October 2025 – Page 2 – Meanderings & Mind Munchies

Canyonlands National Park

Mesa Arch

This morning I hauled myself out of bed at 5:00 a.m. so that we could drive to Canyonlands National Park to see the sun rise through Mesa Arch.

Our first clue that this plan might go awry was the packed parking lot when we arrived. After walking the short trail to the arch, this is what greeted us:

To say that I was disappointed would be a vast understatement.

Not only was the arch crowded with people, but they were all simply standing in front of the arch chatting with one another.

There was no way to get close to the arch, much less take a photo. And no one showed the slightest inclination to step aside for those of us who might like a photo without strangers in it. I confess that I may have experienced a significant degree of rage.

One guy had a tripod set up in front of the arch, taking a video of the sun rising. It was impossible to get a photo without having that tripod in the frame. I was so tempted to give it a little push right into the canyon! 🤬

I was also tempted to stand behind them with my cell phone at the ready and shout, “Smile for the camera! I want a record of all the assholes here this morning!”

I didn’t do any of those things, of course. Instead, Greg and I slunk away and headed to Grand View Overlook to see what that might offer.

This photo was taken from an overlook on our way to Grand View.

I won’t lie. I will be very happy when we are done with canyons on this trip. I am tired of seeing Greg teetering on the edge of cliffs, praying that he won’t lose his balance or trip and fall in.

I’m not really worried about falling in, myself, since I never get close enough to the edge. But my fear of heights is always triggered, nevertheless.

Grand View Overlook

We decided not to walk the trail at Grand View. The position of the sun made it difficult to see into the canyon.

I wish park maps would tell you whether an overlook was east facing or west facing. It would be really helpful!

Mesa Arch–second attempt

After Grand View, we headed back to Mesa Arch to see whether the crowd had thinned now that the sun had fully risen.

Yay! I was finally able to get my shot of the arch. And to be honest, I don’t think it would have been much better if I had been able to take it at sunrise.

Lesson learned.

I did get at least one pretty photo at sunrise, though…

Dead Horse Point State Park

On the way back to the campground, we stopped at Dead Horse Point State Park.

This state park is a hidden gem, and I wish that we had visited it earlier so that we could have taken better advantage of everything it had to offer.

As it was, all we really did was drive to the end of the park road and take some photos of the canyon.

Arches National Park

The Windows

We were up early again this morning to see if we could catch sunrise on some of the arches in the Windows section of the park.

We were shocked to discover the parking lot nearly full at that hour of the morning. Dang! I had really hoped to get some pictures of the arches without a thousand people standing underneath them.

Oh, well. With a little effort, we managed to get creative with our photo taking.

That is Greg, standing on the ground waiting for me to quit fooling around.

Park Avenue

Next, we hiked the Park Avenue trail. Maybe we were spoiled from hiking at Bryce Canyon (or maybe we were simply in too much pain from all the hiking we’ve been doing), but neither of us found the views along the trail particularly breathtaking.

I’m calling this formation “The Nuns,” because it reminds me of a group of nuns milling about.

We didn’t go all the way to the Park Avenue Overlook, which we realized later that evening probably would have been a good idea.

Sunset at Arches

We spent the afternoon napping, doing laundry, and shopping for hair cutting supplies. (We both desperately need haircuts, and we haven’t been able to find anything like a Hair Cuttery.)

After dinner, we headed back to Arches National Park to see if we could catch the sunset.

Our first stop was Park Avenue Overlook. This overlook was so much better than the trail!

Our next delightful surprise was the view of the La Sal Mountains as the sun was setting.

And shortly thereafter, the full moon made an appearance.

All in all, it was a good day.

Colorado River rafting trip

Today was a relatively quiet day. We took our time getting ready this morning. So nice!

At noon, our tour guides picked us up at the campground for a 3-hour rafting trip down the Colorado River that included lunch.

Our tour guides serve up Chicken Caesar Salad in tortillas wraps shaped like ice cream cones.

Unlike the Snake River, the Colorado River was very muddy. One of the other tourists said it was like floating on chocolate milk. I would have described it more as café au lait.

And I can’t say the scenery was especially thrilling, but it was still nice.

Canyonlands National Park

We woke up to rain this morning, but that did not deter us. We headed off to Canyonlands National Park at 7:15.

Again, the entrance gate to the park was unmanned, but the visitor center was open. We grabbed a map and trail guide, then headed to our first destination.

Upheaval Dome

In an effort not to overtax ourselves, we’ve been trying to keep any individual hike to 3 miles or less. Upheaval Dome was 1.4 miles.

What we did not count on today were the gale force winds. OMG! I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced wind as strong as what was blowing today.

And unfortunately, nearly everything in Canyonlands National Park involves standing on the edge of a canyon. The wind added a dimension of risk that I did not enjoy. There were times when I struggled just to stay on my feet.

What you can’t tell from this photo is how hard I was holding on to Greg.

Upheaval Dome is believed to have been created by a giant meteorite.

After our experience with the wind at Upheaval Dome, we decided to forgo any more hikes, since they were likely to involve fighting against the wind while balancing on slickrock at dizzying heights.

Instead, we chose to continue our drive along the main road leading through Canyonlands National Park, stopping at overlooks along the way.

Even the overlooks often involved teetering on the edge of a canyon.

Arches National Park

Greg decided to drive Route 24 from Capitol Reef National Park to our campground near Arches National Park. The scenery along Route 24 was varied, to say the least.

When we arrived at the campground, we were dismayed to discover that our site had no sewer. Since we are going to be here a week, that presented a challenge.

Luckily, the shower facility is top notch, and we appear to be the only ones using it. Also, there are lots of restaurants in Moab. I teased Greg that this would be a great excuse for not cooking!

Devil’s Garden

We headed off early the next morning to explore Arches. Because of the government shutdown, the entrance gate was unmanned and our timed entry ticket was not needed. But to our surprise, the Visitor’s Center was open.

We picked up a map of the park and a trail guide, then headed to the furthest spot along the scenic drive, assuming that the horde of other tourists would not have made their way there yet.

That section of the park is called Devil’s Garden, and it includes Skyline Arch, Tunnel Arch, Pine Tree Arch, and Landscape Arch (there are others, but those are the ones we saw).

By the time we finished our hike to see those arches, it was getting hot, and the sun was blistering. Greg lost interest in any more hiking. (Those of you who know him know how he feels about being hot!)

We decided to make our way down the scenic drive and stop at interesting-looking overlooks.

Heading toward Sand Dune Arch. A family had set up lawn chairs and sand toys for their little ones right in front of the arch, so I was unable to get a good photo of the arch without someone else’s kids in it. Grrr!

I won’t post photos of everything we saw, but suffice it to say that we still have a lot to see at Arches!

The drive into Arches National Park is probably my favorite part of the park so far.

On our way back to the campground, we made a detour to the emergency room so that Greg could get his hand checked out. Thanks to Patrick and our need to get Tdap shots after he was born, Greg was already protected from tetanus.

Tomorrow we will check out Canyonlands National Park.