None of the car rental locations in the phone book had cars available, except one. Thrifty rental had a Chevy Cobalt available. Yes, it was a good car, the guarallous man with a heavy Middle Eastern accent assured me, there was just one problem with the car; the driver's side windshield wiper did not work. But, ma'am, we are the only rental agency with a car. That was true.
"Okay, we'll be there in an hour."
If this were a work of fiction, I suppose that would be foreshadowing, but I'll just tell you right now...it didn't rain. Just a few drops in the park, so the windshield wiper wasn't actually a problem.
Patty, the hostel host, assured us our car would be fine if we left it parked on the street in the neighborhood around the hostel for a few days. And it was.
We picked up the rental, where the agent gave us directions three times, telling us his "short cut" using Route 6 (which, even from the map seemed the most obvious way), about the great fishing in Price, UT, and how he loved Washington state. The computer froze twice, but we eventually had the car.
Wanting eggs at 1PM, we came across the Coachman, a steak and pancake house. Perfect! The food was homemade, the decor didn't match and the waitresses were honest to good happy to see us, as she told us. After a huge lunch, Denver omelet for me, hot turkey sandwich for Paul, we were on the road by 2PM.
On the drive down to Moab, we took our usual roles, Paul at the wheel lost in his thoughts or composing music, me in the passenger seat, knitting or writing my blogs. With the rental, we had the luxury of air conditioning and radio! Gerty's radio had been stolen a while back in Seattle, so thus far in the trip, we had been entertained by conversation and our thoughts. It was NPR for most of the way through desert, a few of pop's greatest hit, the occasional accidental Christian rock, and the classics.
We got a call from Tommy with an update on the car situation. It was dead, waiting to be taken away by River Auto Dismantlers. Fortunately, there was another contingent traveling from Seattle that were planning on meeting us in Nebraska. They would make a detour to Reno and pick up Tommy and Sara. We would see them all in Lincoln.
Arches National Park is in Southeastern Utah near a town called Moab. I didn't realize it before we went, but there is much to do in Moab. We could have easily spent three more days there. Moab itself is a cute little town nestled in the mountains. It has a small main street with restaurants, some shops, cafes. It certainly caters to tourists though has its own slew of locals. It reminded me of a mountain/desert version of Lavallette, the beach resort town I grew up in.
We got to Arches around 8:30AM and started hiking around 9:30AM. If you go, go early. Sunrise would not be too early. It was actually cool in the morning, but got hot, as in around 98ยบ around 10:30. We managed it reasonably well with lots of water and the spray bottle.
We hiked the long trail, the Primitive Trail in Devil's Garden. When you sit all day in the car and eat and snack, you need to get as much exercise as possible when you can. The round trip hike was 7.2 miles. I had been apprehensive about hiking in the desert. I couldn't see the appeal compared to the panoramic views offered by hiking in the mountains, as well as the shade of the trees. Deserts were just hot with sand, a few cactus, right? No, it turned out to be a fun, interesting hike.
The trail starts off in the sand, but then takes you into the rocks of the park, up over rock fins, along cliffs. There was no elevation to deal with, which can make hiking in the mountains tiring. It was a lot of fun.
The trail gave shade occasionally, from bushes or rocks. There was one trying part. It was a switchback over the top of a sandstone rock fin. There were slight l
edges and maybe a 20 foot drop. I needed some encouragement, but we made it. We realized that we had to just trust our bodies, turn off our heads, and just move all four limbs to get over the top.We stopped for lunch h
ere, near Intimate Arch, though the arch itself can't be seen in the picture. The silence was also a difference from hiking in the forests. No wind in the trees, stepping on leaves and sticks. Just silence, the occasional lizard call. The rocks themselves gave off an impressive silent, peaceful power. Though we struggled in the heat and sun, they soaked it up. Thousands of years rain and wind to carve them into their shapes. We just stood in their solid elegance.There were more sights to see along the road out of the park, including smaller hikes which we wanted to do, but were totally worn out. It would have been nice to have another morning at the park. Your ten dollar entrance fee allows you 7 days access so it would have been totally doable, but were running out of time.
Back to the hostel, shower, nap, we made dinner there, then out to the Moab Brewery for some drinks. We head back to salt lake City the next day.
I would definately recommend a trip to Arches and Moab, if you ever have the opportunity. There were a lot of Europeans, particularly French speaking, for some reason. If I lived in Europe I think it would be worth the flight. In addition to Arches National Park, Moab also has Canyonlands National Park, which would have been fun to explore. Fours hours to the southwest is Zion National Park, which was also recommended to us by the locals. Aside from the national parks, the town has adventure companies that offer rafting trips, 4x4 jeep tours as well as tamer dinner cruises down the river. And for the biggest adventurers, there is skydiving from the Moab Airport. As their brochures suggest, it would be the country's most beautiful drop zone. If you are going to jump, wouldn't it be great to see the canyons and rivers, mountains, and parks? Just something to keep in mind!
States visited: 5
Dogs met: 3
Cats met: 7
Necessary urinations in unauthorized locations: 7
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