Moab or Mars? Part 1: Arches National Park

I may have spent the weekend exploring Moab Utah, but it felt like I was on Mars. If you haven't been yet, add this town to your bucket list. Give yourself 4 - 5 days because I could've easily spent more time exploring. I broke this post down into 2 parts because we had a packed itinerary, here's Part 1:

Day 1:
We woke up early in Denver to make the 6 hour trip to Moab, UT. The drive was absolutely gorgeous with Glenwood Canyon as a highlight. Trees were a vibrant yellow with rock walls on either side of the road and the Colorado River running through it. It was hard to capture a good picture in the moving car so I'll let your imagination paint the picture. Once in Utah, we opted for the scenic route State Route 128 that breaks off at Cisco and this is a MUST. The red rocks surround the Colorado River which you drive right alongside. We had the music bumping, the windows down, and couldn't stop saying "wow!" I hope this memory stays engrained forever.

After arriving in Moab around 2pm, we checked into our hotel and then took advantage of the remaining sunlight by heading to Arches National Park. We went straight to Delicate Arch Trail which was quick but steep and extremely crowded. It is the largest arch in the park and the most famous natural arch in the world. The canyon across and below stretches as far as the eyes can see and it's actually pretty slippery and steep around the arch so it's a bit scary walking around and under. We found a comfy spot to stay for about an hour and watch the sunset.

Day 2:
We were out the door by 6:15am to head back to Arches and catch sunrise at the Windows Loop and Turret Arch Trail. Sitting under the massive arch, we joined the early birds who were already posted up and watched the sun rise over the desert canyon. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Sitting under the first Window for sunrise

The Windows from the back side

Turret Arch

Across the street was Double Arch so we ventured over before re-locating to our next destination in the park. This was pretty cool because you could see one arch through another. You can see just how big these arches are from how small the people are in the picture below. I climbed into the second arch in the back. We were beginning to learn that hiking in Utah meant more rock climbing than hiking.

Double Arch from afar

Double arch from inside the second arch, you can still see the moon

Our next stop was Double O Arch trail in a different section of the park. This trail was super fun because you climb on top of these massive rock formations and get spectacular views along the way. It truly felt like we were on Mars.

Walking on Mars

Front side of Double O Arch 

Back side of Double O Arch once you climb through the bottom arch

  

Inside the bottom arch 

After our hiking adventures, we headed back to the hotel to see the pup and grab some food in town. Our hotel was walking distance to the main strip so we grabbed some tacos, purchased some Moab apparel, and prepped for our sunset destination: Dead Horse State Park. Checkout Part 2 in the next post for more details!