10/13 Moab Madness!

Today, we tried to fit in everything we could.  First we had breakfast at our campsite, and then we took Nora and the bikes to a separated bike route on the side of 191. This is the road that twists around the edge of Arches National Park, and continues south to the town of Moab.  We saw the bike route when we were driving in yesterday, and Sam immediately decided that it would be a destination for us.  This morning, I biked a section of it, but Sam did more (I was worried about Nora hanging out in a car for too long).  

After that, we drove into Arches National Park.  Our surly British Rough Guide has a great quote about Arches, and describes it as, “the national park for people who aren’t so sure they like national parks.” Unlike other parks (think Yellowstone), it is only a short drive in before you start actually seeing the sites, and once you are there, you can spend the day doing things that suit one’s level of interest/energy.  Since we had the dog with us, we did a lot of popping in and out of the car (no dogs on any trails).  But it was enough to give us a taste for the park. Here is our Arches photo album.

After Sam and I reflected on the park itself, we realized that it was beautiful, but the magnificence of the entire region (and even the drive in from Colorado) had blown us away.  The national park was incredible, but it was so much more crowded (and much less so than normal being that summer was over) than our quiet campground. In fact, we were OK with just seeing the major sites.  We know that if we ever want to go back and hike some of the incredible trails, we will have to do it sans “the dog.”