Arches, Goblin Valley

I am writing this just for a record of what we did last weekend.  I have a hard time remembering anything, and an account with some great pictures helps.  On Friday, Jake, Sam(the dog) and I went to the Grotto in Payson Canyon, we let the dog run and got some good shots.  Sam loved it, he does not get off the leash very often and he even got to chase some cows. 

Saturday Rick and LoReen took us out on their boat.  It has been years since we have done this, we used to go all the time.  We really appreciate them taking the time to take us out on the lake.  We slathered on sunscreen, grabbed some water, a few snacks and the camera, and headed off to the lake.  Unfortunately, Megan had to work and could not go.  Kyler got up on the wakeboard, Jake and Aubree tried, but did not quite make it.  I got bounced around on the tube, and so did everyone else.  We had a lot of fun and all came home burnt.  

Sunday morning Kyler, Aubree, Jake and myself headed out for Moab.  I have been to Moab before, with the scouts on a Colorado river trip, but none of the kids have ever been.  We drove down Sunday morning, leaving early after Christy made us breakfast.  We got to the campground at 10:00 and checked in to make sure that we had a place to lay our heads that night.  The campground was nice – had some tepees and an old church there.  We did not set up the tent because we did not want it to get blown away, we just got back in the car and headed to the park.  After paying our entrance fee, we went to the visitors center to check out the area and plan our day.   

We decided to start in the windows area of the park, and we headed off.  When we got to the first stop, I was very disappointed.  There was no parking, and there were tour buses everywhere.  I parked in an illegal space, slathered us all in sunscreen, grabbed the camera and some water and started up to the arches.  The first few times we came up on tourists, we tried to stay out of the way of those trying to shoot a picture, but we decided that was impossible due to the sheer number of cameras, so we just decided to head up to the arches and they would just have to shoot around us.  I am wondering how many of them will get home and wonder who the big guy is in the fluorescent green Vivint shirt is.   We stopped at the first arch, took some pictures of our own, had some people request that we take their pictures, and then headed off to the second arch. There were just a few people at the second arch, because the trail ended before the arch and most people did not walk down to it.  We got some great shots of the kids and that arch.  I was glad that Christy was not with me at that point as Jake kept climbing up the rocks and then finding interesting ways to get down.  We walked to the third arch (Turret Arch) and dodged tourists to get some shots in there.  

We were going to walk over to the double arch, but there were just too many people.  We decided that it was hot and that we wanted to go back to the pool at the campground to cool off.  We stopped in Moab and got some ice cream, gas and more sunscreen.  We got to the campground and someone was in our spot, so they moved us to another spot.  We ate lunch, got changed and got in the pool.  This pool is just a little smaller than the pools you can buy at Wal-Mart for your back yard.  It is an in-ground pool, but it is only four feet deep, about 10 feet long and six feet wide.  It was cool though.  Just what we were looking for at that time of day.  

We played there for a while and then went back to Arches National Park.  We again stopped at the visitors center and this time, I let the kids get a few souvenirs.   We drove to the parking lot at the trail head to the Delicate Arch, slathered on sunscreen, grabbed some water, some snacks and the camera, and off we went.  Kyler and Jake wore sports shorts with no pockets, and I made the mistake of wearing cargo shorts.  My pockets were full of snacks and water, and I was carrying the backpack with my camera, tripod and more water and snacks.  There was a younger girl in the car next to us that was wearing some bright orange shorts.  She started out at the same time we did, and I would gauge how slow I was going by how far ahead of us she was on the trail.  I was slow-going, over hills and rock and around a cliff, but we finally made it.  

The arch is really cool.  Not like I imagined it though.  There are drop offs all around, and you can’t approach it from the front side, you have to walk around the rock to get to it.  We took a lot of pictures and just spent time hanging out at the arch. 

 This is a major accomplishment for me.  I had knee surgery three weeks ago and gastric bypass surgery the week before that.  I had cortisone injections in both my knee and my foot days before leaving on the trip.  I am so glad that that we were able to go.  This trip had been planned for the exchange student to go on, but she left a few days before, and we decided to go anyway.  So glad that we did that.  After hanging out at the arch, we headed back down the mountain and back to the campground.  Kyler and I started the charcoal and Jake and Aubree went back to the pool.  We had prepared our tin-foil dinners that morning using vegetables out of the garden and some other stuff, so I put them on the grill and hung out and watched them cook.  There was a group of rowdy boys at the pool so I waited to go.  The dinners turned out perfect.  They were done, but not overcooked.   We ate and the boys left the pool, so Jake and I went back to the pool and Kyler and Aubree showered.  I had a hard time sleeping because I always have a hard time sleeping at camp, so as soon as the sun came up, I showered and took a few pictures of the sunrise.  The thermometer said it was 80 degrees as the sun was coming up.  

None of us slept in our sleeping bags, we all slept on top of them.   We got everything packed up and headed to Goblin Valley.  We had originally planned to hike some slot canyons in the area, but the heat had tired us and the blister on my right foot told me that it did not want to go.  When we got there, we slathered on sunscreen, grabbed some water, a few snacks and the camera, and headed off down into the valley.  We walked further back into the formations than I had ever gone before.  We found some really amazing formations that look like mud castles. 

Jake and Aubree climbed and Kyler and I watched.  We took a lot of pictures and had a good time.  Jake hurt his back when climbing down one of the formations, by he walked it off and was ok.  We pilled back into the Tahoe and started back to Orem.  Last time we were at Goblin Valley, my keys got locked in the car and a locksmith had to come rescue us, I did not let the keys out of my sight at any time during this adventure.  We made it home alive, and I slept very well that night.  We decided to go to the waterpark on Tuesday, and invited Sam and Lizzie to go with us.  We also took our neighbors.  We got there and found Travis and Jessica and their family.  We slathered everyone with sunscreen and had fun. 

Jake still ended up with a bad, blistering sunburn and the rest of us burnt as well.  But the fun was worth it.  Had to go back to work on Wednesday, but had such a great time over the weekend.  We all felt terrible because Meg had to work and did not get to do any of the fun stuff.  Her and Christy got to hang out on Sunday and Monday by themselves.  We are planning a return trip to Arches in November when it is cooler and when Rick and LoReen and Megan can go with us.