I feel like I need to do yesterday justice by taking the time to do my writing about it, but to make sure I have the time I’m going to start with today. We weren’t exactly sure what our plans were going to be once we got to Moab so we wanted to get an early start on the hour and a half drive from Fruita, CO. After yesterday’s issue I’m happy to report that the drive was completely uneventful.
We pulled into Arches NP about 8:30 and were a bit surprised that there was no one collecting admissions at the gate. We were absolutely shocked when we find the note on the door displaying the hours: 9-4. That’s right, thanks to the federal hiring freeze Arches National Park can only maintain their winter hours at the height of their busy season and can’t even hire someone to collect the admission fees. It’s hard not to wonder how much the hiring freeze is costing the NPS.
About 8:45 a ranger came out to raise the flag and then explain how passes for fiery furnace would be distributed. He handed out maps and answered a lot of questions including Ellie’s pressing one: was Ranger Mike the other ranger working (he had mentioned there would only be one other available when the visitor center opened). We learned that he was giving a tour to another group, but would be back in the afternoon so we headed out to do some hiking.
Arches is undergoing a major construction project this summer with parts of the park being periodically closed. Our tentative plan had been to hike the Devil’s Garden/primitive loop but that party of the park is currently closed. We decided instead on beginning with a hike we’d never done at Arches, Wall Street. Since it was still relatively early the majority of the hike was in shade. That, combined with a mostly downhill grade made for a pretty pleasant walk. We saw plenty of lizards, dessert vegetation, and the morning sun peaking over the fin to our right. By the time we reached the end of the out-and-back the sun had made it high enough into the sky to make the uphill hike back to the start not quite as pleasant.
Our next stop was the Delicate Arch hike, another one we’d never done. While beautiful throughout, the throngs of people reminded us of our hike at the Zion Narrows. The best part of the hike for me was on the way back down finding a window just big enough for us (and the occasional other person or five). We had a great view of Delicate Arch and PBJ&C’s.
We got back to the car about one and debated doing a third hike, but decided to head back to Moab to take care of our pressing laundry issue. First though we wanted to stop at the visitor center to see Ranger Mike. I know that my telling can’t do the meeting justice so I’ll let Ellie, and probably Molly, do that. I will say that Ranger Mike is one of the most generous and caring people I’ve ever met. If Ellie’s interest in the profession persists for 10 more years she is lucky to have found an amazing mentor.
Our next stop was our home for the evening, The Adventure Inn. Our usual spot was booked solid, but it seems like this will be a satisfactory replacement. We went to our usually laundromat to throw in a couple loads and headed to The Spoke for a giant bowl of hummus along with $2 PBRs and multiple extra sides of pitas and veggies. I think it’s worth mentioning once again (I’m sure I must have said something last year) how so far off their ratio of hummus to dippables is here. It is really good hummus though.
I’ve finished my second PBR and we’ve finally run out of hummus so it’s time to bring this to a close. Tonight the plan is to repack Fred and find some dinner. Maybe even an early bedtime. I didn’t get to describing yesterday, I’ll try again later tonight.
