Utah was one of the states that we’ve been looking forward to. Known for its unique rock formation and arches, sweeping landscapes, and varied outdoor activities, we were excited to explore and slow things down on the travel front. It can be tiring to always be on the go!
Day 1: Delicate Arch, Scenic Overlooks and the Navajo Trail
On our first full day, we woke up early and went straight to Arches National Park. Unless you arrive before 7am or after 4pm, you need to purchase a timed pass to enter the park between the months of April to October. The passes open up at 7pm the day before on the reservation.gov website for $2.
Arches National Park sits on top of a massive underground salt bed, and that salt is why we get all those magnificent arches, spires, balanced rocks, and fins. This started about 300 million years ago when a sea covered the area and eventually dried up, leaving behind a thick layer of salt, which was thousands of feet thick in some spots. Over time, floods, winds, and other oceans piled debris on top of that salt bed. That debris eventually got packed down into rock, which could be a mile thick. As the heavy rock pressed down, the salt layer below started to shift and flow like a really slow liquid. That movement pushed the rock layers above into domes, and in some spots, the rock collapsed into the gaps left behind, creating the landscape we see today. Native Americans have been here for thousands of years, as evidenced by the pictographs and petroglyphs in the area.
At Arches National Park, there are more than 2,000 natural sandstone arches, the most of any park in the United States. As soon as we entered, we couldn’t help but gasp in awe at the scenery in front of us. There were so many arches and incredible rock formations! We could see camels, sphinxes, and even faces fashioned into the rocks.
Delicate Arch
Our first destination was the world-famous Delicate Arch, which also features prominently on Utah car license plates. We only had 1.5 hours to complete the 4.8 kms (3 miles) hike since Michael had a work call, so we flew up the trail in 30 minutes to arrive at the arch. It’s one of the most popular hikes, and it’s easy to see why. Perched on the edge of a sandstone bowl, the arch rises almost 16 meters (52 feet) and is 9.75 meters (32 feet) wide, standing independently from the surrounding rocks. The picturesque arch is well worth the numerous tourist photos (that will undoubtedly be plastered all over social media), and it’s a sight to behold at both sunrise and sunset, when the arch glows with just the right light.
We had a chance to take in the scenery with scores of other tourists before making it back down to our RV for Michael’s call. Since Arches National Park is so popular, there are fortunately a lot of spaces dedicated to RV parking, although we could imagine it would be incredibly busy and tougher to find a spot in peak seasons.
After Michael’s call, we oriented ourselves to the park, stopping by the various viewpoints and arches on our map. This included the Skyline Arch, where we walked up a short path to get to the arch. (Pet peeve: there are a number of people who climbed up the arches despite there being numerous signs not to do this to protect the fragile ecosystem. Please don’t be one of the people who does this and ruins it for future visitors).
Skyline Arch
It was much cooler walking to Sand Dune Arch in comparison to many of the other arches, as it was enshrouded by taller rocks around it. As the arch is quite low, it also makes it a popular place for wedding photos, and we saw a couple getting numerous snaps with a professional photographer when we were there. Naturally, they want to get multiple shots, but it can make those around them impatient to get their own perfect photos, so we laughed when we saw a tourist taking a photo of his dad by having his dad be positioned to precisely cover the wedding couple behind him. No photoshop needed for later!
Sand Dune Arch
Devils Garden
One of the popular spots to park is the Devils Garden Campground (so many trails and hikes that are named with devil, not sure why!), which can be used as a base to access multiple trails and arches. It was a short and very easy hike (about 30 minutes) to get to the Pine Tree Arch and Tunnel Arch, so we decided to continue hiking up a primitive trail deeper into Devils Garden. This ended up taking us up a rather steep rock ledge. A few folks turned back at this point, but we scrambled up it and were rewarded with an incredible view looking back down at the trail behind us.
As we caught our breath coming up the ledge, we decided to visit Navajo Arch, which was recommended to us by a French woman who sat in the shade, waiting patiently for her parents to check out the same arch. We decided to be quick about it though, as we didn’t have any water, and hadn’t applied sunscreen. Don’t be like us and get caught out – it’s never a bad idea to take these things when heading out on a hike, just in case!
To get to Navajo Arch, we walked until we arrived under a rock that had formed a wave above us, soon seeing a ground-level arch with a flat, shady area underneath. The tunnel made it a much cooler temperature once we entered, which we welcomed after walking under the hot, beating sun for quite some time.
Once we returned to the RV, we realized that we had already completed over 16 kms (10 miles) that day, so our next batch of hikes could wait until tomorrow. We drove out of the park, marveling at the rocks, arches, and petrified dunes, before arriving in the town of Moab, where we purchased some groceries from a lovely but expensive co-op store (everything was organic and fancy). We figured we’d go back to sleep at the same spot as the night before, but just before it we spotted another popular flat space where others were boondocking, so drove into there instead.
Day 2: Revisiting the Primitive Trail and More Viewpoints
Since we’d had a chance to observe how busy and potentially difficult it could be to drive our RV through Arches National Park the day before and realize it’d be easy enough to navigate, we decided to check-in an hour later, from 8-9am.
After a relaxed breakfast within the National Park, we set out on what’s advertised as the most difficult hike in the park, starting again at Devils Garden Campground, walking along the primitive trail and making our way up toward the Private Arch. Initially the hike was straightforward, although it seemed though that most visitors were unwilling to walk along this trail, as we hardly encountered anybody that morning.
