March 25 - Arches Day

Back to Arches this morning. Still looking for the Bighorn Sheep but not finding any. We head back to our ending stop last night -- Turret Arch/Windows. The parking lot has only a few cars - yea! And we head off to the North Window. Nothing better than your niece in Windows all by herself!

With very few folks here, the kids got to do some Window and Turret exploration.

Headed back to the South Window for a look before my sister headed back to the parking lot and the kids and I took the Primitive Trail behind the Windows Rock formation.

I'm not sure if I've ever been on this trail but its primitive because you find your way by following the cairns (stacks of rocks). I let the kids lead the way, they did good except in one spot - but my niece showed her brother the way. Even less people back here. We saw cactus and blue bird and the Crypto-biotic Soil that we saw signs to "Stay on the Trail" to protect --- but of course in high traffic areas people unfortunately go where they just feel and trample it. But we saw some good section back here. Came around the corner to a sandy trail and headed to meet my sister at the car. (The kids liked the trail -- and even added to the cairns.... with some microscopic rocks :))

We were lazy and drove the car to the other side of the parking lot to enjoy Double Arch (and the Elephant) on our own.

The next turn-off was for Delicate Arch - one of the most popular spots in the park. I was hopefully there may be parking (because its still before noon) but its sunny, I wasn't going to hold my breathe. The drive to the parking area through the Cache Valley was very Green and pretty. And sure enough, no parking. Just told the kids we climb to the arch first thing tomorrow --- and they were ok with that as it's so crowded up there right now, it wouldn't be the same.

So we stopped for the short hike to Sand Dune Arch -- we could all see Broken Arch and decided not to walk to it. We stopped at Panorama Viewpoint and then the Fiery Furnace. It was time for lunch and my nephew had found a great rock for lunch at the prior viewpoint so we went back. Nothing better than a lunch in nature w/ family.

Headed down to the Devil's Garden (the other popular stop). We got lucky and someone was pulling out just as I was passing - perfect. Got everyone together and we walked to 0.8 miles to Landscape Arch (still my favorite arch). The trail got sandy, so just the kids and I walked as close as we could get. Then we turned around, picked up  my sister and headed back.

I was thinking about heading to the Canyonlands (and eveyone was game) but it by the time we got there, supper, etc - it just wasn't practical so we headed back to Moab for a little last minute sovenier shopping.