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Natural Arches, Goblins and Late Nights
Entry 18 of 43 | show all | print this entry |
We try for an early morning. We are getting better at it, but it is still very difficult.
Back to Arches National Park today. We were last there 10 years ago. Its brilliant an ranks in the top 5 as far as we are concerned. Over 2000 natural arches in the park. And finally a chance for some desert hiking again.
Temperatures are a bit different this time around - minus 10 for the hike (I think last time it was mid to high 30s).
Walked around North and South Window and Turret Arch (well over a mile) and Zac loved it. His love for adventure and the outdoors is wonderful to watch. The fact that much of the park is snow covered (which is a rarity according to the rangers) helps a bit, I am sure. But no complaints from him (but we do make extra sure we are all suitably dressed and shoe-ed - Zac in snow boots).
Its amazing to check this place out. Of all of the planet, why here for these weird formations? A second visit meant different things for us, but we would still come back again in summer to do some of the more remote stuff they don't do in winter. In fact, if we see more than a handful of people on a hike, it is busy. Compare that to summer when the car parks are full.
Zac was after more hiking and we headed off to a viewing trail for Delicate Arch (this great big sandstone structure that stands out by itself on the top of a huge rise). The trail is marked only by stone cairns and there is a pretty decent vertical climb over the course of the hike. Zac led us. He loves spotting cairns and figuring out where to go next. But he did have a slip on this particular trail, which was good for him - slowed him down a bit. He might be five and pretty adventurous at times, but he is learning about the right and wrong time for some things.
We make it to the end of the trail (its about 2km return and is described as "moderately strenuous") and absolutely no complaints from Zac. He just motored along at his own pace, checking stuff out that interested him, listening to the info we have to tell him (sometimes about the trail, sometimes about life and sometimes about things we just want to talk about) and asking lots of very interesting questions.
One of the junior ranger tasks here is to fill a bag with rubbish, which is a pretty difficult task in a park with next to no visitors and where snow covers pretty much everything. So you have to look pretty hard. You ca imagine our delight and surprise when Zac found a soft-drink cartoon just lying there. He was very popular with the rangers and picked up another junior ranger badge.
Everyone bundled back into the car and headed off again. Managed to find Subway for lunch, which is by far the best option for travelers in this part of the world and arrived at Goblin State Park just after 3.30pm. This was a brilliant find we happened across when researching. The "goblins" are small hoodoos of red sandstone which litter a huge valley. The best part is the hoodoos are only about 10 feet high, which make them heaps of fun for little people. Zac was no exception. He had a blast running around and through the hoodoos, hunting for things and playing games. No junior ranger things to do, just lots of running around and acting like a goose. The perfect afternoon for the day.
We knew of a great place to stay, about 30 minutes down the road. Or so we thought...
Turns out, the only place in Hanksville worthy of the title "Motel" is closed Sundays. Yep, thats right, closed. Never heard or seen of that before - a six day a week motel. Of course, if you are already checked in, you can stay. But no room at the inn for Sunday travelers. The other "options" in town did nothing to entice us. So in the ever declining light, we decided to move on.
Took another hour (and another 50 miles) before we came across Torrey. The town is pretty much non-existent, but there is a huge flash Best Western and an almost brand new Comfort Inn. Turns out at least the Comfort Inn is in receivership, but the rates were brilliant and the near new accommodation was well worth the push-forward.
Only one place in town for dinner, serving Mexican. Had no idea nachos and a burrito would take nearly 90 minutes to make. The sole staff member (who worked as barmaid, waitress, cook and anything else that was required) made the whole thing (including the corn chips) by hand and from scratch. Tasted fantastic. But what an ordeal. Fortunately Sunday Night Football was on the bar TV.
A super long day and a super quick dive into bed after all of that.
Another long day beckons the weary travelers.....
Drive - 157 miles (after 2.00pm)
Latest Comments (1)
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Torrey, Utah (reply)
Dec 18, 2007 17:55 EST by bobpalin
Torrey is plenty existent - unless something has happened since I went to the Post Office yesterday! 8-)
If you only got as far as the Comfort Inn you didn't get to Torrey which is 2 miles further west, however it's true that in the winter very little is open here so you didn't miss a lot.
I write about my local exploration in The Torrey Tales - www.bobpalin.com/tt - which you m... show all
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