The morning after the wedding, Sami and I woke up early and headed toward Arches National Park which is right outside of downtown Moab.
Arches National Park
Arches National Park (and Utah in general) is known for its famous “Delicate Arch”. The Delicate Arch is falling, and will eventually crumble one day. This is the same Arch you see on many Utah license plates. Once in the park, the drive to the arch is about ten miles in, then there is a 1.5 mile hike (mostly uphill) to see the arch and it’s magnificence up close. The hike is probably one of the harder ones in the area since it’s all uphill, but the ground is mostly solid rock (unlike Horseshoe Bend which was all sand and makes it more difficult). Once you make it to the top, you can go down and touch the arch, but it’s a little nerve wrecking of you are scared of heights since either side of the arch is a deep canyon. The hike downhill is much easier since you are going downhill, but it is the same route as the one you take uphill.
There is also a viewing point you can drive to to see the Arch, if you are not much of a hiker.
The other great arches to see in the park are called the Windows and the Double Arch. There is a parking lot that leads right up to them, and you can get out and walk through them. You can also just see the arches from your nice air conditioned car.
The Balanced Rock is also a cool feature to see, right off the road in the park.
After our hike, we headed to Fins and Things again to hang out with the rest of the group. We went for lunch at Moab Brewery, then back out to the trails with a local Jeeper, Bryce, who has a JKU on 40″ tires.
Potato Salad Hill
With Bryce, we went to Potato Salad Hill, a tough uphill climb with lots of ledges. I didn’t attempt it, but everyone else in the group did. Some had to winch, some had a wheel come up. I decided it wasn’t worth it to get in a sketchy situation with my Jeep so early in the trip. (Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo of this one, but you’ll see videos in the upcoming VLOG!)
Hell’s Revenge
After Potato Salad Hill, we did a partial run of Hell’s Revenge until the daylight disappeared. Hell’s Revenge has been one of my favorites. There are steep climbs and descents, and my Jeep impresses me at each one. It’s amazing what you can do in first gear, and feel completely comfortable climbing a steep rock with minimal acceleration. This is a really popular trail in Moab, and one of the only ones where we’ve encountered other 4×4 traffic. Many UTVs run this trail, and sharing the one way climbs and descents with them could get a little nerve wrecking, but the grip of the tires doesn’t fail to keep you safe while passing.
The sunlight dimmed before we could make it to any of the popular Hell’s Revenge obstacles (Hell’s Gate, Escalator, Hot Tubs) but we will be coming back.
After the sun set on us on Hell’s Revenge, we lit up the grill to keep the night going. A quick grocery run led to half off T-bone steaks, beans, rice, and fresh baked cookies. Thanks to Yovan and Ashley (Yovan has an LJ with a V8 engine and 37″ tires), we are like kings. Yovan’s beans were seasoned perfectly spicy and the steaks were cooked to each person’s liking.
The best part though? The fresh baked cookies and birthday cake Robert bought as a joke to sing Happy Birthday to Yovan. Fueled up with good dinner for tomorrow? Check.
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