The Nelsons Go Southwest - Arches National Park

After the great day we had on Friday, we were definitely ready for more adventures on Saturday! It was another early morning start for us (we never really switched from Central time to Mountain time), so after we ate breakfast at the hotel we set out for Arches National Park. 

The drive to Arches was only ten minutes from our hotel, so we were there by 8:00am and the Visitor's Center wasn't even open yet!

Even though the visitor's center was closed, we were able to pick up maps and a guide to the rock formations. We only had a few hours to spend in the park at this point, so we weren't planning on doing any major hiking . . . just sightseeing. 

We started down the scenic drive and our first stop was Courthouse Towers.

The sun was illuminating The Three Gossips so beautifully!

Balanced Rock

It was cold and windy this morning, but we decided to venture away from the road and take the walking path toward Balanced Rock (just 0.3 miles roundtrip). We were glad we did!

Brecklyn "holding" Balanced Rock

Closer view of Balanced Rock

From Balanced Rock, we drove down a side road to see the Garden of Eden. 

We continued down the side road until we came to a parking lot where we could get out and explore the Windows Section of the park. The Windows loop is a one mile trail roundtrip, and we loved it. So incredible!

Chris, Bren, Brecklyn, Brianna, and Brooke in the North Window

Brooke and Brecklyn in front of Turret Arch

Chris and Chelley in the South Window . . . one of my favorite photos from this trip!

Standing in front of the South Window

Bren, Brianna, and Daddy at the South Window

It was a gorgeous morning!

Turret Arch

North and South Windows

Brooke, Brecklyn, and Brenson in Turret Arch

North and South Windows

Parade of Elephants

Although we had so much more to explore in Arches, we had to head back to Moab about 10:30am because we had an exciting excursion planned for that afternoon. We had purchased tickets to take a guided Hummer ride, and we didn't want to risk missing our departure time. We picked up an early lunch at Wendy's (that we had to eat in the van due to the lobby being closed), then made our way to High Point Hummer to get checked in for our ride. 

Our tickets were for two hours on the Hell's Revenge Adventure Tour in Sand Flats Recreation Area just outside of Moab. Our driver and tour guide was fantastic, and we were all pumped for our trip in the open air Hummer. 

Brecklyn, Brooke, and Momma

Ready for adventure!

Once we started climbing the Devil's Backbone, I think a few of us were having second thoughts!

Maybe not these two, haha!

But, Brecklyn's face says it all!

We survived the Devil's Backbone and got to see some dinosaur fossils.

After about 30 minutes, Brecks calmed down enough to start enjoying herself. 

Brooke was loving it the entire time!

It felt much more narrow when we were on it!

Are we going up that?!? Yep, sure are!

Even Chris was hanging on as we were coming down backwards!

But the views!

I loved the snow-capped La Sal Mountains in the background.

After a while, our tour guide invited Bren to ride up front with him. The boy was thrilled with this invitation!

Amazing!

They found sand again, haha!

Our tour guide posed Brianna and Brenson to look like they were falling off the edge of a cliff. Cute effect!

There was quite a bit of traffic in Hell's Revenge, but it didn't feel too busy.

💗💗💗

Love those mountains 😍

Our ride was two hours long, which was the perfect length for us. On the way down the Devil's Backbone, Brooke Ellie got to ride up front!

We had a blast on our adventure! It was the perfect mix of fun and scary, and we only got a little muddy! 

Once our tour was over, we decided to leave our van parked at High Point and walk down the main strip to find a mid-afternoon treat. Moab is such a quaint town!

Enjoying ice cream before venturing back to Arches.

We were enjoying Moab so much that we had to stop and take a photo with the sign on our way back to Arches. 

Upon our arrival back in Arches, we stopped at the Visitor's Center to get our passport stamps and pick up a few souvenirs. Then, we drove to the Delicate Arch trailhead. 

Of course, Delicate Arch is probably the most famous arch in Utah, and maybe even in all of the US. We would have loved to hike all the way to Delicate Arch, but we just didn't have the time in our schedule since we had chosen to go to the Windows Section of the park earlier that morning. We had to settle for the 1/2 mile hike to the upper Delicate Arch viewpoint. It looks kind of sad in photos, though. 

Brianna with Delicate Arch in the background

Chelley and Chris in front of Delicate Arch

Brecklyn in front of Delicate Arch

Brooke in front of Delicate Arch

Brooke reallllllly wanted to push this boulder, haha!

Brenson didn't care so much about the distant view of Delicate Arch as he did about just taking in all the sights. 

The hike to the upper Delicate Arch viewpoint wasn't long at all, but it did have some incline to it. At this point, we were feeling pretty fatigued so it seemed more difficult for the little girls than it probably was. 

Sadly, we were quickly losing daylight in the park. We wanted to spend SO much more time there, but we were determined to do as much as we could. 

Salt Valley Overlook

Fiery Furnace Overlook

Fascinating!

We made our way all the way to the Devil's Garden trailhead, which is the northernmost point you can drive to in the park. It was so beautiful with the sun beginning to set, and we were sad we only had time to hike a tiny ways down the trail. But we are very thankful we got to see this view!

It took a while to exit the park since we were at the northernmost point, but that just meant we got to fully enjoy the sunset!

It kept changing and changing!

I mean!

So gorgeous!

We got back to our hotel room around 7:00pm, and again decided that we didn't want to go into town to eat. Instead, we ate out of our food bin while we all took showers and got clothes laid out for worship services the next morning. We had planned a worship/rest day for Sunday, and at this point we were all ready!