My favorite day of the trip. No doubt. Hands down the best.
We woke up early and grabbed coffee at Love Muffin, splurging on an latte. We were back to Arches shortly after 7:30 and to the Fiery Furnance trailhead by 8. This trail is quite unique, a maze of fins and boulders and we had to get a permit to hike it alone. It is an unmarked trail, with only a dozen arrows loosly pointing the direction throughout the whole thing. Our permit allowed us to explore the entire area, climbing on boulders, exploring canyons and caves, scrambling to get high on the fins, and wandering for hours. It was so much fun. In a way it reminded me of the City Museum in St. Loius, a playground for all ages. This one is better though, because the views are perfect.
This type of hike is Zoe’s absolute favorite. She loves the scrambling and exploring. As a stickler to every single rule, she will never step off the trail for any reason. This type of hike doesn’t have a set trail, sure a starting/ending point, but how we got from there to there was totally up to us. She loves knowing she won’t get in trouble from climbing and jumping. (Of course, we were all so careful to avoid busting the crust.) When Zoe got timid at some of the more challenging obstacles, Ellie stepped right in and helped her navigate the crawl, or jump, or shimmy.
We spent hours in the natural maze, discovering arches, sitting silently, noticing all the life in the desert around us, and embracing the joy of this special morning.
After finishing the hike, we headed back to the Visitor’s Center. Ranger Mike asked Ellie if she wanted a behind the scenes tour of the ranger offices. She met gobs of other rangers, she told us there were 100 others back there, got to see props and ranger hats, and received a sneak peak into the future. Throughout the entire afternoon she has been bursting out other little things she saw, learned, or talked about with Ranger Mike. I know how fortunate Ellie is and I could not be more thankful.
We left the park to head back to Moab and Zoe told us she had received an email from Notre Dame. A couple of months ago she worked really hard applying for NDignite, writing several essays, getting transcripts and letters of recommendation, and keeping her fingers crossed. The email she received today notified that she was accepted. This program is going to be a huge asset to her as she navigates middle and high school. My heart is swollen with pride. (My eyes are too, because I may have cried lots of happy tears.)
All in all, this day was amazing. Certainly I had a blast and made memories I hope to never forget, but my kiddos were happy and their futures look so bright.
And the day is only going to get better. Shortly after hitting publish on this post, we’re going out to dinner and stargazing with Ranger Mike.
