Canyonlands & Arches National Park, utah

Is this thing recording? Oh crap, we are on air. What’s up family and friends it's Dom again after another adventure. This time we explored the barren wastelands of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. They shared many similarities and experiences so we are making it one post to alleviate the pain of us reliving parts of these stops. 

Our first stop was Arches National Park, which has a bunch of cool natural arches within the rocks. Arches are basically rock-shaped rainbows that you can walk under for the much-needed shade from the evil desert sun. We did a very short hike to see one of the main arches because our campground for the night required an early check-in so we were rushed. It was pretty cool to learn that these arches are made from a hole in the top of the rock that erodes over time due to water and eventually collapses, creating a frowny face that allows tourists to be in awe. After snapping a few pictures to prove we actually saw one of these wonders, we rushed to our Canyonlands campground about an hour and a half away called the Needles Outpost. 

The first night at our campground was actually very enjoyable. The weather wasn’t too shabby and we worked together to make a campfire dinner that turned out delicious. We played go fish and drank some alcoholic beverages to pass the time (thank you for the beer funds!). That night we decided since we couldn’t see the Milky Way at Bryce, that we would wake up at 2:30 am to catch it at the perfect time in the night sky. 

Waking up at 2:30 am was pretty rough especially because my butt sinks to the desert floor and causes my lower back to feel like a stiff 2x4 due to our deflating air mattress. However, the night sky was absolutely stunning. There were too many stars for our eyes to comprehend and we used a phone app to spot constellations. We had set up our camping chairs just perfectly before bed and they were facing exactly where the Milky Way was floating in the sky. To our eyes, it looked airbrushed, but the day after looking at pictures on my phone, it was captured in completely different colors. Needless to say, it was worth the early wake-up. 

We decided to sleep in before heading to Canyonlands, which was just 15 minutes from our campground. We had planned on going on a 10+ mile hike; however, the park ranger informed us that it could be extremely dangerous due to the weather. So we bumped down to a 6-mile hike plan. The hike was challenging due to the heat and exposure to the sun. We quickly realized the ranger was right and did our best to take precautions to avoid being overcome by the heat. By taking stops in the shade, eating snacks, and drinking water we made it to the viewpoint of the Needles. The Needles are very similar to Bryce’s hoodo rock formations. But different to Bryce the landscape was very open and sparse. After a couple of pictures and snacks, we made haste back down the trail to escape the heat. Once we got to the campsite I was sweating more than a ____ in church. Audrey devised a plan that we would pre-pack the car to head out the next day and then take shelter in our tent to avoid the direct sun. We got into our tent and it felt like a steam room. But there was no other escape, we were in BFE with no AC or shelter. So we did as any other dehydrating and helpless people would, and tried to sleep so the time would pass. After a 2 hour nap of crazy heat-filled dreams, the sun had finally been covered by a large cloud. We rushed to the showers (which for some reason only had hot water) and then cooked dinner for the night. 

Audrey had the sporadic and amazing idea for breakfast for dinner. I managed to stab myself with a steak knife so Audrey had to work on the medical skills she learned to stop my pinky from bleeding out. The hit dish for the night was her chocolate chip pancakes with caramelized bananas. We played a board game and go fish as the sunset. Then we headed to bed for the night. 

But wait there’s more. At 4:40 am the heavens decided it would be the first time it rained since the end of the Great Depression. We had to quickly throw our rain cover on our tent to escape the monsoon that would persist for the next couple of hours. 

Canyonlands and Arches were quite frankly not the best experiences when compared to the others, but we still learned a lot about ourselves and enjoyed the little things. From looking up at the stars and cooking dinner together, we enjoyed the solitude and the peacefulness of being in nature with nothing but one another. Thank you for making it through this post! I know it was not the most exciting but it will only get better from here. Onward to one of our best friend’s wedding!