Moab

After spending Thursday night in a private cabin at the Lazy Lizard Hostel in the town of Moab, I spent Friday morning at Arches National Park, ten miles outside of the city, and Friday afternoon at Canyonlands National Parks, another thirty miles away. Collectively, the town, the two national parks, and a number of nearby state parks are often referred to as Moab. That evening, I drove to Ridgway, Colorado where I stayed a night in the Rockies.

Arches National Park

With over 2,000 stone portals, Arches National Park is the largest concentration of natural arches in the world. It also features magnificent fins and pinnacles formed out of the same burnt red Estrada sandstone as the arches.

While I had seen natural arches before (including one in Wisconsin), the scale and ubiquity of the arches at Arches National Park is what sets this place apart. The vast emptiness of the desert and the suddenness with which the rock sculptures appear add to the sense of wonder.

I started my visit with a few scenic overlooks of Highway 191, the road which cuts through a canyon coming in to Moab. Once inside the park, the giant red rocks rise out of the landscape almost immediately. I had some difficulty wrapping my head around the notion that these strangely artistic shapes were formed by water and wind rather than by some ancient alien civilization.

Bypassing the Petrified Sand Dunes and Windows sections of the park, I continued on to the Delicate Arch Trail, the park's most popular hike. This three-mile roundtrip trail crosses a large slickrock expanse, then hugs a cliff before emerging into a deep, open sandstone bowl with the 65-foot tall Delicate Arch jutting up from the far edge. This huge arch looked more sturdy than delicate to me, but it startles one's perception of what is possible in nature all the same.

From there, I drove to the Fiery Furnace overlook. A special permit is required to hike among the thick red rock pillars and miniature canyons between them. Guided ranger tours are also offered, but the next available one wasn't until Monday morning. I was content just to look out over the knobby, finger-like formations before continuing on to Devils Garden, the furthest section of the park from the entrance.

A primitive 7.2 mile trail snakes through the massive rocks of Devils Garden with views of various arches and formations. I only did the first mile of this trail, which passes the Tunnel and Pine Tree Arches and culminates with views of the astounding Landscape Arch.

Stretching almost 300 feet, the ribbon-like Landscape Arch is the longest natural arch in the world. Visitors used to be able to hike under the arch, but the park closed that trail after a large piece of rock broke off the fragile arch in 1991.

As I left the park, I stopped briefly at the Windows section to take in panoramic views of the Fiery Furnace, the Garden of Eden, Double Arch, and Balancing Rock. I then continued on to Canyonlands National Park.

Canyonlands National Park

Much bigger in area than Arches National Park, Canyonlands is also more remote and less accessible. It's about forty miles outside the town of Moab and only a few of its roads are paved. While there aren't as many arches or strange rock formations here, Canyonlands is the perfect place for anyone who likes to stand on the edge of the world and stare out into seemingly endless space.

A few miles outside the park, I stopped at a scenic overlook with views of two 600-foot tall buttes named Monitor and Merrimac for their resemblance to ironclad battleships that tried to sink one another during the Civil War. Then it was on to the park.

The part of Canyonlands that I visited is known as the Island in the Sky. It's an enormous mesa that can only be reached by a 40-foot wide strip of land called The Neck. Everywhere else, the landmass towers at least 1,000 feet above the ground below, overlooking canyons and rock towers hewn by the Green and Colorado Rivers. The La Sal Mountains stand tall in the distance. There's also the Needles section of the park, but that would have to be for another visit.

Since I was limited to the paved roads, I did a minimal amount of hiking in Canyonlands. I did do the half-mile Mesa Arch Trail, which leads to a low-slung arch hanging off the side of the Island in the Sky. Before I left the park, I also hiked up to the Upheaval Dome overlook. Here, for unknown reasons, an immense salt dome collapsed, leaving a gaping hole in the earth. One theory behind this hole is that it was the site of a meteor strike.

Besides those two short hikes, my visit to Canyonlands primarily consisted of driving to various overlooks, each with spectacular views far into the distance. Nowhere does one feel so isolated and insignificant as standing on the edge of a monumental cliff with the handiwork of millions of years of erosion unfurled before you all the way to the horizon.