Moab, UT

Wednesday, September 23

It’s a funny feeling pulling into a camping spot late at night. The next morning, it’s like looking out onto a whole new world when you lift the window shade.

We pulled into the KOA Campground in Silt, CO last night around 10:00pm. Andi had reserved us a campsite earlier in the day, so we didn’t talk to anyone when were arrived. We found our site, parked the RV and hooked up sewer/water and went to bed. This morning, we were surprised to see a beautiful river flowing behind our campsite! Too bad we won’t be sticking around for long today. Tory, Aden and I did school while Andi washed a couple loads of laundry, then we were on the road by 11:00am this morning.

Andi is having a heck of a time getting us an internet data card for the RV, so he wanted to stop at the Cricket store in Grand Junction, CO to speak to someone in person. We didn’t realize until we arrived, however, the Cricket store is in the same parking as a homeless camp. Yikes. Tory, Aden and I sat in the RV for almost 90 minutes while Andi was in the store trying to activate an internet hotspot. I’m not sure who had it worse — Andi or us?!

It was after 2:00pm by the time Andi returned to the RV. Good news though! He got the internet hotspot to work so we’ll have internet while we travel now. We were all starving by this point in the day, so we grabbed Noodles & Co for lunch to-go and by a Target store to pick up a few supplies before we left Grand Junction.

Andi and I took turns driving from Grand Junction, CO to a BLM camping site about 20 minutes north of Arches National Park near Moab, UT. A few other campers we’d met told us this area has been usually busy with tourists and construction work, and that was obvious as we arrived. Nine campgrounds line the highway in and around Arches National Park, and all of them were packed with campers as we drove by. We were lucky to snag one of the last spots available at North Onion Creek Campground.

There is nothing quite like the beautiful red canyons and slick rock in and around Arches National Park. Andi and I traveled here once before in 2018, and the scenery is as beautiful as I remember.

At camp, Andi grilled burgers, red bell peppers and zucchini for dinner while the kids drew pictures on the picnic table and I read to them from our current book, Ranger in Time. It was hot outside (88 degrees!), but we had a nice piece of shade beside the RV which made the heat more bearable.

After dinner, the four of us went for a walk down the dirt road leading into camp. Andi brought his drone along, but we’d just missed sunset and the epic shot he was after by a few minutes.

We walked along the road, crossing over a few shallow streams and admiring the color of the red rock canyons. Aden was running at one point during our walk and tripped. He cut his knee and blood was gushing everywhere. Poor thing! I gave him a piggy-back ride for a few minutes until Aden felt up to walking on his own again, and then Andi doctored up Aden’s knee back at camp. He was OK — just a gash.

The temperature was perfect outside after the sun went down, so Andi and I sat and talked at the picnic table for a while while the kids watched their iPads inside the RV. This area is known for its stargazing because of the lack of light pollution, but Andi and I didn’t think the stars were any brighter here than they are back at home in Wisconsin. I guess we’re lucky to live in a rural area where we get to see the stars all the time. Tomorrow, we’re waking up bright and early to visit Arches National Park.

Thursday, September 24

If someone is looking to sleep in, this is NOT the place to camp for the night! We were woken up promptly at 5:00am this morning to the sound of cars rolling out on the gravel road. Temperatures reach 90+ degrees by Noon in southeastern Utah (yes, even in late September!), so I suppose it’s smart to get a jump start on the day if you plan to do anything outdoors. Andi and I were planning to get up early this morning, too … just not that early.

Since we were already awake, Andi and I got out of bed and packed up the RV. We were on the road to Arches National Park by 7:00am. The drive into the park was beautiful as the early sun bounced off the red rock canyons around us.

Once inside Arches National Park, we stopped by the Visitor’s Center to collect two Junior Ranger packets, and then made our way to our first hike of the day — Park Avenue. At 7:30am, the parking lot was already filling up with cars and we knew it’d become increasingly difficult to find parking for our RV as the day went on.

This hike is named as such because the rock walls resemble city skyscrapers (hence the name, Park Avenue). Once we got past the initial trailhead viewpoint, we mostly had the hiking trail to ourselves and made the two mile out-and-back walk with ease. Tory and Aden were WOW’d by the giant red sandstone fins that lined both sides of the hiking trail & Tory said it was like hiking on Mars with the red dirt and rocks. Temperatures were cool in the mid-60’s and the sun was mostly hidden behind the rock formations making it a really enjoyable time to be outdoors.

After our hike, we continued along the scenic drive through the park. We came to The Windows area and surprisingly found a parking spot in the lot. Andi and I decided to take advantage of our good fortune, and do another quick family hike to North and South Windows, and to Turret Arch. There were more people in this area, but everyone seemed to be doing a good job of keeping their distance from one another.

Tory and Aden were so excited to get an up-close view of the arches, and to climb underneath one. I think Aden could have climbed around The Windows all day — we had to pry him away!

Arches occur naturally when soft sandstone erodes from parts of the rock faster than others. Pieces of some of the arches in the park have fallen off in past years, and some new arches are still forming as weathering and erosion occurs. It feels pretty special to see this magnificent sight knowing that one day the park might not look like it does today.

By Noon, air temperatures were heating up into the 90’s so Andi and I thought it was a perfect time to drive to nearby Canyonlands National Park. As we left Arches, we noticed a sign posted at the entrance that said the park was at maximum capacity. Arches National Park didn’t use a reservation system like Rocky Mountain National Park did to manage the number of tourists visiting the park at one time, but apparently they do shut the gate when too many people are visiting at once.

Canyonlands National Park is 30 minutes away from Arches. Andi and I were surprised we didn’t visit this park, too, when we came here in 2018. I’m not sure why we didn’t? In an event, we decided to see both parks today so the kids could earn their Junior Ranger badges at each.

Not surprisingly, Canyonlands NP is known for its large canyons carved by the Colorado and Green Rivers that flow through the park. Its landscape isn’t quite as impressive as neighboring Arches (so hard to beat!), but the park was still beautiful. We were only able to see the Island in the Sky section with our RV. Other parts of the park require a 4x4 vehicle to navigate.

Since the temperature outside was still in the 90’s — too hot to hike — Andi and I decided we’d drive the 34-mile loop through the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands NP first and listen to the GyPSy Guide audio tour he’d purchased about the park. We stopped at the Green River Overlook to check out the view before finding a quiet pull-out where we could park and hang out for a bit. We fired up the RV generator, turned on the air-conditioning and relaxed until the temperature decreased and was more bearable to be outside. The kids and I completed their Junior Ranger packets about the park so they could earn another badge for their vests.

Around 4:30pm, Tory suggested we hike Whale Rock since she’d heard in the audio tour it was an “enjoyable hike for kids.” It was still hot outside, but we decided to go for it. Hard to come to a national park and not go on a hike!

Whale Rock is a huge rock formation that resembles, you guessed it, a whale. Tory and Aden love challenges that require them to climb rocks to get to an overlook on top, so they were all about this one. It was hot outside, but it wasn’t that bad to hike in. Once we made it to the top of the whale, we had a gorgeous view of the park and a nice, cooling breeze blowing toward us.

As if we hadn’t had a busy enough day, Andi and I decided to drive two hours to Goblin Valley State Park to camp for the night. He read about some great spots just outside the state park on BLM land with overlooking views of the colorful landscape. He and I took turns driving along I-70 so the time passed quickly, and we reached camp just as the sun was setting. We found a perfect (free!) spot to camp just west of the park entrance. The orange glow of the sunset lit up the night’s sky around us.