Arches!

Today was the one we were waiting for. Arches NP. And it was worth the wait:

(That's us at the bottom, trust me)

We started the day early. 730 am rollout to beat the heat and crowds.

Our plan included the Delicate Arch hike first (3 miles r/t). We hit the trailhead about 8am and headed out.

Easy enough....

Then hit got hilly.

And rocky

And hilly and rocky...

And hot, hilly and rocky...

Before the last stretch took us by "twisted donught arch"

Before coming around the corner to make it all worth it...

This natural ampitheater couldn't have been more perfect. People were politely waiting in line to pose under the arch, there was shade to sit and marvel... absolutely great.

We enjoyed a well deserved break (girls were great marching 1.5 miles uphill), but of course, what goes up....

And it was hotter at 10 am than 8am....

But we made it down, and stopped by some decent Native American petroglyphs on the way...

That complete, the girls were still in a pretty good mood, so we headed over to the next hike.

What did you say dad?

Yeah, don't worry, landscape arch is half as long, flat, and much easier. It'll be fine.

Uh huh.

Turns out it's just stupid hot... in the desert... at noon. And a mile and a half is still a mile and a half.

But again, all worth it (to most of us)

And it could have been worse:

If you can't read that, in 1991, a 60 foot, 180 ton piece of this arch fell. And a tourist captured it in the picture at right. They closed the trail under the arch at that point. Duh.

The hike back to the car from this one was...not the girls favorite...but they did like the colorful Utah lizards...

In the end, we did over 5 miles of hiking, much of it straight uphill. In the desert, finishing at 102 degrees. We are incredibly proud of these kids, and certainly let them know it.

And Geo. He did great too. 

And of course....another junior ranger badge

Oh. And we saw Washington DC , Kentucky, Connecticut, and Nebraska license plates here in Moab. 46 down, 5 to go! Were looking for you, West Virginia, Rhode Island, Vermont, Delaware and.... Hawaii.

But tomorrow we say goodbye to Moab. 4 nights in one place was great, but it's time to move on. We're headed northeast toward Grand Junction, CO (where we found a bonus National Monument - Colorado NM! More stamps!) and then north to Vernal, Utah and Dinosaur NM. 

And more hikes.