The Mighty Five National Parks - Part One

On an adventure together

Day One -The day had arrived and we were so ready to get started on our adventure. We had been planning this trip for months. All the camping reservations, researching the national parks and monuments, planning the menus, the shopping, the repairs, and the motor home packing were part of the journey. And we really did enjoy the process. The excitement for our 30 days for 30 year anniversary trip had been building throughout the process. We finished checking off the last thing on the list and headed out on our adventure.

When I told Bill, my father-in-law, my plan to drive the motor home he said, “Doug will be rededicating his life to Jesus on this trip.” We all laughed so hard. He did have a point. The first time I tried to drive I forgot to put it in “Drive” when I wanted to go forward. But I really wanted to try on this trip. The first day of driving I began to get a little anxious at the challenge of driving this 30 foot motor home at 65 miles an hour. I knew my anxiety would get worse if I delayed in driving, so, at a rest stop in Illinois I got behind the wheel and pulled out of the parking lot onto the freeway. And, I am so proud of myself. I did it! And I like driving! And Doug said he didn’t even need to talk to Jesus (any more than usual.)

St. Louis Gateway Arch

Day One - Our first stop was St. Louis. The symbolism of staying in the city called the “Gateway to the West” was not lost on us. At the museum we learned the arch is 630 feet tall and 630 feet wide and the error of failure while building it was 1/16 of an inch. A steel structure of this magnitude was quite an accomplishment; much like the men and women who traveled across the plains, the mountains, and the desert to set up a new family home in the midst of great challenges and struggles. They risked their lives to do something great.

We took the tour up inside the arch. I guess I hadn’t thought of the fact that an elevator would not work in an arch. Some genius designed a pod that cozily fits 5 people (better if they are short like me) and travels up the arch in 4 minutes. It goes down in 3 minutes, but that was a bit scary to think about. The door opened at the top of the arch. There are a series of windows that provide an amazing view of the city and the Mississippi River. We talked with the 3 men in our pod on the way down the arch and discovered two men were here from Mexico, headed to Chicago and are staying for a year. The other guy had been traveling in the U.S. for 3 weeks and was going back to China in the morning. This gateway to adventure is still true today.

Pizza dinner with family in Topeka

Day Two – Doug and I are sharing a highlight from each year of our married life. Part of our preparation for this trip was to write a memory for each year of our marriage. Sharing these memories at breakfast has been a great way to celebrate on this trip. So many people have spoken into our lives and so we pause to remember them and pray for them each day. We left St Louis around 8 am and headed to Topeka for a night before we continued on our journey. We took advantage of a spur of the moment visit with my brother and his family and enjoyed catching up on what has been happening in their lives. What a delightful time!

Day Three - Our plan was to drive across Kansas and stop just across the border in Colorado. The GPS, we call her Georgia, just said “stay on this road.” We drove 373 miles across America’s heartland today. The rolling hills of Topeka gave way to level plains. We could see for miles in every direction. The speed limit on I-70 in Kansas is 75 miles per hour and the state troopers were still busy helping people slow down. We, on the other hand, had no worries in regards to speeding. Traveling at 65 mph was fast enough for me. Once again, I found myself sitting in the driver’s seat enjoying every minute. I am getting the hang of driving this home; 3 ½ hours of experience under my belt so far.

The wind does know how to blow through this flat prairie land though. Thankfully, it was only 15 mph today. Signs and closure gates on the freeway remind us that the weather can get bad in these parts. We witnessed lots of road crews fixing the road signs. There is nothing to stop the wind, absolutely nothing. I know when a rest stop is coming up because I can see the small grove of trees a few miles down the road. There are miles and miles and miles of farmland, herds of cattle dotting the landscape, a few co-op granaries, an occasional small town, and every once in a while, an old homestead telling of bygone days. Doug even got his first pheasant of the season, but it wasn’t pretty. Other than this slight mishap the drive was beautiful and serene.

The drive today was easy so we decided to drive a bit farther than originally planned. The campground we were going to stay in was pretty small. It had 6 sites and you paid cash upon arrival. Doug wasn’t too sure about this one; he thought we might be staying in a woman’s front yard. Anyway, we located a KOA in Limon, another 75 miles down the road. Limon, Colorado is a small town that began in 1888 as a railroad work camp. It is known as a hub city because 5 roads connect here. This hub city is 17 blocks long and 6 blocks deep and Limon is way bigger than most of the towns we saw today. When we called the KOA, the woman asked how far out we were and when we said “3 hours” she said “just pull right in.” It’s a cute KOA, about 80 miles outside of Denver. I am excited to see the Rocky Mountains on our drive tomorrow, but I can’t even imagine what they looked like for the pioneers in their wagon trains.

