Spring Break Day 6: Canyonlands and Dead Horse Point

We started off with breakfast at the hotel again. Then, we drove out to Canyonlands National Park. This was a bit farther of a drive, almost 50 minutes outside of Moab to get to the entrance.

We saw lots of signs about cows in the road again and we ran into them a few times. Here they are just leisurely crossing the road.

We made it to the entrance of Canyonlands!

We wanted to see the Mesa Arch, which is quick hike and relatively easy.

Here we are sitting in the Mesa Arch. You aren't allowed to climb on top, mainly because the other side is a drop off, but some people were trying!

We stayed in this area for a while because there were lots of gorgeous views and places to climb around.

We even saw a lizard!

When you've climbed all the rocks, you head for the trees!

The kids thought this little hole in the rocks was fun. Luckily, no living animals came out!

Here's Avery doing a dance move.

And here's the outtake of her almost falling trying to hold it long enough for me to get a good picture!

We went to a couple of the other overlooks to see the canyons.

The girls were really into doing dance and gymnastics moves this day!

Then, we headed to the nearby Dead Horse Point State Park. It's a few miles down the road from Canyonlands. You stand at the top of the canyon and look down 2000 feet! Very impressive views! You can see the Colorado River (which is very green!). There are also evaporation pools that they dye blue where they collect the salt to use.

You can see the evaporation pools in the back of this picture.

It was after lunchtime and we were all starving, so we wrapped it up at the park. Of course, we ran into more cows crossing the road on our way back to Moab.

We grabbed lunch at the Moab Diner again because we liked it so much the night before and we wanted something fast. We relaxed at the hotel for a bit, then the girls and Matt played basketball again.

The girls got in one last swim in the hotel pool before dinner.

On the way to dinner, we stopped off at a shop to get hoodies made. The girls and Matt all picked out hoodies and screen prints. The owners even gave the girls little ducks (their new favorite animal apparently!) 

We ate dinner at Dewey's Bar and Grill. Food and drinks were good. Morgan was so exhausted after the week and getting a bit homesick. She really missed Milo! :)

Spring Break: Day 5 - Arches

Our hotel had a nice little breakfast for us. Avery always wakes up first and is starving. So, she and I grabbed breakfast while Morgan slept in. Matt and Morgan came down to breakfast later. There was a waffle maker with both regular and strawberry waffles. Avery loved it!

We headed to Arches National Park, which is right outside Moab. Well, the entrance is outside Moab, but some of the trailheads are quite a drive into the park, depending on what you want to see. They are starting timed entry on April 1st, so we just made it before we would have had to make reservations to enter. The line of cars to get in wasn't too bad when we went. There are signs that say "30 minutes from this point" and "1 hour from this point", but we got through in about 15-20 minutes.

Here we are at the entrance!

We wanted to do the Delicate Arch trail because that is the most iconic arch in the park. The trail is 3 miles round trip with an elevation change of 538 feet. It's difficulty level is strenuous, with over 1/3 of the hike on steep slickrock. Also, there are some narrow rock ledges to maneuver. So, I was a little bit worried about all of us getting to the top. I was also worried that we wouldn't find parking at the trailhead because it's the most popular hike at Arches. The parking lot was full, but we drove around a few minutes until someone left and snagged their spot. The weather was in the upper 40's and cloudy when we started the hike, which was perfect. There is no shade on this hike and people end up getting really sick during the summer months due to heat. There were a lot of warnings including how much water to bring on this hike. Avery read everything to use on our 30 minute drive to the trailhead. :)

You start off crossing a bridge and walking by a little cabin preserved to show how people lived here. Then, it's straight up the slickrock after that! You can't see the Delicate Arch from the road or from the trail until you are all the way up there.

We took a few breaks along the way to catch our breath. The altitude and the strenuous hike were no joke! Here the girls are pretending to nap - ha! It wasn't THAT bad.

We're getting closer! This is towards the end of the trail when we got to the top. There was a narrow rock ledge for about 200 yards that takes you around to where the Delicate Arch is. Avery was a little leery of this part and made sure to stay close to the wall.

Then, when you get around the corner, you see the amazing arch! The opening in the arch is 46 feet tall and 32 feet wide. It's the largest free standing arch in the park and very impressive!

I was expecting it to be flat up by the arch, but it was still pretty sloped and not easy to walk around. We made our way over to the line to get our picture taken in the arch. You can see how it slopes down in front and there is a drop off in the back. Some nice person volunteered to walk down and take our picture for us.

Here we are... so tiny! My legs were shaking a little while we were out there, but it wasn't too bad.

You can see here that there is a big basin to the right of the arch. I kept thinking someone was going to fall in there!

We spent a bit of time by the arch, had a snack and some drinks and then headed back down. Avery was ready to get going. She doesn't like heights and the elevation was making her feel bad. She and I both got headaches, but she also just wasn't feeling well in general. I think being anxious about the heights and drop-offs also made her feel off. About half way back down, she was feeling much better and back to her happy self!

Morgan had to go to the bathroom, so she and Matt went ahead of Avery and me. You can see them down the trail in the middle.

Morgan and Matt stopped at the petroglyphs... 

And so did Avery and I. Pretty cool to see!

Afterwards, we were starving and went back into Moab to get a late lunch. We ate at Antica Forma, which is a pizza/pasta place. We even got a dessert pizza with Nutella and strawberries. It was a mess, but super tasty!

After resting a little bit, the girls and Matt went out to play basketball at the hotel. They had a little hoop in the parking lot. They played their version of Horse... Poopies vs Toots. :)

Then, they did some swimming at the hotel pool. I can't believe they had any energy left at the end of the day!

For dinner, we walked down to the Moab Diner. It's a cute little diner that serves breakfast all day and has delicious milkshakes! We all loved it!

We went back to the hotel and the girls crashed! It was a fun day!