bit of water while we set our course for the next hike, The Windows area. At the Windows parking lot we realized that we were not alone. There were about forty cars and two busses there when we rounded the corner. We parked in the lower lot and started by hiking to Double Arch a mere 8/10 of a mile.
Double Arch
The busses were filled with Elderhostal people and we met them all coming back from these arches. A very different attitude greeted us as we passed the older couples. Each one greeted us and smiled wishing “Happy Easter” or a bright “Good Morning.” Much different then the younger hikers. It was fun to see them is such good spirits and full of cheer. We viewed the arches and then I hike along the base on the sandstone and went up a draw to look at another smaller arch. I spotted fresh deer tracks and some other small critter tracks that were left in the mud of the wash. I met Linda when I doubled back and we hiked back to our next destination.
We had to hike up to the upper parking lot and then find the trail head. Not a hard task being there were hundreds of people around. Two real nice people met us at the top of the stares and we talked about the hike. They suggested we take the primitive trail by way of the Turret Arch.
Turret Arch
We thanked them for their suggestion and went on our way; the trails are very well made here in the National Park. We walked by Turret Arch and then headed to the South window area where we left the main trail and got on the primitive trail.
South Window from Primitive Trail
The term primitive is very relative because this trail was very well maintained. Because they use the word primitive many of the hikers don’t go there.
Primitive Trail View of North Window
We met one other couple on the trail going our way and we ran into a group being guided by a ranger coming the other way. The primitive trail led around the back side of the North and South Windows and all the hundreds of tourists only looked at one side so once again we had it mostly to our selves.
Bug!
On the road again we traveled back in the direction of the main entrance took a couple pictures of Balanced Rock,
Balanced Rock
and stopped at the pull out for the Park Avenue Trail. This trail leads up a wash one mile and gains about 361 feet in elevation.
Park Avenue
We hiked it from bottom to top and then back again, we both agreed that was the way to go. It is a beautiful hike with huge spires on each side of you.
Park Avenue
Back at the car we decided we had hiked enough for one day and checked out total distance per the park trail guide. Our total miles for today were seven plus, I think that was enough for the firs day.
We drove back to camp picked up the dog and went into Moab for water and a few food items. Back at camp we took showers and I cooked a Dutch oven chicken and biscuit dinner. We ate and cleaned up tired and ready for bed. It was a super day and it turned out better then we had ever imagined.
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