[bobbi]

early last month hubby tells me that he has the middle of august off...all i could think of was HOT! but i wanted to visit Arches National Park and kept it in the back burner. i spent most of july and early august hiking. Then Goats Gone Wild invited me along for a 3 day hike which of course ended being 6 nights/7 days! when i got back from my trip hubby asked where were we going for vacation. hhmmm i guess i forgot to tell him about Arches and that temps there at this time of the year are usually in the 90s/100s. i had only friday to get ready and was making a fuss because hubby wanted to take our Lotus. he was thinking road trip, i was thinking cooler in the backseat! well, we left saturday morning packed to the max, with a cooler in the backseat in our Saab off to Arches we left port angeles saturday morning, got to Arches Monday mid morning. we did the car tour....too hot! in the 90s. thank goodness for air-conditioning! we head to Moab and found a room at Super 8, got settled and then drove to Canyonlands National Park as it was cooler, low 90s. i'll post on this place later. i wanted to hike the Fiery Furnace area. (its name is from the burning red color that the rocks take on when the setting sun hits them at certain times of the year) but this is a permit only hike. you can go alone if you know the area. since we had never been to Arches, we checked if there was space for a hike with the interpretive ranger. yep, $10 per person! next hike was 4pm the next day. while hubby was checking the visitor center, i bought 2 permits! back to Canyonlands....hubby's nose was bleeding! the heat and dryness was getting to him. he was being grumpy. crap! he better not back out on our Fiery Furnace hike! the next day, we make our way a bit earlier back to Arches to hike to Delicate Arch. will post on this later! but did i mention that he had another bloody nose? crap! no hiking to double O or landscape arch this morning we returned back to the motel, spent the next 3 hours cooling off and hubby even napped. being the concerned wife, i woke him and said, time to get ready to head back to Arches! aahhh a cool 96* while waiting for the ranger to get on with our hike at 4pm. the following are photos of our hike....mind you, this hike is less than 2 miles but lots of geology, etc. talks by the ranger...so lots of stops.

we were mostly in shaded area and there was a cool breeze. hubby was happy we entered areas not knowing what was there and then awesomeness! here's an example....

more photos....

sometimes we had to do funny maneuvers like this dubbed the penguin walk by the ranger.......

more.......

finally, our last SURPRISE......

this is surprise arch....surprise arch has a span of about 60 feet and a height of about 50 feet. in 1963, two park employees trying to find a new trail through the dense fins in this area, looked up to find themselves right smack under the previously unrecorded arch! time to head out

WE LOVED IT!

[Dayhike Mike]

Beautiful pics and loved the story about Surprise Arch... I'd never heard of it. Looks like it's time for me to revisit Arches National Monument.

[Hikingqueen]

What an awesome trip! Love the pic of you and hubby, so cute! Welcome home!

[Tazz]

the best hike in the park!!

[bobbi]

thanks.... the name Fiery Furnace is a misnomer and with the temps in the high 90s, i almost changed my mind about the hike...but glad i bought the permit because it was totally worth the $10 per person! love it, love it!

[grasshopper]

I'm envious. Wow, so beautiful.

[CRoberts]

Nice area and pics! But holy cow that's a load of people!

[Tazz]

you can hike alone if you sit and watch a video for 20-30minutes. then you get a permit. I and plainoldan hiked it after the video in 2003. ran into 2 guided gourps all in the same area. the reat of the time we saw very few folks. worth sitting and learning about the area you are going n. oh and i think it is free to do the video then hike in alone.

[Tag Man]

I gotta get down to Utah soon.... maybe next spring. Thanks for the trip reports!

[bobbi]

the ranger led hike is limited to 25 folks...we had 25! so yes, that's a load of people. most of the time we had to be in a single line as some of the slots were pretty narrow plus a line keeps everyone in check and not off somewhere stomping plants, etc. like Tazz wrote, you can do the hike by paying the fee and after you watch the video, but folks have gotten turned around and 'lost' their way, taking longer to get out of the maze. this can be dangerous if you don't have enough water especially on very hot august days! for those contemplating visiting Arches, this hike is worth it, with or without a ranger.

[bobbi]