Preceeding our adventure down Coyote Gultch, us "kids" met up with my parents for the first half of our week long vacation. We stayed in a hotel in Moab and traveled into Arches National Park for a few hikes and our first 4x4 experience.
Day 1
Date: May 28, 2018 Devils Garden Primitive Loop - Arches National Park
Distance: 7.5 miles
Departing Time: 8:00 am
Finishing Time: 3:30 pm
Elevation gain: 1,069 ft
Devils Garden Primitive loop is filled with as many arches as you can pack into one trail. I believe it added up to 7 arches total, however, getting to see all these arches did not come without scaring the parents half to death and making them work!
We started off with a leisure hike and hit 2 arches right off the bat. We moved on, found the 3rd arch, and realized that the trail was headed straight up a steep rock. Let's just say my dad is a bit scared of heights and both my parents don't get out hiking much. We convinced them up and over the rock, assuring them this was the toughest part in the hike. Boy were we wrong.
While I snapped away in amazement of the landscape around us, my dad worried about every step. We were walking along the top of rock formations that looked like giant loafs of bread. I can't say much other than this was some epic looking scenery. We slowly moved along, persuading the parents to keep moving forward with the only reassurance we had, that at least we didn't have to go back over what we had just come from.
We spurred off to a few mellow arches until we came to a large rock that we needed to climb down. Thank god for my husband and brothers for being able to help the parents down with only a little freaking out. We had to be out of the weeds now right? Nope. After another arch, we came to yet another rock face. This was the scariest thing I have done while hiking to date. Not that this portion of the trail was any scarier than other things I have done in the past, but because my parents were so scared that I started to worry for the first time how safe we were actually being. Lots of thinking, yelling, and hand holding later, we had made it. Exhausted from the adrenaline, we still had to finish the hike out.
Day 2
Date: May 29, 2018 Hell's Revenge - 4x4 tour
We've never taken a 4x4 tour before, but this was one of the coolest that I can image. Most of the tour we drove over giant rock formations., sometimes feeling like we were going straight up or straight down. Along the way, we stopped to see some dinosaur fossils, Echo Canyon and the Colorado River. I bet you can guess that my dad had a blast!
After, we stopped at Milts Dinner and got our selves burgers, tots, and milkshakes.
Day 3
Date: May 30, 2018 Delicate Arch - Arches National Park
Distance: 2.9 miles
Our last day was a bit more relaxed. We spent the morning packing up and hanging out. We headed to a winery on the outskirts of town and then stopped at Fisher's Towers for a little exploring. To finish off the night, Brandon, Ryan and I did a sunset hike up to Delicate Arch. Without the weight of our packs and a large group to navigate, we got to our destination quicker than expected. This allowed us to find a good spot and people watch the mobs of fellow park guests before walking back as the sun set.