26 May - Road Trip Day 5

Day five of our road trip and The Bride and I were going to explore some areas of Arches National Park that we had not seen before. On schedule this day was a hike to Landscape Arch and Delicate Arch and what ever else we could cram into the day. Since this was Saturday of Memorial Day weekend our plans were somewhat ambitious.

The rest of the group was out for another full day of four wheeling and they were going to do the "Trilogy", three of the most famous of all the Moab trails. I had done this ride with the group several years ago so I didn't feel like I was missing something other than the fellowship.

We started out at about 7:30 am and the weather forecast was for temperature in the upper 80's to low 90's. By the time we got on the trail is was already starting to feel warm. The hike in wasn't real strenuous but we took our time and looked at everything along the way. The cactus were just beginning to bloom and we saw several colors. Hard as we looked we did not see the most prized of all cactus flowers, a claret cup.Landscape Arch was just amazing. A portion of Landscape Arch broke off in 1991 and the arch today appears to defy gravity. Even if it were possible I don't believe I would try to walk across it in it's current condition. The Bride commented that Landscape Arch looked to be more delicate than Delicate Arch!

We also hiked on an adjacent trail and were able to see both Wall Arch and Navajo Arch. At Navajo Arch there was a magnificent panorama view of the LaSalle mountain range just outside the park.

At about 10:30 we began to walk out and met with a steady stream of people walking in. When we got to the parking lot, what had been virtually empty when we came in, was now overflowing and people in their cars were following people coming off the trail to get their parking spot.

I made an executive decision that we wouldn't do any more in the park that day and we headed back to the KOA for a leisurely lunch. After lunch The Bride went into Moab to do some shopping and I brushed up on my technique of napping.

In the evening all of the group some thirty strong got together at a room at one of the local motels for a pot luck dinner and slide show of the weeks activities. A great time was had by all.

Thanks for visiting.