Devil's Garden Trail - Arches National Park

Today we headed back to Arches National Park and drove to the end of the paved roadway to the trailhead for Devil's Garden Trail.  This is another one of the "Best Day Hikes in National Parks" by the National Geographic Society.  The initial section of the trail is wide and well-used to the area where Landscape Arch looms.  In September, 1991, a large section of the arch fell dumping 181 tons of rock

fell ... fortunately no one was injured ... but, it does appear as if this arch may not last much longer as an arch ...

The next section of the trail was steep and strenuous rock scrambling up a sandstone fin strewn with boulders ... my acrophobia left me with adrenaline running and backing up down the trail ... too steep for me.  Paul suggested using the primitive trail which circumvented the steep scramble ... we backtracked and took the primitive trail.  It added an additional mile to our trip and, frankly it involved significant rock scrambling and traveling along the tops of the sandstone fins ... the longer we traveled, the easier it became as we traveled the rocky slopes.

Finally arriving at the Double O Arch ... the smaller O is at the bottom of the larger O ...

We decided to return via the main trail (despite the heights) and were able to see Black Arch and Panorama Arch ...

The trip down the steepest section was accomplished by following in Paul's footsteps (avoiding looking down or ahead) and a final scoot down on my butt to get down the steepest section ... not pretty, not graceful, but I made it down the steepest section and we ended a truly lovely hike.

Even added some new flowers to our spring time floral collection ...

And, the end of every hike comes the data ...

Over 2,000 arches in Arches National Park ... we only visited a few ... and we were both struck by how captivating these "holes" in the rocks were ... basically holes in the rocks created by erosion and will continue to be destroyed ... but, they were enchanting as "windows" on an amazing landscape.

Arches National Park - Moab, Utah

We left Colorado National Monument this morning, driving through Fruita on our way to Moab, Utah seeking temperatures warmer than what was forecast for Colorado in the coming days ...

This picture is for Hillary who did a mountain biking trip in Fruita a couple of years ago ... It was the painting on the water tower heading out of town ,,, Should have been a painting of a hot female mountain biker ...

We arrived in Moab and checked into an urban RV resort ... right in the center of Moab on the Pack Creek ... our RV park is completely packed ... we had reserved the last available camp site ... we have full hook-up (water, electric and sewer) and WiFi and cable TV ... heated pool ... and in walking distance to downtown Moab.  Life is good ...

We took some time to begin our tour of Arches National Park before the evening set in ... starting of course with the Visitor's Center.  

This time the video was great ... and the exhibits educational ... including this "power word"  for Max ... 

On the way out of the Visitor's Center we found this "extreme conversion van" ... note the antlers on front and pink mustache on the front bumper ...

We began with the Park Avenue Viewpoint ...

Next to Courthouse Towers ...

Then Balanced Rock ...

And, the Windows Section with North Window, South Window, Turret Arch and Double Arch ...

We serenaded by some little girls who were enchanted by the echoes in the double arches and sang the whole time that we were there ... making us very "happy campers" indeed

We left the park under the distance gaze of the snow-capped peaks of the Manti - La Sal Mountains ...

And the fields of wildflowers that dotted the landscape ...

All of the puffy white clouds were courtesy of central casting services on this lovely day ... tomorrow we head back to Arches for more ambitious hiking ... meanwhile we've actually got cable TV to watch (not that there is anything all the interesting on television, it is more the novelty of that kind of luxury and the fact that Bambi has an integrated cable connection to our flat screen TV) ... and we have Moab Brewery right across the street (excellent Dead Horse Pale Ale).  As I said, life is good ...

Black Ridge Trail - Colorado National Monument

We had another wind event last night ... the talk around the sinks in the washrooms was how one fared during the windstorm the previous evening.  Bambi is airtight, but I had great sympathy for the tent campers ...

Today we took the Black Ridge Trail ... one of the highest in the park, along a ridge the bordered Colorado National Monument and the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area.  The wind accompanied us throughout the hike (perhaps not such a good idea to choose a "ridge" hike on a windy day).  We were rewarded with wonderful vistas ... and lovely wildflowers. 

And, a collared lizard who was a real camera hog ...

Every hike ends with the data ... and special thanks to Trudy for loaning her hiking poles to us (they are no longer virgins ...)