Vail Pass in May

Day Four - The highlight for the day was going over Vail pass outside Denver through the Rookies. It was snowing to beat the band and visibility was very low. We could only go 20 - 35 miles per hour for 2 + hours because of the traffic and road conditions. There were big yellow signs that said trucks must use chains when flashing but they were not flashing. We noticed that 90+% of the trucks were stopped and putting on chains. Then the other signs said passenger vehicles traction control law in effect. I think that meant cars needed to carry chains.  We were not a truck or a passenger vehicle so Doug just kept a white knuckle grip on the steering wheel and kept pushing on. A jeep did a 360 about 5 cars in front of us and while we slowed down to go around him, the semi-trailer in front of us slide sideways into the other lane. Just as we got over the summit we saw the state troopers stopping all the traffic going east bound; they had closed the pass. God was watching over us today and we give him all the glory that we made it safely through the Rockies. As we dropped in elevation the temperature rose to a comfortable 50 degrees. We were still feeling a little shaken so we took a nice break at Glenwood Springs to soak in the world’s largest mineral hot spring – one million gallons of 104 degree mineral water. The sun was shining, the view spectacular, and we felt the stress melt away. Our destination for the night was in Grand Junction, CO in a quiet, restful park.

Relaxing at Glenwood Hot Springs

Day Five - As we drove mile after mile through the barren land of Utah, I couldn’t stop thinking of the pioneers traveling day after day by wagon train. We traveled a little over 100 miles today in just a few hours, took in the view from the comfort of our motor home, and drank our iced tea. Their fortitude, strength, and bravery to go through months and months of struggle and hardship battling the unknown is a testimony to what people can do when called to a new beginning. Interstate 70 is straight as an arrow so we could see quite a way down the road. The speed limit is 80 miles an hour in Utah; which is hard to comprehend, but there really is nothing to stop you. There were no exits, no towns, no trees, no houses - just lots and lots of land with sagebrush. After a while, we saw a snow capped mountain in the distance. It was a stark contrast to the rest of the view. Lo and behold, this mountain, La Sal, is near our campground, the Moab KOA, so we appreciate its beauty all day.

Since we got in the park around noon we thought about what we could do for our bonus day. Lunch, of course, and then after we picked up our rental car, we headed to the Arches National Park. The Arches is aptly named as it has over 2000 natural sandstone arches. There’s a hiking trail in the park called the Fiery Furnace that I really wanted to take. It is recommended that you take a guided tour because so many people get lost without it. Unfortunately, all the tours had been sold out six months in advance. The only other way to get to see this area is with a pass from the Visitor Center, if you can get one. Only 75 people are allowed in per day and you have to get your pass in person. When we got to the Visitor Center today they were giving out passes for Sunday and we secured 2 for us. We explored the first 9 miles of the park. We hiked to a few of the arches – North and South Windows, The Turret, and our favorite - The Double Arch. It is incredible to see these huge arches that have formed when huge chunks of sandstone broke away. There is so much more to see and we are excited to have 2 more full days in this park.

Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park

Day Six - Canyonlands National Park is the largest National Park in Utah. This park is so big it has three distinct districts, each with its own entrance. We entered Island in the Sky and drove to the Grand View Point Overlook. We took the trail and hiked a little over 10 miles and 96 flights of stairs according to Doug’s Fit Bit. It was a fascinating day and everywhere we looked the topography was amazing. The shear rock walls and spires rising up from the canyon floor and the huge canyons that were created by the Green River and the Colorado define this park. After viewing the expansive canyon we drove towards Upheaval Dome. We ate our lunch overlooking the salt dome and contemplated its origin. There are a few theories on what created the crater but our vote went to a meteor strike millions of years ago. The hike was marked with easy to follow cairns laid out on the slick rock trail.

