Moab, Utah
May 5–8, 2022
May 5–8, 2022
I’d been dying to visit Arches National Park ever since I read Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire. Obviously, I’m not the only one—1.5 million people visit every year. I have an ambivalent relationship with Abbey: he was a purist crank, not to mention an ableist, sexist, racist product of his time, but he also deeply loved the natural world and wanted its wildness to be protected. He was a great writer and a total pain in the ass. But the way he described his two years as a park ranger at Arches National Monument (as it was called back in the 1950s) made it seem like someplace truly special. And it is.
Since so many people want to visit, the park has developed a ticketed timed-entry system between March and October. You go online to reserve a ticket in advance, with each day’s tickets released at 6 pm the preceding day. The first day I went was at 3 pm, and I sat in a line with many other vehicles waiting to get through the gates. Once I got into the park, I was one of many, and while the landscape was awe inspiring, we members of the crowds certainly took away from each other’s experience. On top of that, it was over 90º that day and dogs aren’t allowed on the trails, so even with all the windows open and the sunshade in the windshield, I wasn’t able to do more than peek at the wonders from afar. I was determined that this would not be my only experience of Arches, so I pulled over right at 6 pm, got on my phone, and reserved a ticket for the first slot of the next day, at 6 am.
That evening, I took the boys to Moab’s excellent dog park, stopped at Back of Beyond Books, and got dinner at Gloria’s Café. (My mom was and my grandmother is named Gloria, so it felt auspicious.) The dogs and I sat on the patio and had a lovely time. We ended up going back for brunch the following day, since a dog-friendly patio with good food is to be treasured.
Before that second meal, though, I woke myself up at 5:30 am and headed back to Arches. The line of cars was pleasantly nonexistent so early in the morning, and the parking areas for hotspots like Balanced Rock were almost completely empty. The day hadn’t yet turned oven-like, so I was able to leave the boys in the van and go adventuring. Double Arch was astounding, and I was one of the 0nly people there. I took the three-mile round-trip hike to the iconic Delicate Arch, and rounding the final curve around the cliffs to see the arch perched above a deep, funnel-like bowl of stone was a breathtaking experience. I was grateful that my fear of heights didn’t rear its head at any point during the hike and I was able to enjoy it freely. The short hike to Landcape Arch through the Devil’s Garden was very pleasant, though one can’t get right up to that arch as with the others, ever since a massive chunk of stone crashed out of the middle of the arch back in 1991. Honestly, that seems reasonable, and it was magical nonetheless. My last stop in the park was Balanced Rock. I walked the loop around it and appreciated the way its shape changed with each step I took. Sometimes it’s an egg, sometimes it’s an axe head, and sometimes it’s a mushroom cap.
On our final morning in town, I took the dogs on the Corona Arch hike through BLM land, where dogs are allowed. The Bowtie Arch was quite nice, but the Corona Arch stole itself the show, and Mochi really seemed to enjoy posing for me in front of it. There were some harrowing/comical moments on the way up, scrambling up a slickrock wall with a safety cable to hold onto—Miso under one arm and Mochi shoved ahead by me and some friendly fellow hikers—and climbing a ladder (pictured below) in much the same way, but we persevered and were rewarded for it. Yet again, the wildflowers were on glorious display, including waxy yellow cactus flowers that were a special treat for my eyes.
The town of Moab is very touristy and a bit dingy, but I might choose to live there someday just to be close to those glorious rocks and electric-blue skies all the time.
Since so many people want to visit, the park has developed a ticketed timed-entry system between March and October. You go online to reserve a ticket in advance, with each day’s tickets released at 6 pm the preceding day. The first day I went was at 3 pm, and I sat in a line with many other vehicles waiting to get through the gates. Once I got into the park, I was one of many, and while the landscape was awe inspiring, we members of the crowds certainly took away from each other’s experience. On top of that, it was over 90º that day and dogs aren’t allowed on the trails, so even with all the windows open and the sunshade in the windshield, I wasn’t able to do more than peek at the wonders from afar. I was determined that this would not be my only experience of Arches, so I pulled over right at 6 pm, got on my phone, and reserved a ticket for the first slot of the next day, at 6 am.
That evening, I took the boys to Moab’s excellent dog park, stopped at Back of Beyond Books, and got dinner at Gloria’s Café. (My mom was and my grandmother is named Gloria, so it felt auspicious.) The dogs and I sat on the patio and had a lovely time. We ended up going back for brunch the following day, since a dog-friendly patio with good food is to be treasured.
Before that second meal, though, I woke myself up at 5:30 am and headed back to Arches. The line of cars was pleasantly nonexistent so early in the morning, and the parking areas for hotspots like Balanced Rock were almost completely empty. The day hadn’t yet turned oven-like, so I was able to leave the boys in the van and go adventuring. Double Arch was astounding, and I was one of the 0nly people there. I took the three-mile round-trip hike to the iconic Delicate Arch, and rounding the final curve around the cliffs to see the arch perched above a deep, funnel-like bowl of stone was a breathtaking experience. I was grateful that my fear of heights didn’t rear its head at any point during the hike and I was able to enjoy it freely. The short hike to Landcape Arch through the Devil’s Garden was very pleasant, though one can’t get right up to that arch as with the others, ever since a massive chunk of stone crashed out of the middle of the arch back in 1991. Honestly, that seems reasonable, and it was magical nonetheless. My last stop in the park was Balanced Rock. I walked the loop around it and appreciated the way its shape changed with each step I took. Sometimes it’s an egg, sometimes it’s an axe head, and sometimes it’s a mushroom cap.
On our final morning in town, I took the dogs on the Corona Arch hike through BLM land, where dogs are allowed. The Bowtie Arch was quite nice, but the Corona Arch stole itself the show, and Mochi really seemed to enjoy posing for me in front of it. There were some harrowing/comical moments on the way up, scrambling up a slickrock wall with a safety cable to hold onto—Miso under one arm and Mochi shoved ahead by me and some friendly fellow hikers—and climbing a ladder (pictured below) in much the same way, but we persevered and were rewarded for it. Yet again, the wildflowers were on glorious display, including waxy yellow cactus flowers that were a special treat for my eyes.
The town of Moab is very touristy and a bit dingy, but I might choose to live there someday just to be close to those glorious rocks and electric-blue skies all the time.