"The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders" - Edward Abbey

And, it needs to include the National Park system ...

We went to the Visitor's Center at the Colorado National Monument and I wanted to do my normal routine of watching the video.  We watched a video that was content-free ... misty-eyed photographic images (I am even skeptical that some of the images were from this national park) with new-age massage therapy music in the background ... all designed to leave one with a lovely, sanitized national park "feel good about beautiful nature" sensation and not one wit of environmental, geologic, biologic, historic and/or cultural information.

Where is the information about the Colorado Plateau Uplift and inland sea forming sedimentary deposits that have been eroded by the Colorado River water system and wind and weather to form the intricate canyon lands of Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico?  Where is the information on the flora and fauna of the canyon lands (including the bighorn sheep that a ranger told us were so plentiful as to be a hazard on the roadways)?  What about the history of the C.C.C. in building the roadway and the loss of nine lives when a tunnel collapsed and the amazing experience of these young men as they worked, learned, earned and survived the Great Depression?  What about the cultural history of the Ute Native Americans who made this area as part of their homelands?  What about the story of John Otto and his efforts to build a roadway into the park and to get it designated as a national park (and his brief marriage to a woman who realized that he really intended to have them live in the wilderness and left him)?

Certainly not everything needs to be packed into a 20 minute video ... but the content-free, feel good imagery accompanied by new age piano pieces does nothing to advance the importance of wilderness and to create an army of defenders committed to keeping it wild.  A missed opportunity to impact the lives of the visitors to this amazing national park ... and, I for one, am disappointed and angered.

Colorado National Monument

We escaped Ridgway State Park and loaded up yet again at the Wal-Mart in Montrose.  I neglected to give credit where credit was due ... it was Sander who turned on us to the parking wonders of a Wal-Mart parking lot for RVs, trailers and other fellow travelers.

Our next destination was Colorado National Monument between Grand Junction and Fruita, CO. We found a spot in the Saddlehorn Campground and began our stay with a couple of short hikes from the campground to the Visitor's Center and Canyon Rim Trail and Window Rock Trail.

We're developing a new indicator on the Beaufort Scale of Wind Force ... strength of blown hair ...

Bambi settled in for the night of wind ...

"Momma said that there'd be days like this ... there'd be days like this Momma said"

We said farewell to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison ...

And headed off for Ridgway State Park, 20 miles south of Montrose ...

We're official annual Colorado State Park members, so we decided to try another state park.  

Part of the challenge is that the national park system frequently has limited services ... The Black Canyon had electrical hook-ups, but no hook-ups for water (which isn't really a problem because we can always add water to our water tank using a large plastic water carrier) ... the larger problem was that there was no dump station for our black water or gray water tanks (basically our sewage system).  So, we can hold some in our holding tanks, but eventually have to get to a dump station.  

In addition, Black Canyon had no Internet or cell phone service.  The national park doesn't even have mail service as  I discovered when I attempted to mail some cards.  We were beginning to feel a bit disconnected from the world.

So, we headed down to Ridgway State Park and discovered the world of spring fly-fishing in Colorado along the Uncompahgre River ... full hook-ups (electrical, water and sewer) ... but again, no Internet or cell phone service (disappointing).   The state park system appears to be geared toward the "sportsman" ... which also means limited hiking trails (mainly muddy paths along the river for fishing) ... and, in this case, no connectivity.  

We realized that we had stayed at this campground before, in 2009, when we were tent camping and remembered that we had to set up our tent in a virtual tent "ghetto" of crowded tent campsites and limited facilities ... not great memories of our last visit.

Umcompahgre River below the dam ...

Bambi and Fritz nestled into a side above the river with a ponderosa pine whistling in the wind ... did I mention that we discovered the wind, yet again, roaring down the river valley, rattling the trailer and overturning our chairs, table and sending cans of sparkling water sailing?

We walked along the river until the Chafee Creek poured into, and discolored, the Uncompahgre River ...

And found a beaver den, but no beaver sightings ...

We frankly grew a bit "stir crazy" ... the wind made it hard to be outdoors, the state park itself was limiting in its focus on "fisher persons", and the lack of connectivity left us without our usual "mind stimulation" ... "Momma said that there'd be days like this" ... time to move on.