Arches National Park

Although this is a crowded national park, it is worth visiting for sure. It's like an alien world, with random rock blobs poking up here & there, rows of rock spines, and, of course, the arches. Apparently, there are over 2,500 natural arches in the park.

Balanced Rock

From some angles, this looked like E.T.'s head...maybe I was in 'alien mode' :)

Windows arches

Landscape arch-

the area beneath is the size of a football field!

walking along a flat spine among many

Not a fantastic shot with the exposure issues...

but, here you see 'Double Arch'

Delicate Arch-

Brandon waited forever to get a shot without people in it

as they kept running up to get their photo taken under the arch.

Although this is a popular arch to visit (there were herds of people up there), it is pretty cool. You hike on slickrock the whole way, then along a ledge with decent exposure, and end up here looking at this one random arch with the La Salle Mountains in the background.

All in all, I think we got some 10 or 11 miles of hiking in that day, between the multiple trails. The wind was whipping around much of the day so we were covered (in our ears, up our noses, etc.) in a layer of dust. Moab is set up well for campers like us who like to play and get dirty but also like to clean up...we were able to get a $3 shower at the fancy and clean town pool/recreation center.

Spring Break 2012

Just before spring break, we headed out on a sunny day with the goal of skiing Kendall Couloirs.

We had a great day out in the sunshine but didn't end up doing much skiing. With a late start and a lot of sun on the slopes, we decided not to do a lot of exploring for the entrances that weren't obvious from our high point. Oh well!

With no new snow in the forecast and feeling the need for some adventure (and more sun), we hit the road to Moab, Utah.

Upon our arrival we were greeted with upper 70 degree temps, a nice breeze, and lots of mtn biking options.  The first day of riding we chose a network of trails called the Brand trails, and rode about 6 or 7 miles to get our bike legs back under us.

Heather on one of the Moab "Brand" Trails with the La Sal mtns in the background

Heather on some slickrock

After one successful day of riding (i.e. the 5-month prego Heather didn't fall), we decided to try the Slick Rock trail, a more committing and difficult trail.  Slick rock is a 10ish mile trail almost entirely on rock that is not slick at all.  In fact, it is very textured and offered great roller coaster technical riding that was Brandon's favorite of the trip.

Brandon starting up one of many short steep ascents

Brandon sticking to the 'slick' rock.

It turned out to be Jeep Safari week in Moab, so there were rock crawlers everywhere. It was cool to watch them on some of this terrain, but it's not a sport/hobby I could never get into.

and the slick rock goes on and on...

 Looking down into the Colorado River canyon from the Slick Rock trail.

Heather riding through a cool carved out waterway

For our third riding day, we did the Sovereign Trail. This was definitely the least crowded and the most varied terrain. It was a fun ride for sure, with some steep downhills, some slick rock, and many steps to ride, and nice views.

Heather on some slick rock

Heather descending

Indian paintbrush growing out of a pocket of dirt on rock

Beautiful country

Again, I dismounted quite a bit in order to protect Kiddo Kern from any potential falls. The good thing about that was that it gave me more chances to take pics of Brandon, here dropping over one of the many steps.

After three days of riding and very sore tooshes, we decided to take a break from the bikes and visit nearby Arches National Park for some sightseeing and short hikes, which we will post pics of soon.

The view from our camp on the dirty Colorado river with lovely desert rock for a backdrop.