Moab: Day 1

Yesterday Jeff and I took off for the weekend. Monday (19th) will be our 2nd anniversary. Can you believe it?! In any case, we decided to get away to celebrate. Seeing as we live in Utah, having an anniversary in January limits some of the close warmer, sunny vacation spots, but Moab sounded fun...and just a tad warmer. I've only been to Moab once and it was just a brief stop on our way to Manti during a Young Women's trip when I was a teenager. Jeff has been here many times and was excited to show me around...especially Arches National Park. That is where we started (and ended) our weekend. It was breathtaking! The magnitude and simple beauty of God's creations never cease to amaze me.

We arrived at the park at about 8:30 a.m. and headed straight to Delicate Arch. This is probably the most iconic, most photographed, most talked about arch in the park so it was only fitting that we started our day there. It is a bit of a hike to get there, but the scenery is unique and beautiful. We stopped at the little ranch house that was built in the late 1800s by a man named Wolfe. He traveled to this region after the Civil War and settled here with his son. Can you imagine living so close to Delicate Arch and essentially having it all to yourself? The little ranch house wasn't much, but I doubt he stayed in the house long with so much to explore outside. We also saw some petroglyphs along the trail. This area was densely populated with Native American tribes, as evidenced by this rock art. I think it is extremely intriguing to know that throughout history people felt the need to record their lives. They may not have been taking "selfies", but they were making small etchings of their history and their way of life.

The trail was easy to follow. It started off as a dirt trail, but eventually the trail traversed the red rock that is native to this area. To help hikers, cairns were placed to indicate where the trail was. I thought that was a pretty interesting, natural way to mark the trail.

As we approached the arch, there was another smaller arch on the hillside where we were hiking. Jeff encouraged me to climb up the small hillside, which is something I don't normally do...I'm one of those people who adhere to the safety of the trail, but I'm glad I did. Unbeknownst to me, once we climbed up to this arch we had a perfect view of Delicate Arch. It was amazing! I wish there were more appropriate words to describe the grandeur of this rainbow shaped rock, but "amazing" is all I can come up with. Jeff and I snapped a quick picture then noticed that the small group of people who were at the arch were leaving so we quickly made our way to the arch to take advantage of the solitude. We had the arch to ourselves for about 10-15 minutes! That is unheard of! It was surreal to stand under this huge rock edifice and contemplate its creation. There is a serene sense of humility that accompanies this natural wonder. How could you not feel humbled to know that the same God that created these majestic wonders also created you? If He could take so much time to carefully plan out this rock's life - shaping and molding it into something wonderful and beautiful, what makes us think that he wouldn't do the same for us? I loved being there. I loved sharing that with Jeff. I loved that this was the first arch I saw in the park. It was the perfect way to start our anniversary weekend!

This was the small arch we hiked up to get the first glimpse of Delicate Arch.

Jeff and I taking a selfie from the small arch with Delicate Arch in the background.

Jeff taking a picture of me under the arch.

Me taking a picture of Jeff in the shadow of the arch. (I wasn't brave enough to traverse the high rock face to get over there.)

This is a shot of the small arch from Delicate Arch.

After we hiked back to the car, we spent the rest of the day hiking back to other arches around the park. Some hikes were easy and short; some hikes were a little longer and icier. Because it was January, there were some areas that the snow had partially melted with sun exposure but then froze because of the cold evening temperatures. I almost fell a couple of times but luckily I have a strong, sure-footed husband. It was such a great day! The sun was out. The weather wasn't too cold...and I was sharing it all with my best friend!

Trail leading to Sand Dune Arch.

Sand Dune Arch

Skyline Arch

Skyline Arch - this arch actually broke in the 70s! You can see a bit of the massive rocks on the canyon floor.

Skyline Arch from the other side.

Tunnel Arch

Pine Tree Arch - I liked this smaller, more secluded arch.

Landscape Arch

View from Broken Arch

Broken Arch

After about 6 hours of hiking to various arches, we decided to call it a day. We headed back to Moab where we cleaned up, went out to dinner, then relaxed at the hotel. Great first day!