Eventually we were greeted by narrow sections and steep rocks that we needed to scramble up. Soon, we faced a narrow rock ledge with a steep ascent, which would have deterred us had the rock been even slightly slippery. But we persisted, and found the view below to be absolutely stunning, particularly as it was very peaceful and secluded. As we made our way down, we thought we’d try a different descent, but quickly realized that it was extremely narrow and precarious in parts. Rather than risk it, we turned back to walk down the steep, but known path from which we came.
Once we were well away from the steep incline, we discovered that we had wandered off the trail a bit, although the path upwards was still going to be narrow in parts. As we returned, we encountered a man who seemed to be starting his trek (and cheered us on for completing ours). We both felt very accomplished, and relieved that we weren’t going to be commencing the hike as the day continued to get hotter!
Windows Section
The rest of the day was more relaxing, with leisurely drives to the Windows Section, which had several arches, including the North Window, South Window, Double Arch, and Turret Arch. Here, we could step into the North Window and feel the cool breeze pass through the arch. We also received an impromptu botany lesson, meeting a few folks who were inspecting the flora around us. We learned about the omnipresent Mormon Tea (otherwise known as Brigham Tea), a tough and wiry shrub that grows to be about 1 meter tall, which is called this because the stick-thin leaves can be boiled as tea that can apparently help with colds. Another prevalent plant is the Utah juniper, a short tree that has deep blue/purple juniper berries growing on them.
Double Arch
Windows Arches
Our next stop was seeing Balanced Rock – a rather self-explanatory viewpoint of a massive boulder propped up precariously on top of a slender column of rock, the result of the base eroding more quickly.
Park Avenue Trail
On the way out of the park we stopped in a the Park Avenue lookout and decided to take the 2.5 mile hike to the Courthouse Towers.
After another action-packed, 10-mile plus day of hiking, we headed back to the same campsite as the evening before, where we met a couple from Montreal that needed to rush back within 2 weeks, and a guy traveling solo with his dog. We were able to enjoy some time sitting on our camp chairs outside, just as the sunset and the chilly night air brought us back inside to relax for the rest of the evening.
Day 3: Biking and Battery Issues
After hiking over 16 kilometers (10 miles) for the last 2 consecutive days, today was a more relaxed day. Michael still was fighting the symptoms of a cold, so we welcomed the opportunity to catch up on work and errands in the morning, but still soak in the warm sun’s rays (and it felt even hotter than the previous couple of days, so it was probably better that we weren’t hiking in the heat).
The more leisurely day also afforded Lisette and Sheila the opportunity to explore our campsite in more detail. To one side, red rocks loomed high above us in the background, with train tracks alongside this that frequently had trains filled with various cargo chugging past, as well as the road. On the other side, there was a paved road leading down to a parking lot for people to park during the day to access the paved bike track that descended toward the entrance to Arches National Park and the town of Moab. And right next to us, there was an abandoned saloon, which still had rusty wagons, faded signs, and cracked wooden planks to wander through. All of this made for a very fun and unique place to stay!
In the afternoon, we decided to ride our eBikes down this dedicated bike path toward the entrance of Arches National Park. We loaded the rather reluctant Sheila into her dog trailer, and started down the easy descent toward the Park, getting a great view of the rocks and natural scenery all around us. Once we arrived at the Arches National Park welcome sign, we disembarked to take photos, waiting patiently for the elderly Taiwanese couple to take their pics. We ended up taking photos of them and chatting with them for a bit, and it seemed that they were happy to take a lot of photos to commemorate their trip – including a photo of them standing next to our bikes with Sheila still in her dog trailer!
We decided to head back uphill, but no sooner did we get back on the trail when Lisette’s eBike battery stopped functioning, despite the battery being full. This issue had happened when the battery was attached to Michael’s eBike when we were in the Grand Canyon. While we’d managed to swap batteries and Lisette had made it slowly back to our RV successfully, this time it was going to be much harder as there were still about 4 miles to go, all uphill, and the eBikes are incredibly heavy!
We decided it would be best for Michael to go back with Sheila and deposit her back in the RV, before returning to get Lisette and hold onto Michael to more easily pedal back to the campsite. As Michael and Sheila left, Lisette continued to pedal slowly, occasionally alighting the bike to run alongside it to keep getting closer to where we’d parked. She encountered a dad with his two young sons going downhill, and the dad yelled out, “Did your battery die?” When Lisette answered in the affirmative, he cried out “Oh no!” before continuing on.
Soon after another man cycled from behind Lisette, and she also confirmed what happened as he sped past. Lisette kept going, and was surprised to see that she seemed to be at the final hill before getting back. Where was Michael?
As Lisette wondered this and worried that something had happened to them as well, a third man came along who was riding his Onewheel, an electric skateboard. Lisette again told him what had happened to her bike, and he responded in a thick German accent that he could help her if he put his hand on her backpack, and helped push her along to get over this last hill. Agreeing with this strategy, Lisette pedaled as hard as she could, and before she knew it, they’d made it over the last hill, to the flat part of the trail leading back to the campsite! Lisette’s German good samaritan sped off, and minutes later, Michael appeared to see Lisette pedaling smoothly toward him. He was absolutely shocked, thinking initially that she’d gotten the battery to work, then impressed that she’d gotten back so quickly (he thought she was still miles away and that they wouldn’t get back until dark). In the time that we’d been apart, Michael had been conservative with his eBike’s battery to save it up for helping Lisette, only to realize it wasn’t needed. It was a proud achievement for Lisette – what she lacks in speed, she was able to accomplish in power and determination to get back to base!
That evening we met the same guy from the previous night who was traveling solo with his dog. His name was Nestor and he had driven from New York and was originally from El Salvador, so Lisette also got to practice her Spanish outside of her daily Duolingo lessons, wrapping up a very action-packed three days at Arches National Park!
Route Map
