Canyonlands and Arches --The End

Well, this is our last blog post as tomorrow we fly home.  I have to say, Arches and Canyonlands were a great ending to a great trip.  Theo said to me last night, "every time we get to a new campground, I think it's my favorite" and that is somewhat true for me: no matter which park we are in, it feels like the best. We definitely ended the trip in high spirits.

A few of the girls were under the weather for these last couple of days, which was a bummer, but while we curtailed plans to make them more commensurate with energy levels, the kids were real troopers and we managed to really enjoy both parks. We had reservations to spend both nights at a campground in Arches, but we had heard really great things about the Canyonlands first-come-first-served campground so we took a chance, cancelled our night 1 reservation at Arches, and prayed.  It turned out to be a bit of a nail-biter. There are only 12 sites in the part of Canyonlands we visited, and by the time we got moving and got to the campground, they were all taken.  Luckily, one site remains open until 5pm for handicapped campers and no handicapped hikers turned up so we ended up with a large, lovely in a beautiful, peaceful spot with gorgeous stars. It was worth the worry!

Canyonlands is a large, peaceful park.  For some reason, itis much less busy than Arches, though they are only 30 minutes apart and both close to the relatively populated town of Moab.  The whole place was one quiet, unbelievable view after another. Canyons as far as the eye can see in every direction, but each one different and inspiring. We took a late evening hike (after the hot sun went down) on a rock called Whale Rock, that was smooth and high.  When we got to the top, we couldn't see another soul, and the wind had us feeling like we were flying. It was great.

Arches, though right down the road, was also beautiful, but utterly different.  It was the only park besides Yellowstone where we encountered any traffic congestion.  There were other tourists everywhere we went, particularly because we mostly hit the park highlights rather than stuff off the beaten path.  But, we were still glad we visited. Most impressive in this park were not the vistas, though there was no shortage of terrific ones, but (drum roll, please) the arches!  The park has more than 2,500 natural stone arches, most in a vivid, red rock and each with its own charm.  It has other impressive and precarious rock formations as well that leave you wondering both how they were formed and how the rocks are possibly balancing that way.  It's lots of fun.

We took a sunset hike to Landscape Arch, one of the longest in the world, which I loved, but the real highlight of the park for us came after the sun went down.  Our visit to Arches apparently coincided with a meteor shower, so we joined the rangers and some other tourists for a night of telescopes and sky-gazing. Wow!!  We saw amazing views of the moon through the scope, as well as a crystal clear view of Saturn and its rings. We also caught sight of the most incredible shooting star I have ever seen in my life.  Called an Earth Grazer because it came so low, it was strikingly bright and shot across the sky for a full 2 seconds or more with a long trail like a firework.  The whole thing was jaw-dropping.

As if that weren't enough, the kids were feeling adventurous and asked to sleep without tents so they could see more stars. So, we all spent our last night in just sleeping bags under this incredible sky -- everyone except Ruby, actually, who chose to sleep in the van because we had previously declared that it's not really a road trip unless you end up spending the night in your car!  The ground was hard, but the air and the sky were gorgeous.  I saw about 15 more shooting stars (just the regular kind!) during the moments I rolled over during the night, and Theo and I took a beautiful dawn walk before the world awoke.  It was really special.

Tomorrow it is on the plane and back to civilization, definitely with mixed feelings. It was a great adventure. The kids rated the trip between 5 and a 9 out of 10, which I consider a success. For Theo and me, this one goes to 11!