Arches National Park - July 2016

Our first road trip was headed to Arches National Park (NP), Dead Horse Point (a state park) and Canyon lands NP, in that order. 
I'll only cover Arches NP in this post.

As we only had a few days, this was only going to be a first taste of what these parks have to offer. So I'll definitely update this page once we've visited these parks in more depth!

Arches NP

This NP contains the world's largest concentration of natural sandstone arches (hence the 😏,merely 

a 4hour drive from where we live, so in US terms really close by.

We stayed, like most people do (as there is really no other city nearby), in a hotel in Moab, a little city next to the NP. You could also camp inside the NP @ Devils Garden campground (which offers toilets, but no showers) which I would prefer, however not during those hot summer months. By the way, the campground is closed until Nov 2017 due to construction works.

Like in all NPs in Utah, there is a paved scenic road (in Arches accessible with your own car) that goes through the park with many viewpoints to stop and do short hikes to view the amazing geologic formations of the park. Perfect if you don't have a lot of time. 

                    
But a more rewarding way to see the park is on foot of course. Short hikes, long hikes, easy hikes, strenuous hikes ... anyway you like it! During this first taste of the park, we stopped at 'Balanced Rocks' and walked the easy peasy 0,3 miles around the base of the rock formation.

                        

We continued the scenic road and drove to the Windows section were we hiked towards the 'The Windows', which are three massive arches (North and South Windows and Turret Arch), via the primitive loop. We returned via the main trail. I would definitely recommend this primitive loop as there are less people and gives beautiful views ... let the word 'primitive' not scare you! 
           

At the end of the scenic road we hiked to 'Landscape Arch' which is an easy 1 mile hike to the longest natural arc in the world (more than a football field in length!). 

Landscape Arch

We continued beyond 'Landscape Arch', towards 'Double O Arch'. The trail becomes a little more challenging as it climbs over sandstone slabs and there are some narrow ledges with some exposure to heights which might be a problem for those who have extreme fear of heights. I'm not crazy about narrow parts with a drop, but I had no issue with this hike! We didn't make it all the way to 'Double O Arch' as it was just too hot to continue!

Hot hot hot!!

As it was way too hot to do any other hikes, we returned to Moab for a lunch and after that we headed back to the hotel to cool off in the swimming pool.
In the evening we returned to the park, packed with a picnic, to hike (3 miles round trip) to the 'Delicate Arch' to soak up the sunset. This is a must!! As it is a climb up ( not too hard or difficult hough) and you'll be spending some time up there, plan at least 2 hours for this hike.

On our way

Tataaa ... 

Definitely the best place where we ever had our 'Subway' sandwich and watched the sunset:

We only left when it was dark, which had the advantage that we also got to enjoy this beauty by (almost) ourselves ánd it was definitely a fun experience hiking down in the dark! 💡

General Tips

• If you're planning on visiting a few National Parks during your trip, you should consider to get yourself a National Park annual pass ($80), which gives you free access to all US NPs for a whole year. For example, the entrance fee for 1 vehicle into Arches NP costs $25, for Canyonlands another $25. I'm convinced that you will not limit yourself to these 2 NPs, so count another $30 for Zion NP and again $30 for Bryce NP which are too close to Arches and Canyonlands to skip! Without the pass you will have payed $110 ...  so that's a no-brainer, right! However be aware that this pass only applies for the NPs, not the state parks! You could also buy an annual pass for the state parks ($75), but this pass only applies for the state parks in Utah!
• When you're visiting during the hot summer months, take into account for your planning that you will not be doing a lot of hiking between 1PM and 4PM, as temperatures are in the 100°F (around 40°C). With kids it's nice to have a hotel with swimming pool where they (and you if you're into swimming pools ... which I'm not) can cool off during this period.
• If you want to stay the whole day in a NP and you don't want to loose time looking for lunch once you're in the park, hit a 'Subway' in the morning to get you some sandwiches. Why a Subway? Well, every NP has a Subway around their corner.  
• Don't forget to take plenty of water bottles with you! At some points in the parks you may be able to fill them, but buying them in the park is another thing (except at the entrance maybe).
• Alcohol laws in Utah: Don't be too disappointed when after a long day of hiking in the heat and you're craving for a cold beer, you end up in a restaurant where they don't serve alcohol; and forget having somewhere a cold beer without the intent to dine (this is only possible in real 'bars' and these are scarce in Utah and most of the time dark & often unpleasant places)! So when you pass a 'State liquor store' get yourself some beers or wine to enjoy in your hotel room. As I'm a Belgian who loves her beer 😋, I'll dedicate a separate page in this blog on these laws later on!
• Breakfast in most hotels are all the same and just terrible! The kids will love it as there's always a waffle maker and plenty of sweet and unhealthy choices, but you'll feel bloated all day! We prefer to go for a room without the breakfast option and look for a local breakfast place via 'Yelp'. 
• We prefer to use 'Yelp' in the US instead of 'Tripadvisor' as we did in Europe. Both are 'Users reviews and recommendations' Apps. When chains like 'Burger King' and 'Denny's'  get a rate 5, we kind of loose our confidence in the rest of the reviews 😆

Restaurant Tips in Moab
Please keep in mind that Utah is obviously famous for its nature and as we already have experienced not their great food! So when judging the restaurants we've visited, we took this into account 😏. Everything in life is relative!!

• The Spoke on Center: on our first day, we had lunch here. It's a cosy place where gourmet hamburgers (which we had and they were really good!) and salads and more are served. They do serve alcohol here (which is not always a given in Utah!). Geert and the boys also got an ice cream. For this ice cream they have a little window on Main street, so you don't even have to go inside if you're just craving for some cold ice cream in the heat!

                                

• Twisted Sistas Cafe: when coming back from Canyonlands, we had our dinner here. It's a funky little place, serving something else than the typical western tourist food. They also serve alcohol here.