Arches 2024

We had been planning a trip to California and Arizona over Christmas break, but as we got closer and realized that Neil had some extra days off that we weren't anticipating, we decided to leave a few days earlier, nab a last-minute Airbnb in Moab, and spend some time hiking through Arches and Canyonlands. So we had Christmas early and then set out on the 23rd! 




I love stopping for a few hours in St. Louis; it's far enough away that we've had a decent chunk of time in the car and it's nice to get out and spend some time exploring. This time we opted for the zoo, since we haven't been there for a few years. 

I never get tired of how beautiful the reptile house is! 

No polar bears swimming today, but we found one to sit on! 

When Luke was little, we had to actively tell him that he could *not* put one of these penguins in his backpack (they're right there! So close! So tempting!). 

And then we drove through the night and woke up to glorious warm temps in Utah!! 

Okay, actually it was pretty cold and everyone was a little cranky, but ARCHES! 

I was sooo proud of myself for getting Fiery Furnace tickets for everyone (a huge feat considering how hard they've been to get in the past) but now tbh I regret it a little...

But gosh this place is gorgeous! We were planning to spend our entire day just exploring side trails and dead ends. 

Seriously one of the coolest experiences in the NPS system. 

We stopped for a snack at the top of one steep section of slickrock (the kind where you go up on all fours) and I think maybe we sat there long enough that my joints stiffened up in the cold? Or maybe it was the lower Salmon trail runners I was wearing rather than high-topped hiking boots. Not sure, but as I was walking along preparing to pick my way down, my right ankle just caved out of nowhere and I fell over and it hurt SO bad I was worrying it had broken. I lay there for probably ten minutes fighting nausea and waiting for the pain to go down, then very carefully scooted my way down the rock and gingerly tested it out. Holy cow it hurt!! Juliet was wearing my normal boots so I ended up swapping her shoes (and then she rolled her ankle, stupid trail runners!) to hike back out of the Fiery Furnace, which...if you've hiked in there, it's more of a scramble than a hike. 

I took this picture of Skull Arch while I was lying on my back trying not to throw up from pain, fun times. 

So we scrapped our fun plans to stay in the Furnace all day and started hiking back out, probably about 2 miles at that point? 

So pretty but I was really not enjoying it, so sad. 

Then we got back to the car and I checked out the swelling, which was already pretty bad. So we dug ice out of the cooler and I spent the rest of the day alternating ice with just elevation. Neil and the kids went down Park Avenue and I drove around to meet them at the end; I stayed in the car while they were exploring the Window area. Not at all how I envisioned the afternoon going! 

We had planned to hike Devil's Garden but ended up scrapping that and going to our Airbnb; I was SO happy we had decided last-minute on the rental vs. camping, since it meant ice, a plug for my hot pad, a hot tub to soak my ankle, and a giant soaking tub for an Epsom salt bath that night! Seriously pulling out all my tricks for speedy healing--or at least minimizing swelling so I could keep hiking! I made the (somewhat questionable) decision to keep going as much as I could since we were on day 1 of our trip, although I was reassured later when both the orthopedic surgeon and physical therapist told me they would have done the same. 

 

Devil’s Garden

On our first morning in Arches, we set out to do the Devil's Garden trail via the Primitive Loop. This is the longest/toughest option possible, roughly 8 miles. The first chunk of the trail is pretty maintained and then it becomes either sand or rock and can be quite tricky. 

We started walking from our campsite and went down to the Devil's Garden trailhead (sidenote: if you're driving, go early, because parking fills FAST and there aren't very many spots!!). We took the little spur trails to Tunnel Arch and Pine Tree Arch (pictured below). 

And we saw the U-boat! Can you see it? Nathan was THRILLED, given his total fascination with WWII armaments. 

Then just before the trail goes up to Landscape Arch, we turned right onto the Primitive Trail loop. 



We opted to go in a counterclockwise direction, since we'd been told that would be the safest since we would be hiking up most of the sandstone fins rather than coming down them. I was SO glad we went this way, since it was actually pretty unnerving coming down the fins (the sandstone is VERY slippery and basically feels like you're walking on a million tiny ball bearings. Add some wind in and yowzas!)

Snack break 3 miles or so in--at this point another group passed us and looked like they'd been out in the wilderness for days. They asked us how many miles it was back to the parking lot and told us they *thought* they could make it. Um, that made me a little nervous for what was ahead, but Abigail and Juliet reassured me that they were "flampers" (flip-flop campers). 

The trail winds around through rock outcroppings, sand, and prickly pear for a mile or so, and then drops into Fin Canyon. 

This was the first point where I was REALLY glad we were going up rather than coming down! I saw one person start crying when they got to the top going the other way and saw what they had to go down (so much steeper than it looks in this picture; the actual approach was full hands and knees and I got pretty scraped up). 

Then it leveled out into a "path" of sorts. 

Can you spot Isaac in the photo below? He and Luke were jumping around like crazy and excitedly reported that a couple other hikers told them they were like Spiderman. Hah!

This canyon was so unbelievably beautiful. 

My dad--oh my gosh I was just SO happy he could come with us! We climbed up this really hard part and then both turned around to take a photo of the other person at the same time, haha. 

After we climbed out of Fin Canyon, we took the side trail down to Private Arch for lunch. 

We were just starting to feel hot and tired, so this break came at the perfect time!! 



The sky around the arch was SO beautiful. 



And Matthew running towards me after I had found a bathroom spot, haha. 



We climbed up past a ton of puddles and got pretty hot again, especially Neil but NOT Matthew because he got the deluxe ride. 

 

And then we opted to skip the hike out to Dark Angel and headed up towards Double O Arch. 

There was an Instagrammer doing all kinds of dumb poses in this arch so Luke decided to one-up her when she was done (his poses looked way better, go Luke go!). 

The part of the hike between Double O Arch and Landscape Arch is the trickiest bit--it's quite exposed and climbs over the spines of all the sandstone fins. Again, soooo glad we were going up. 

Here's Dad looking back just after we climbed up the first one. 

At the top of the first really long fin there was this huge outcropping so we sat down for awhile. The valley floor is probably a couple of thousand feet below Abigail here. 

Fortunately we didn't have to worry about the little boys too much because they went down into a crevice and got stuck! (It was all fun and games until I accidentally hit Matthew in the head with a hiking pole trying to loop up Luke's pole.) 

Then more fins!

We opted to take the side trails down to Navajo Arch...

And Partition Arch!

Then it was down the last fin towards Landscape Arch. This was the scariest point for me in everything we hiked the whole week--it was VERY slippery. 

Slippery enough that my intrepid daredevil kids decided that buttscooting was the best option for a spot or two...

Thankfully it was only about six feet of scary stuff. 

And then it was down to Landscape Arch!

And then we hiked back to our campsite and ate dinner and then we all wandered over to Skyline Arch to watch the sunset. 

 


We had an awesome hour running around devising new routes until it was too dark to see. A fabulous perfect day!!