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| Dead Horse Point State Park |
We went to Moab, Utah over Fall Break. It has two National parks with in 30 min and one State park. There is so much to do here. There are tons of mountain bike trails with the most famous being Slick Rock. It has a lot of jeep trails that you can attempt...you really need a specialized jeep and know how to drive on them. It is an outdoors man paradise.
We started our first day off site seeing at Dead Horse Point State Park; here is a little history of how it was created......
Millions of years of geologic activity
created the spectacular views from Dead Horse Point State Park.
Deposition of sediments by ancient oceans, freshwater lakes, streams and
wind blown sand dunes created the rock layers of canyon country.
The plants and animals of Dead Horse Point have adapted to a land of
scare water and extreme temperatures. Plants grow very slowly here.
Trees 15 feet tall may be hundreds of years old. Leaves of most plants
are small and some have a waxy coating to reduce evaporation. Most
desert animals are nocturnal, active only during cooler evenings and
mornings. Some have large ears to dissipate heat, while others
metabolize water from food.
The Legend of Dead Horse Point:
Dead Horse Point is a peninsula of rock atop sheer sandstone cliffs.
The peninsula is connected to the mesa by a narrow strip of land called
the neck. There are many stories about how this high promontory of land
received its name.
According to one legend, around the turn of the century the point was
used as a corral for wild mustangs roaming the mesa top. Cowboys
rounded up these horses, herded them across the narrow neck of land and
onto the point. The neck, which is only 30-yards-wide, was then fenced
off with branches and brush. This created a natural corral surrounded by
precipitous cliffs straight down on all sides, affording no escape.
Cowboys then chose the horses they wanted and let the culls or
broomtails go free. One time, for some unknown reason, horses were left
corralled on the waterless point where they died of thirst within view
of the Colorado River, 2,000 feet below.
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| Dillan and Patrick at Dead Horse Point State Park |
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| Tristan and Dillan watching the chipmunk |
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| The chip muck the kids feed a banana and a ho-ho...that chipmunk stuck around the whole time we were there...he wanted some more good food. And lots of his friends came too. |
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| Mikayla and Tristan along the Dead Horse Point overlook trail. |
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| Dillan, Patrick, Kayla and Tristan near the overlook |
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| Dillan, Melissa, Tristan and Mikayla by the Dead Horse Point Overlook |
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| Tristan banned from the Visitor Center due to uncontrollable amounts of energy. |
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| Dillan out watching Tristan while we look in the Visitor Center |
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| Tristan and Kayla found a place their heads fit perfectly along the overlook trail. |
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| Dillan, Tristan and Mikayla...the first of many climbs on red rock! |
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| Tristan mad I wouldn't let him go any higher. |
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| Tristan, Melissa, Kayla and Dillan next to a desert tree...as noted above it probably took hundreds of years to grow. |
After we left Dead Horse Point we drove on a dirt road to Gemini Bridges. Once you get to the parking lot its a small hike down to see the bridges. On the way we saw lots of desert wildlife...more chipmucks, rabbits, and lots of lizards. Kayla chased lizards and tried to catch them the whole time we were there.
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| Desert Hare |
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| Gemini Bridges |
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| Kayla, Patrick, and Dillan on top of Gemini Bridges...it took a lot of courage for Dillan to walk out on top of the bridge since he is scared of height, just like his mom. |
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| I stayed back on solid ground and took pictures of the bridges...note my shadow above. |
After exploring all day we went back to Moab to have dinner, we ate at Pasta Jay's...it was the most exceptional Italian food we have eaten. After a good play in the hotel pool and good nights sleep we were ready for another day of hiking and exploring. We headed out to explore Arches National Park...as you drive into the park here are a few of the rock formations you see such as the Three Gossips.
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| The Three Gossips |
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| The Tower of Babel |
We went to hike Delicate Arch first since we were meeting Grandpa and Grandma Potter later and they wouldn't be able to hike that far. The kids were less than thrilled by the length of the hike except Mikayla who was like the energizer bunny. She just kept going and going and climbing and running. Patrick finally told Tristan if he stopped whinning the whole way he would give him a dollar! There were so many people it was amazing and lots of different nationalities. We saw people from all over Europe and Africa.
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| Dillan hiking up to the Delicate Arch |
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| Wow we made it: Delicate Arch! |
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| Kayla ready to hike down to the Delicate Arch |
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| Dillan, Patrick and Kayla next to the Delicate Arch... |
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| Kayla and Melissa..this is as close as I got. To many ledges for me! |
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| Eating lunch at the Delicate Arch. |
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| Kayla at Frame arch along the trail right before you get to Delicate Arch. |
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| Ute petroglyph panel that depicts horses and a bighorn sheep hunt. |
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| Tristan climbing rocks...he did this all day at every arch or hike! |
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| Crazy looking desert tree...the barren landscape was cool so we took a picture. |
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Once we were done with our Delicate Arch hike we went to Devils Garden to meet up with Grandpa and Grandma Potter and Mariah. The kids climbed the red rocks while we waited for them.
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| It is a pretty barren landscape! But the arches were amazing! |
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| Landscape Arch. Part of this arch fell down in the 1990's. and is considered to be the longest natural arch in the world |
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| Dillan hiking in Devils Garden |
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| The whole family by Tunnel Arch |
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| Mariah and Kayla climbing Pine Tree Arch |
We stopped at Skyline Arch right off the road on our way back to the hotel...the kids thought it was going to be a long hike and started to whine till they saw it was right off the road.
Our last stop for the day was Sand Dune Arch. This easy hike is a short jaunt from the parking area into a small
slot canyon, but there are so many places to explore that you might
spend longer than you expect here.
The bottom of the sandstone fins resembles a sandy beach with leading up
to Sand Dune Arch. There are places to play and hide all along the way,
and kids love it!
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| Hiking into Sand Dune Arch! |
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| Sand Dune Arch |
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| Dillan, Grandpa Potter, Kayla and Tristan |
We played for an hour at the arch, climbing all over it and in the sand.
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| Tristan and Dillan in a slot canyon near Sand Dune Arch |
Our last day we came to see the last few areas we hadn't explored. We started out at North and South Window Arch Trail...it had three arches. The two windows and Turret Arch.
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| Turret Arch |
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| Patrick |
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| Patrick and Melissa |
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| Patrick, Kayla, Dillan and Tristan hiked up to the North Window |
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| North and South Window |
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| Tristan loved to play with the Cairn that marked the trails. He was so tempted to knock them over...he built several extra ones along the way. |
Our last stop before we left the park was at the Balanced Rock...Dillan had to have a picture of him holding it up!
Before we left Moab we went on a jeep ride with Grandpa Potter on a trail called Fins and Things. He loves to go jeeping and wanted to show us how much fun it is....
Fins and Things provides spectacular views of the LaSal Mountains across the sandstone domes of Sand Flats. We had to take turns since the jeep only seats 4. While the others were out in the jeep we toured the small Museum of Moab. The pictures below are from a jeeping companies website...I forgot our camera but it gives you an idea of what the trail was like. A VERY BUMPY RIDE!
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| Mariah playing the player piano at the Museum of Moab |
This was my favorite pose but the kids just couldn't all cooperate. We got a lot of funny faces!