Grand View Overlook

Day Seven - Doug and I entered the Fiery Furnace today and stood in awe of God’s creation, power and majesty. The Fiery Furnace is the name of a trail in the Arches National Park. Our permit allowed us to explore this labyrinth of narrow sandstone canyons the entire day. The trail is marked with an occasional small brown arrow mounted on a brown canyon wall to point out the trail. We had attended a short informational class when we were issued our permit that told us how to travel the labyrinth. The rangers told us we could easily get lost and they were right. Doug and I were thankful for the years of finding hiking markers and used every scouting skill we had acquired. As we began to enter the canyon four people told us their story. They had been trying to find the arrows for the past one and a half hours and just realized they were entering the wrong way. We listened to their advice, turned around, and began the trail in a counter clockwise rotation. We had heard this trail was amazing. Words cannot express how majestic, powerful, wild, and regal this experience was. We hiked through a field of yellow flowering sagebrush with splashes of red and violet flowers until we descended the slick rock to a sandy path. This sandy path led us to the base of immense boulders. There had been a recent rain and the flowers were in full bloom. The scents of the flowers were so pleasant and aromatic I would pause just to enjoy. The small brown arrows were not easy to find, nor was the route through the canyons. We climbed over huge boulders, through passageways that were less than 15 inches wide surrounded by rock that was over 150 feet tall. There were places where we placed a foot on each side of the rock wall and scampered through the narrow canyon only to find a six inch space at the bottom to place one shoe before finding another rock to climb. The sandstone provided just enough grip for our hiking boots to cling and our fingertips grabbed onto crevices to help pull ourselves up and over. Each blind corner led us to an even more amazing sight. The sun was shining onto the rock exposing subtle nuances of red and oranges in the sandstone. We climbed over rock that had slid off the top of the column and created a jumbled puzzle at our feet. Looking up we saw the cracks in the sandstone indicating a rockslide could happen at any moment. My picture of the day was when we found ourselves with 4 other couples who were trying to find the next brown arrow. Like I said, they were small – 2” X 3” – and the same color as the sandstone. None of us had ever been in the canyon before so we were all learning as we went. At this point we were all working together to find the next arrow. The space where we were standing was fairly open with at least 6-7 possible routes. Some of the people had already been wandering in dead end canyons for an hour and were unable to find the way out. Together, we searched and excitedly celebrated when we spotted the arrow. The arrow pointed us up this really narrow canyon which reminded me “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction (or a dead end) but narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it…

Fiery Furnace is an adventure!

For 2 ½ hours we enjoyed the labyrinth and were sad to see it end. We had already decided we would enter the Fiery Furnace again in the afternoon. There was another trail we wanted to do first – the hike to Delicate Arch. It is a 3.0 mile strenuous hike that leads to the most photographed arch in the park. It was now 80 degrees with full sun so we made sure we had enough water before heading out. The climb up the slick rock and the walk along the rock ledge was worth it. Doug and I ate lunch in the shade of an arch overlooking the mesa and Delicate Arch. We could see the snow-capped LaSal Mountains in the distance. What a great place for lunch! We decided to forego the hike to Landscape Arch for another hike through the Fiery Furnace. We thought it would be easier this time since we had done it before. We quickly realized how turned around one can get in a maze of possible pathways. We kept our eyes on the signs pointing the way through the labyrinth and were so glad we got to experience this twice!

Every day on the water is a good day

Day Eight – Doug and I had talked about the possibility of rafting on the Colorado River while we were in Utah but hadn’t decided when or where. We had noticed an outfitter in Moab and stopped in to check on our options. There were so many options and it took us a while to decide what we wanted to experience. When we checked in with the outfitter (Canyon Voyages) at about 8:30 am we found out we were the only ones signed up for the all day trip. Just as we were getting ready to leave 2 guys showed up who wanted to do a ½ day trip so we made new best friends for the morning with Ted and Eric from Salt Lake City. They had never been in a kayak or on a river trip but wanted to experience the Colorado River too. Our guide Sean paddled an 8 person “Oar” raft while we were each in our own inflatable kayaks. Ted and Eric were in a tandem inflatable kayak and did a number of “Pinwheels” before we gave them a few pointers. Sean would stop before each string of rapids and tell us some history about the rapid and how to paddle it. Then he led us down the river. Sean had been river guiding for a little over 5 years and just graduated with his masters in Industrial Psychology now in the process of looking for his after graduation job. The river view of the bluffs revealed even more of the grandeur of the area. We couldn’t take our eyes off the scenery and our smiles were so big all day. After about 3 hours on the river we dropped off Ted and Eric at one of the pull outs and we headed down the river a bit farther before we stopped for lunch. WOW – What a lunch! Sean set up the table, added a table cloth, and unpacked the lunch cooler. Out came the containers with different kinds of bread, wraps, ham, turkey, Swiss, American cheese, hummus, celery, carrots, pickles, olives, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, quinoa salad, chips, dip, cookies, plus all the needed condiments, plates, utensils…  What a spread and it was only the 3 of us. This was why he had to bring the big raft. The river was a combination of class I / II / III level rapids. We did not go swimming at any point, but did take on water at a few of the rapids. This was a perfect day.