Moab, How I Love Thee

Moab

Moab is like the back yard playground of Utah, but oddly enough many native Utahans have never been. I confess until about 3-4 years ago I had no idea what Moab was besides where that rock formation on our lovely Utah licenses plate is located. Boy did I feel ridiculous when I realized there is a whole park dedicated to that arch and thousands more like it.

Actually looking through my scrapbook that my overly talented and hobby junkie mother made me (I place all of my hobby jumping tendencies on her), I found out I had gone to Moab when I was 2 years old. To bad I wasn't old enough to remember it, so many years wasted not enjoying the rocky vacations that are found in Moab. *sigh*

That's little 2 year old me climbing up to my brother Dan.

 

Well it's labor day weekend, a 4 day weekend, which of course means VACATION! Lucky for me my friend Chops (Jason Robertson) had set up a Facebook event for Moab.

"Oh heck yes, you know I'm  joining that group."

Chops has been on almost every trip I've ever taken to Moab, minus 2 out of the 15+ times, so he's always a safe bet to go with. Back in the day when the 30th ward group still hung out (before marriages, missions, job offers, etc) it was all about jeeping. Of course we'd do other things like the small hike up to the cliff diving hole, and rent life jackets to float down the river on cheap water tubes, but sadly like every other group of friends, we all went our separate ways. With the group break up came the need to find new things to do in Moab. 

Enter Hiking (and other activities if friends with toys come along) 

The real treat this trip was that Dallas Erekson joined us. That boy has always been invited but never made the trip, finally he decided to take the journey down to play.

About time Dal!

We had a total of 19 people with us at Moab, but we all split up to do our separate things. Chops and I  joined Dallas for a scenic driving tour of the arches. We followed the instructions from his national park app. (located under the arches, things to do.) We stopped at the visiting center to use the restrooms, because come on that's just good planning. It was there that Dallas talked us into staying for the 15 minute movie documentary.  In case you haven't seen this discovery channel special, spare yourself!  I'll sum it up for you here. 

Water is amazing it created the canyon, destroyed it, and now is rare to find there.

 Also, did you know that the canyon is constantly changing? Some arches have already fallen; The only redeeming quality of the film was the clip of the landscape arch from 1991, when the a part of the arch fell. There was a small history about Butch Cassidy and the wild bunch and how they would run to these canyons to prevent being captured.

Handsome crew yes? :/

Moral of the story is go see it now before it's to late (the canyons, not the film). 

The end.

Save yourself 15 minutes of your life and pass on the visitor center movie. 

Here is a short clip of the arch falling. Thanks Dallas for finding that for me.

http://youtu.be/4iSWGd3w1nw?t=1m53s

The Scenic Drive (including mini hikes):

Our group for the day
(Chops, me, Dallas)

Gossips and me

1.  Park Avenue- It's about a 1 mile hike that takes you out to see the 3 gossips. It is a very short and easy, which makes it achievable for everyone and allows for good conversation. There are some cool things to see along the hike on the way to the Gossips, and you can have some random experiences. For example, we heard some kids who were singing in tribal chants... it was interesting but humorous. The Gossips are easily visible from the road, but you won't get the boulders and fun picture advantages like you do from the hike. I only have one photo with my phone, but chops got a lot more with his fancy camera.  This is the only hike of the 5 that wasn't busy at all! We only saw maybe 2 other groups out there with us.

2. Balanced Rock- Suppose to be a .4 mile hike around the loop that surrounds the rock. I feel hike is a strong word, it's more like a nature walk, but sure we can go with hike. Again the Rock is completely visible from the road but it's kind a cool to get up close to it and take some pictures. Chops, Dal and I were personally placing some bets on which way the arch would fall if an earth quake hit, or when it decides to crumble because of that evil water we learned about in the visiting center. If anyone is truly planning on placing bets on such an event I would HIGHLY recommend getting out and walking around the loop. It's very deceiving to look at from the road.

Our name: "Saggy Ass Crack Rock"

On a side note there is another rock formation right next to the balanced rock. We learned in the visiting center that most formations got there names with a "call it as you see it" method. So we came up with our own name for this beauty, what would you call it?   

Where is the
tree of the
forbidden fruit?
-Chops

3. Garden of Eden- Pretty much a Desert Playground. Lots of rocks to climb on, and places to explore, there wasn't only one single trail to follow, there were paths all over the place. There was one very popular path that leads to a small climb and at the top there are some fun places to take photos. It got extremely windy while we were here though. :s I don't have a lot to say about this stop, it's chill that's all.

holy cow it's windy

Dallas in a mini window

Probably the most popular
arch of the day

4. Double Arch- AWESOME! this is the longest of the "hikes" it's about 1/2 miles from the parking lot (according to the guide), and it is 100% worth the walk out to the arch. There is a ton of area to climb around and relax or lay down in the shade. The arch is so cool, pictures can't really give the arch the justice I think it deserves but I did my best. The walk out to the arch is pretty cool as well. There are A LOT of mini arches being formed in the framing walls, kinda fun to look at and gave the walk a bit of excitement.

OOO, I wanna climb up there!!

So I did.

5. Windows- I'll be honest, by this point we were pretty tired, hot, and feeling done with the arches. However, we decided to go see the arches anyways. I mean why not? We are already there, might as well finish it out. It was a short easy trail like the rest and the arches were cool, but as the wise old saying goes "If you've seen one, you've seen them all." Dallas actually said that during the hike, and we all felt the same way. Fun day, but it was time to be done!

North

South

Turret

Location: Arches National Park

Company: Dallas Erekson, Jason Robertson

Difficulty: Easy

Music: My Ipod was dead, so Dallas and I sang some lovable tunes from such movies as Grease 2, Pete's dragon, Singing in the Rain, and others (Chops probably loved every minute of it)

Date: Sept 1, 2012

Time: about 5 hours; including driving, photos, relaxing etc. 

Snacks: Honey Roasted Soy nuts and craisins