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Okay, Utah has kept us very busy. It is already hard to remember everything we have done in the last two days. Let's start with our first stop, Arches National Park. We walk into the ranger station totally clueless as to what we were going to do or see in this park besides the iconic Delicate Arch. The ranger there instantly pegged our skill level and suggested some milder hikes. The "relatively small park" as stated on the website was far from the truth. For our free backcountry site we literally were given a starting location, and as long as we walked a mile away from the road or parking areas, .5 miles away from any trail, and out of sight from any usgs recognized arch we were allowed to camp anywhere. There were next to no trails and all the land looked exactly the same. It was strongly suggested to use a topographical map, but one was not provided for free so of course we didn't purchase one. After a brief mention of the recent bear problems, and the presence of scorpions and mountain lions, we were told that there are no ranger patrols in the back country and that it would likely be several days before anyone would know if we were missing or needed help. No problem right? Totally fine and doable.
We had a nice warm lunch of moms frozen pulled pork in the parking lot while we packed up our packs and got ready for the backcountry and our first night sleeping outside. To sum up our stay, the views were breath taking, we camped in the middle of nowhere canyonland under a beautiful FULL MOON, directly next to a heavily traveled mule deer highway. It was cold, but unbeatable. We felt like we had the entire world to ourselves. We hiked back out in the morning and continued our trip routine of going to bed with the sun and waking up with the sun.
We spent the full day exploring the rest of the trails that we could fit in. The Delicate Arch was amazing. All of the hikes we have done so far have been rather heart rate elevating :) strengthens the mind and the body! We have come to the conclusion that the reason it gets so dark so early is because our eyes need time off from the absolute constant beauty we are surrounded by. No picture can ever do anything that we are seeing enough justice, but we keep snapping away anyways.
We headed over to Canyonlands national park in the evening since it's a short drive away. We decided to splurge on an actual campsite in their campgrounds so that we could have a shower and a fire. Great thing about hitting these parks in the offseason is most sites are available for camping, bad thing is. . there aren't showers or even water. We set up and ate a quick lunch of rice and lentils with a can of chicken thrown in. We set up camp and headed for the Grandview Overlook trail for a nice sunset hike. Absolutely worth it, the views were breathtaking and we each found a spot to sit in silence and wait the hour for the actual sunset on the top of a canyon ridge. Another chilly night back at the campsite with the fire being stubborn and giving off little heat. We were thankful to be close enough to the van to cook warm meals and sleep with pillows and our extra blankets.
Bed with the sun and back up with it again. We had oatmeal and tea for breakfast and quickly packed up. We got in two more shorter hikes before we headed out of Canyonlands. The Mesa Arch may look tiny in pictures,but trust me, from the top, it is very very not tiny. The cliff off the other side gives great perspective of just how small we are in this world.
We are now driving to Zion National Park where we will likely be sleeping in the van. We will get in pretty late, it's a weekend, and a very popular park with it's warm daytime temps even in November. Quite a eventful drive through the dessert with a very comical gas situation that could've ended very differently. Let's see what in store for us next . . .
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