Four National Parks, Two State Parks, A Monsoon, and a Tarantula

I thought I was the queen of the complicated plan, but Heidi has got me beat. This girl's trip was in the making for over a year, and she made sure to cover every base. In fact, it's such a jam packed itinerary that I'm just going to go straight into it. No attempt at a clever little pre-story this time, because I know it's going to take a lot just to try to sum up each day's activities. So here we go:

Salt Lake is HUGE!

Day One: Heidi, Julie and I met Janet at the Salt Lake City Airport, and after getting our massive rented SUV, we were on our way. We originally thought this would be an RV escapade, but the person we had rented from cancelled on us. Ken and I had this same situation happen to us last year; and after realizing how doable it is to tent camp out of a suitcase, the girl's and I decided to do the same. It's just SO much cheaper! 

We had about a 4 hour drive to our first RV campground, which of course didn't want us tenting with the RV's. Thankfully Heidi had called ahead to let them know we were now RV-less, so they had found a spot to stick us - over with the cows. 

I will give a shot out to the Wonderland RV Park, because they worked really hard to make up for it. We were given a picnic table, and a gas fire pit complete with a full tank. We made the most of it.

Day Two: Our first National Park was Capital Reef where we did the Cassidy Arch hike which was just a half hour drive away. 

Perfect choice -- start to finish views with a price of just under 4 miles and 700 ft of gain. Word of warning though: every hike we did on this trip could be deadly in summer heat. We were thankful for mild weather and to be finished at 1 pm. 

Can you see tiny Janet?

 

Then it was the must stop at the Gifford Homestead for their famous pie. Another reason to get an early start; they often sell out by late afternoon. 

Our last hike of the day was the Sunset Point and Gooseneck Overlooks, which share a trailhead and together only add up to about a mile.  

Sunset Point

Gooseneck Overlook

Our last stop was at the Chak Balam for a wonderful Mexican dinner and then the short drive back to our awaiting tents at the Wonderland.

Day Three: Up and packed before dawn, we made the hour drive to Moonscape Overlook. This is a "secret" place Heidi had read about which MUST be seen at sunrise. We had the place to ourselves when we arrived in the dark, but had a handful of people join us as the sun came up.

Our next destination was Goblin Valley State Park, with a quick stop in Hanksville to walk amongst the crazy artistry at the roadside attraction of Carl's Critter Garden.

Sammie wanted to be in more pics, but this is all she's getting ;)

Goblin Valley has no real trail, so I can't tell you how far we walked. Exploring here feels a little like you fell down the rabbit hole and may run into the Mad Hatter at any moment.

Then it was another near two hours to Dead Horse State Park where we looked down on the Thelma and Louse final cliffside scene. Heidi really wanted to drive the Shafer Trail Road to get to actual said spot on our following day, but the weather had other plans.

Day Four: We were supposed to be leaving our campsite at the Sun Outdoors RV Park well before sunrise to get the iconic shot of the sun coming through the Mesa Arch...instead we were desperately trying to keep our stuff from drifting away.

Literally...when I zipped open my tent to peak out and assess how bad things were, I saw Janet's flip flop floating by. I mean, it may not have been technically a monsoon, but it felt like it to us. Needless to say we got a late start getting to the Canyonlands Island in the Sky District, though we still did the under a mile walk to see the Arch.

I don't think water is typically in this shot, haha

Then we drove to the end of the road to do the 2 mile trail at Grand View Point. None of us were feeling very ambitious after the morning's ordeal, so as soon as we finished we called it good and drove the hour back to the hot tub. Thankfully we found our campsite was no longer a lake. 

Except we weren't quite done for the day. Janet and I both have the birth order of last born...which means we are hams. 😆We had a whole set list ready for Woody Tavern's karaoke night, but by 9:30 pm we were just too beat to do any more than one song. I'm sure everyone there was heartbroken to see us leave😜but the next day was another sunrise chase, so it was best to get to bed early.

You can see some of this masterful performance on my Youtube

Day Five: Even thought we got there in plenty of time, the sunrise through the North Window Arch just didn't materialize. The sky behind us though was staring to clear, so we retreated to do the Double Arch and got some beautiful morning light. 

We were thankful to have the clouds and an early start because our next real hike of 3 miles RT to Delicate Arch would have been very unpleasant in direct midday sun.

