Our first stop on our trip to Utah was Moab and the two National Parks nearby – Arches and Canyonlands. With three days, we were able to see most of what we wanted to in the two parks and had some time to relax.

Canyonlands – Island in the Sky

Canyonlands is broken up into several different areas – day one in Moab was dedicated to “Island in the Sky.” Our first hike was Upheaval Dome, where we sat and enjoyed a very frigid picnic of sandwiches picked up at Sweet Cravings in Moab (link).

The next hike was the Grand View Point trail, which walked along the rim of the canyon and had some beautiful sights. The third and final trail of the day was Mesa Arch, which is supposed to be the place to be for sunrises – fortunately, even in mid-afternoon it was pretty cool.

I think if we had more time in this section of Canyonlands (and maybe if it wasn’t the middle of winter), it would have been interesting to do another hike around Upheaval Dome, where you actually go all the way around the crater and can go into it – but unfortunately we didn’t have enough time for that hike.

Our accommodations for the night was an Airbnb in Paradox, CO, which is about an hour from the parks. This was one of the times winter got the better of us – between the distance, some mountain driving, and an impending winter storm, we only ended up staying one night. I think though if the weather conditions had been better, we would have really enjoyed staying the next two nights. (link to the Airbnb)

Arches National Park

The second day in Moab, we got our fill of arches! Arches National Park has the highest concentration of natural sandstone arches in the world – and we saw our fair share of them!

The first hike we tackled was the hike to Delicate Arch, which is a 3.4 mile moderate hike. The first part of it was deceptively easy – and then you come to this steep slickrock incline that required a couple of breaks to catch our breath. The arch itself was really impressive, and the trail was all around a good time.

One of the other hikes we did was Devil’s Garden Loop, which includes many arches. Unfortunately, the trail was closed partway in because of winter conditions – we were bummed because this was supposed to be our first big hike of the trip, but we were still able to see a bunch of cool arches.

At this point it was mid-afternoon and it was starting to snow pretty good. We decided to just hit up as many road-side arches as we could on our way out and call it a day. Probably one of the coolest was Double Arch, which was just imposingly large.

Our stay for the next two nights (since we decided to move to someplace closer to the parks) was Homewood Suites in Moab. A word to the wise if you book – the “mountain view” that we paid extra for also meant we were situated right on the busiest road in Moab, so we had quite a bit of road noise well into the night. I would advise asking for a room away from the road if possible. Otherwise, the suite was great! It had a decent kitchenette and we were able to make a dinner one night.

Canyonlands –
The Needles

Our final day in Moab was quite interesting. It had snowed pretty significantly the night before and the roads were really not great. We kept asking ourselves if we should just turn around – it was about an hour from Moab to the Needles entrance, which is in the south of Canyonlands National Park. We pushed on (despite some nerve-wracking spots where officers were only letting one direction go at a time down steep, slick mountainous roads) and got to the turnoff for the national park.

What we found was an unplowed road, where we had to travel another 25 miles or so. We sat in the middle of the road for several minutes, debating. Finally, we just kept going – honestly, I’m not even sure if we decided we would keep going or if we just never turned around. All I can say is if we hadn’t had a Subaru with brand new snow tires, I’m not sure we would have made it!

But it was worth it! We had the whole park to ourselves and it was so peaceful. The one hike we did (we bailed early because of yet another storm rolling in) was Slickrock Trail – which was a nice, long, meandering trail along slickrock, with views of canyons.

The other trail that was on our radar but we didn’t get to was the Chesler Park Loop Trail – a long 10 mile hike with slot canyons and a bunch of spur trails to explore. It was probably better that we didn’t do this – I think when we make it back, we may end up camping along this trail to give us more time to explore!

The next post covers our time in Zion National Park – check it out here!