Day 5—Arches

We arrived at Arches at about 8pm. As we drove into the park Josh was telling us his philosophy about how the formations in Arches were made. He said that he thought that over millions of years the water wore parts of the rocks away until all that was left were the arches.

All of a sudden Rachel totally freaked out and said that she wanted to leave like all of the cars that were passing us going out of the park. (Because it was so late in the evening, there were lots of cars leaving as we drove in.) I asked her why, and she said that those people had found out that Arches was old and was falling apart and that was why they were leaving, and she wanted to leave too!

As we drove farther into the park Jason got some great sunset shots, including this one of balancing rock. It was a beautiful sunset, and seeing the outlines of all of the rock formations highlighted in the sunset made it even more lovely.

The kids were pretty excited to go and see their first arch--one of the Windows arches.


They climbed around on the arch until it got too dark to climb safely anymore.

Part 2 of my plan for our evening at Arches started then. We had snacks in the car and drove halfway out of the park, watching for a nice parking lot. When we found one we parked and all climbed up onto the roof and hood of the van with our pillows and got nice & comfortable. We wanted to see some stars and we were not disappointed. The moon was beautiful and Jupiter was brilliant and huge. The kids were all excited that we could see the Big Dipper so clearly and I think we were able to show them where the little dipper was. The best part, though, was the shooting stars. Except for Jenna, everyone saw 3 or 4 shooting stars, and one of them was amazing. We were all so excited, and I'm determined that we're going to get Jenna a shooting star!

The next morning I got everyone up early so that we could enjoy a couple of hours in Arches before it got too hot. We had a big decision to make—should we see as many arches as we could, or should we do the big hike to Delicate Arch. At first the vote was pretty evenly split and I couldn't decide what I wanted to do. But then another child decided they wanted to go on the big hike and the decision was made.

We started off together, but that didn't last for long. Within the first quarter mile (the hike is 1.5 miles each way) the boys had taken off on their own.

Which left me and the three little kids. I enjoyed hiking with them, but I promise I pulled at least 2 and sometimes 3 of them up the steep part.

We would rest, take a drink of water, and then walk up the steep slickrock for another 5 minutes. Then we would repeat it all over again. I don't think it would have been too bad if I had been on my own, but pulling the little kids up with me was exhausting. It would also have been better if I had calculated more carefully and we had brought more water!

Jenna was complaining that she was all hot and sweaty. (Though not nearly as sweaty as we get in the humid south.) She said that she was like a sweaty buffalo. In an attempt to distract them from the heat and fatigue I suggested that that was a great Indian name, and that we all should make one. Our names were:

Jenna—Sweaty Buffalo
Rachel—Lost Monkey
Jared—Longtail Lizard (we'd seen a lot of lizards while climbing the day before)
Me—Slimy Bugeater (I'd just swallowed a gnat--gross!)

Here are the little kids enjoying a rare bit of shade.

Jason had the backpack with the water in it, and every now and then we would catch a glimpse of him in the distance. We would jump up and down and show him our water bottle and try to make him understand that we needed more water. Then we would hike a little farther and find a water bottle sitting in the middle of the trail waiting for us.

As we got closer to Delicate Arch the scenery was really amazing.

It was exciting to see Delicate Arch up close. I've been to Arches 2x before, but never done the big hike so this was exciting for me. The little kids, who were previously dragging their feet, were now energized and couldn't wait to go and stand under the arch.


We all got a chance to stand under it, and then a kind stranger took a picture of all of us together.


The trip back was almost totally downhill and the kids enjoyed it much more. The loved climbing in different places. We always knew that Jason was a climber, but Rachel is also quite a monkey.


It was funny to see the kids perk up on the hike back, once it was mostly downhill. Jared & Jenna were both complaining of their feet hurting, but Rachel just took off and never stopped. I figured that since her big brothers were ahead of her and we were behind her, it wouldn't be a problem for her to hike alone. Every now and then we'd see her in the distance and she would jump up and down and wave to us.

Rachel told us that from time to time hikers that passed her would ask if she was lost (I'm sure most people don't expect to see an 8 year old hiking by themselves!) and she would assure them that her mother and brother and sister were right behind her. I thought that was hilarious.

After we got back to the car, drank as much water as we could hold, and had some snacks we decided that we would drive around and then go to one more arch. By this time it was 11AM and it was pretty hot.

The last arch we went to visit was Double Arch. It was terrific. Beautiful, lots of shade, and best of all,


plenty of places for my monkeys to climb.


Some people sitting near me made a comment about how high "that boy" was, pointing to Jason. I told them that I'd heard that his parents were mountain goats. Not sure they were amused...but the kids sure had a great time.

I finally told them that it was time to leave. It was lunch time and we still had a long drive to go to get to our final destination. We piled into the car hot & exhausted, got some lunch and nice cold Icees, and waved goodbye to Moab & Arches. What a fun side trip!