This is the most famous arch in all of Utah - I mean it's on their license plate for heaven's sake! And though we of course had plenty of company, it wasn't too crowded that Heidi couldn't get a shot standing beside it.

The funny part was that she left her apple sitting next to our group for just those couple of minutes, but that's all it took for a raven to swoop down and snatch it! So be careful with your snacks here...these smart birds are on to us! 

Our next stop was Sand Dune Arch to Broken Arch. When we got to Broken Arch, we saw that the trail went up and through it - though it was a bit of a climb. 

Heidi and her not quite fully activated super knees stayed down with Janet, while Julie and I scrambled up. 

From the backside...the climb is on the other side

Down is always harder than up in these cases, so when another hiker mentioned the trail just looped back around to the parking lot we quickly yelled down to the girls that we would "see you at the car." After just a few feet of hiking I decided I should actually look at the trail on my app. 

Oops. The loop added an extra mile at least, but luckily we got a text out to let the other's they would be waiting for a bit. I did add that "we will run"...because y'know, I'm a trail runner now! 😄 Turns out we were thankful for our blunder, because although we did very little running, the rest of the trail was amazing. This lollypop loop is about 3 miles in total; but once again, I wouldn't recommend it on a hot day.

There are many places to just pull over and take a picture in Arches, which of course we did...

but we all agreed we had one more short hike in us. Park Avenue Trail is the only trail without an arch (I think?) but it is uniquely stunning with all it's building like towers. (Hence it's name.) Roughly a mile in and then out, and we were ready to call it a day.  

We love Heidi and her coordinating outfits :)

Day Six: It was sad to leave our home at Sun Outdoors. When it's not flooded, it's a great place. But the show must go on, so it was off to another district of Canyonlands. In case you didn't know, it's the biggest National Park in Utah, and it has FOUR districts. "Needles" was next on the agenda, and I must say in comparison to everything we had already seen, it was slightly underwhelming. We were mostly just fine driving through it, as you see so much from the car. Though we had to do at least a LITTLE hiking, and the Slickrock Foot Trail fit the bill. 

But it was hot, and we were kind of over it. Even though this is only a 3 mile loop, I think we turned around in a half mile. We had driven nearly 2 hours to get to this trailhead, and we still had an hour of driving to get to the Mountain View RV. We all agreed getting to our campsite a little early and relaxing sounded like the perfect plan.

Stopping for wine first...you can't do that at a grocery store in Utah. We felt like real sinners going in here 😏

But we sure did have fun that night! 😂

Day Seven: Another packing up in the dark morning, but we had to make our 9 am appointment to tour the Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado...a 2 hour drive.

We got the best tour guide - she played the flute for us! (That's on the YouTube video too.)  It's not much walking though, and so we had to throw in another hike. 

The Soda Canyon Overlook Trail is just over a mile and on the way out from Cliff Palace. The cool part is they have a free observation telescope at the first lookout that you come to, and you get a great view of Balcony House using it. (Another cliff side dwelling, and more difficult tour than the one we chose.)

We thought we would also do the Petroglyph Point Trail that is found right at the museum; but once again, we were hot and over it. I seriously can't imagine visiting any of these parks during full summer. 

So we drove the hour to our final camp at Mesa Verde RV Resort. Because we were RV-less, we had to pitch our tents way out back in a grassy field. Sigh...I decided to walk the long way to the bathrooms before setting up, and on my way back and barely within ear shot I could hear Janet yelling "OH F*** NO!!! NO NO NO, OH HELL NO - I WILL SLEEP IN THE CAR! F*** NO!!"

Yep, this guy was chillin' out right where Janet was going to set her tent up. The owners were very understanding and let us move. We chose the spot furthest away from spiderland. 

Day Eight: Condensation woke me up several times with drips to the face. This is a high desert thing - the high temps changing to low temps can be a real issue when you are in a tent. We were all thankful for the community gas fire pit to warm up by before we made our 7 hour journey back to the airport.

I will end this by saying the Salt Lake City International Airport is now my favorite. It was beautiful flying in, beautiful flying out, and over all just lovely everywhere you looked. I don't think I'll ever beat this final sunset...it went down...then came back as we flew higher! Finally, it went down again in a blaze of glory. I have never watched a sunset for as long as I watched this one. And with that I bid you adieu until next time.