Wednesday morning I’d hoped to get an early start towards Arches, but everything took longer than anticipated. We finally rolled out shortly before 10am. Though our car travels up to this point had seemed smooth and quick, this 3 hour drive seemed to drag on and on, and the kids were wild children. We were all more than glad to arrive at the Visitor’s Center and have a chance to get out of the car.
We stayed at the Visitor’s Center just long enough to go to the bathroom, climb on some statues, grab Jr. Ranger booklets, and watch an informational video. The video had some interesting information, but was way too repetitive and overly dramatic. Kira and I had to hold back our laughter.
We had lunch in Kira’s RV, then began to make our way towards our campsite. Along the way, we stopped to hike at Balanced Rock.
I say “hike,” but it’s only .3 miles round trip, so it’s definitely more of a scenic walk.
The weather was absolutely perfect. I’m firmly convinced that early May is one of the best times to come to Southern Utah. I’ve heard that Arches can be insanely packed at times, but it wasn’t bad at all. We got to our camp site around 2:30 and immediately prepared for our big afternoon adventure to see more arches. It was a bit of a trek from our spot in Devil’s Campground to the trailhead, but it was’t too far from the trailhead to the first scenic spot at Tunnel Arch.
Along the way the kids also found a neat sand run. They would have liked to stay and play in the sand, but we urged them onward.
Not far from Tunnel Arch is Pinetree Arch. Pinetree Arch is especially neat because you can get right underneath it.
In fact, we sat underneath it and ate a little snack.
Nellie complained the whole way about having sand in her shoes, no matter how many times we took her shoes off to dump out non-existent sand. Finally I told all the kids that I had gummy bears for all kids who walked without complaining to our final destination: Landscape Arch.
Landscape Arch is a feat of nature! It’s also the point where we lost Bryce for a few minutes. We stopped to get a picture, and he kept on walking, not realizing we’d stopped. He was distracted by trying to keep his Camelbak from leaking on him. Kira ran after him to bring him safely back.
The hike back seemed much easier. The kids insisted that the gummy bears were a great source of energy. They also really liked hopping from one barrier stone to another.
As we walked, Nellie told me, “I miss my camera, my toys, and my friends.” But, she said it with a smile, so I guess she’s holding up okay.
When we got back to the campsite, Aubree and Kylee started a game of War (that eventually morphed into a story about a character who "answered questions" based on the results of each war hand... "if you're a girl, let Kylee win...") while the boys explored the rocks just behind us. Bryce informed me, “the other side of this rock has a really big drop off.” Grrreeeat. Thankfully no one fell off. Chase ripped the seat of his shorts, but that was the worst casualty. Well, except both Kami and Graham shut their fingers in the camper door, but thankfully not too terribly.
We had walking tacos for dinner (or, as the kids call them “talking walkos”), then a little scripture study before ice cream for dessert. These kids are spoiled!
When it was nearly time for bed, Nellie, the child who crawls in my bed every single night, threw a huge tantrum because she did not want to sleep next to me. She only wanted to sleep with Aubree, which wasn't an option because there wasn't room in Aubree's bed. She settled for sleeping with Bryce, but, not surprisingly, scurried into my bed about 8 minutes after we tucked her in.
We got everyone ready for bed (Graham came back from the bathroom and explained, “I used the sand hanitizer!”), then crammed all 10 of us in Kira’s RV. I’m not going to say it was pretty trying to get all the kids to be quiet and go to sleep, but everyone was crashed (or at least quiet) by 9pm.
Day 2 in Arches began with an excellent scrambled eggs and muffin breakfast. Camping in an RV is the way to go! We packed up camp and were off to our first hike of the day (Skyline Arch) by 9:30 am.
Skyline was a simple hike with a major payout at the end - boulders to climb and sand in which to play.
Next, we drove to a different section of the park where there were a bunch of incredible arches. It's hard to keep them all straight, but I'm pretty sure this is Turret Arch.
The two Windows Arches are huge.
We got to walk right up and under North Window. Spectacular!
It afforded some excellent views.
Our last hike of the trip was to Double Arch. This one just might have been my favorite. On the way up, Nellie let me know she was not enjoying herself. "I don't like all this walking, and I want to be home with Dada playing puzzles."
The older kids, on the other hand, loved Double Arch. There are so many rocks and places to climb in its shadow that my kids started to believe they were mountain goats.
I reminded them that they're not allowed to break any bones this early in the trip, and thankfully we all made it out unscathed.
All too soon, our Arches adventure wound to a close. We returned to the visitor's center where the kids turned in their paperwork and were sworn in as Jr Rangers.
We had lunch with the Pope's, thanked them for coming to explore with us, and climbed back into our "mobile home" to head to our next adventure in Colorado.
When our kids are older, I'd love to come back to Arches to hike Delicate Arch and Fiery Furnace.
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