Friday, March 21
The Three Gossips
Friday dawned beautiful and clear. We were now in Eastern Utah, and again the scenery was desert... but... different. That's the beauty of this area. As we drove to the Moab area, the sharp brown edge of the Book cliffs marched away east and west into the distance. George tried his hand at taking pictures from a moving vehicle... he will soon learn that those rarely work out!
Balanced Rock
It is a quick 45 minute drive and we arrive at the entrance to Arches National Park, where my plan is to stay at the [only] campground in the park. I'm glad that it is early in the morning, because the campsite is first-come, first-serve, has few sites, and is very popular. It is one of the most scenic campgrounds that I know of, with the sites beautifully tucked away amidst the scenic sandstone rock fins that are characteristic of Arches NP.
Devil's Garden Campground
As we drive through the park, again Dad and George are astounded by the scenery.
The Garden of Eden and Turret Arch
The magnificent clean orange sandstone of the Courthouse towers is truly impressive, with lots of interesting straight walls and towers, including the impressive structure of the three gossips (see picture). Then they get to marvel at the seemingly impossible existence of Balanced Rock, which actually looks kind of "un-"balanced but which manages to stay atop its lopsided pedestal anyway.
Scramblin' George
Soon we are at the campground and we pick a great spot right under some slickrock (slickrock is the name given to smooth rounded expanses of standstone - very fun to climb on).
We set up camp, again giving dad my single-wall tent and the air mattress. For some reason, he insists on setting up the tent on a very sloped area. I silently predict that the tent will be moved the next night.... After setting up camp, George shows the kid in him by scrambling up to the top of the nearby slickrock. Hmmm... pretty agile!
The Devil's Garden Loop
I definitely want to show Dad and George some of the showpiece arches in this park. I have delicate arch in my back pocket, but maybe not today. Instead I figure it might be nice to walk out to Landscape arch on the Devil's Garden trail. My intent is for a fairly short and easy hike, given that the last hike (up to Observation Point in Zion) was pretty tough on my dad.
Start of Devil's Garden Trail
So, with that intent in mind, we start off on the wide gravelled path to the arch. The first part of the Devil's Garden trail is quite easy, almost all flat and very wide. Actually, in general, most of Arches' hiking trails do not require a lot of elevation gain or loss.
Landscape Arch
It is strikingly beautiful to walk amongst the countless fins of orange sandstone in the Devil's Garden. It is not long before we stand before the wide, impossibly thin span of Landscape Arch, considered the longest natural Arch in the world. 306 feet long and over 100 feet high. Fortunately for us, beyond the arch we can see several people silhoutted against the skyline on some high sandstone. These people offer scale, and we can truly see how large of a structure this is (see picture).
This is where I had intended to turn around, for the trail beyond this point becomes more tricky, with uneven sections and short up-and-down scrambles over fins. But George and Dad want more, so we decided to go just a little farther and see a few more arches. Soon we encounter Wall Arch, which, although not nearly as big as Landscape Arch, is much more up close and personal. On we go, scrambling over slickrock. Dad is doing pretty well! His scrambling ability seems to be getting better.
Terrain of the Devil's Garden
Water break in the Desert
courtesy George
courtesy George
Andrew on Devil's Garden Trail
Dad, Devil's Garden Trail
A little help goes a long way...
well, at this point we are almost at the far end of the Devil's Garden loop, so I figure what the hell, we might as well go to the end of the maintained trail and have a look at Double-O arch, a really neat double arch.
When we arrive, there are a bunch of students having lunch and horsing around at the arch. Some actually manage to go up and stand atop the uppermost arch, far overhead (technically one is not allowed to climb on arches within the park, but this arch is definitely solid).
We have a lunch break, and George tries to climb up to the top of the lower arch, but the rock is just a little too steep. We scramble over to the other side of the arch, which offers great views back through it. Suddenly I am seized by the desire to stand on top of the arch myself, and from this side, I can see that it is actually quite easy to get up there. There is only one small vertical step that must be climbed "for real". other than that, it is all walking.
So, while George remains below, I scramble up and walk over the top arch. It is a strange feeling walking out over a narrow fin of rock, way up over the desert, knowing that there is nothing but air underneath you. George takes a few snaps and then can't help but scramble up himself, once again proving that maybe climbing runs in the Lavigne family. Dad looks on from below and claims that we are both crazy. Ah well, whatever..... nothing ventured, nothing gained.
courtesy George
Some impromptu bouldering
The Devil's Garden
I always like to push things a little. I can't help myself at times. There is an alternate return path to the trailhead called the "primitive loop". It is called this because it is not officially maintained, and has quite a bit of scrambling. I've been on it before, and I recall it not being any harder than the regular trail. So.... I recommend that we go that way.
Dad resting on the primitive loop
At first, things are quite easy. The trail is a nice sandy path winding through scrubby forest. Soon however, we come to a series of fins that we need to scramble over. Most are pretty easy, but some are actually quite challenging. We stop at the top of one such traverse and have a bite to eat. This lunch spot is in exactly the same place as when I last did this trail 5 years before, with Gilbert, Brian, Andree, and Rama. In fact, I even get George to climb up the same fin I got Gilbert to climb up (see picture).
courtesy George
We come to one point where a family (Mom, Dad and kids) are having a really hard time with a short traversing stretch that is very slanted with a cliff below it. It was obvious that the Mom especially was quite nervous. It took them quite a long time to get beyond that stretch. Not only that, but being behind them and seeing all of this made the traverse look pretty scary.
When it came our turn to do it, we were extra cautious to make sure that Dad would not lose his footing. Turns out, it actually wasn't nearly as bad as that family made it out to be... it was just that they were scared. And so we traversed the section fairly easily.
The next (and last) obstacle was a pool of water surrounding by slanting slickrock. The choice was to either traverse high on slanting rock, risking slipping down into the pool, or somehow traverse the pool itself. I didn't feel too confident with Dad high up on the slickrock, so I decided to cross over, take off my boots and socks, and wade into the pool and help Dad across. George managed the high traverse just fine.
From here on out the primitive loop is actually a very easy sandy path that leads back to Landscape Arch, with lots of excellent views of the fins and of the Snowy La Sal mountains in the distance. In no time at all we are back at the trailhead. What I had intended to be a short 45 minute walk turned out to be a full 11 kilometre hike! Guess Dad still had it in him after all.
Devil's Garden and the La Sal Mtns
The interactive trackmap below shows the exact location and path of our Devil's Garden Loop Hike. You can even choose a topographic map overlay if you bring up the large version.
Interactive trackmap with photo points - Devil's Garden Loop - click map to view
Hike Data Display - Devil's Garden Loop Hike
Start Time:
1:30p.m.
End Time:
7:06p.m.
Duration:
5h36m
Distance:
8.49 km
(5.27 mi)
Average Speed:
1.5 km/hr
(0.9 mph)
Start Elevation:
5159ft
(1572m)
*
Max Elevation:
5498ft
(1676m)
*
Min Elevation:
5025ft
(1532m)
*
End Elevation:
5182ft
(1580m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Total Elevation Gain:
579ft
(176m)
*
Total Elevation Loss:
584ft
(178m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Elevation Graph
We decide to reward ourselves by heading into Moab and having supper at Eddie McStiff's restaurant - a very hip place with a young atmosphere and a wild variety of food, and an in-built microbrewery. The place was very much a reflection of the youthful, outdoorsy-oriented carefree nature of Moab itself.
