After an exhausting day driving across three states I was ready to set out on the real adventure - visiting the first of the National Parks on my trip.  I woke to decidedly chilly temperatures in camp - an unwelcome morning ritual that would continue throughout the trip - and headed straight to Arches National Park.  Traffic in the park seemed light (compared to what I'm used to experiencing in Yellowstone) and I decided to head to the furthest section of Arches to begin my day at Devils Garden.  The sights along the drive through the park were amazing - nothing like I'm used to seeing here in Montana.  I couldn't resist the urge to stop and take a few quick snaps along the way.  There was road construction going on in most of park during my visit so making any roadside stops was a bit tricky.  Once at the Devils Garden Trailhead I set off to explore the area on foot.  Landscape Arch was beautiful - I only wish you were allowed to get a little closer to it and get a view from below.  I tried to continue on the "trail" further into the garden but I wasn't feeling too sure footed and after watching a few other visitors scrambling up the rocks on their hands and knees I decided to turn back.  It wasn't worth the risk of harming either myself or my camera gear.  I wandered through the garden from the other end of the loop trail and eventually made my way out as the crowds of people started to increase.  I stopped at Skyline Arch, Fiery Furnace, Panorama Point, Balanced Rock and viewed Park Avenue from afar.  With the road construction there was no access to the Park Avenue area so it was a little disappointing not to be able to explore that section of the park more thoroughly.

Mesa Arch, Canyonlands NP I took an opportunity to check into my next camp in Moab in the afternoon and beat the heat of midday hiking.  After a quick rest and a shower I was ready to set out once again and explore a bit of Canyonlands National Park.  I arrived at Mesa Arch just before sunset and stayed for a while to enjoy the view.  I watched a lone vehicle winding its way up the narrow trail of Shafer Canyon - wishing I could be down there driving as well.  I made a decision at this point to change my plans a bit.  When I started the trip I had thought that spending one day in each of the parks would be the best plan.  Between the visitation limits in Arches (7am to 7pm so that the road crews could work at night) and the vastness of Canyonlands I decided that I needed to rethink my original plan and focus on spending more time in Arches.  There was still more to explore there and Canyonlands was just too much to take in in one day.  A return trip with multiple days dedicated to Canyonlands will be needed to fully explore the area.  Ideally to drive the 100 miles of White Rim trail and camp out in the middle of the park somewhere.  I headed back to camp after dark and prepared for another day of hiking in Arches.

Up early on yet another chilly morning and I headed into Arches again.  First stop was the Windows area.  When I first arrived there was already two busloads of visitors milling about.  I wandered around, I tried to get a couple of photos with the fewest number of people obscuring the views and was just about to turn back and give up when I realized that the largest groups were leaving as well.  I hung back for a few minutes and lucky enough the entire area was cleared out.  Everyone left and I found myself all alone in the Windows.  Not knowing how long my good fortune would last I ran around frantically trying to get as many pictures as I could.  It was amazing.  I was already glad that I had decided to return to Arches for a second day of exploring.  After thoroughly checking out both North and South Windows and Turret Arch (which reminded me of the homes from the Flintstones cartoons) I dashed over to Double Arch to explore there a bit too. After that I headed out to tackle the hike to Delicate Arch.  When I arrived at the trailhead the parking lot was full.  I circled around a couple of times and Turret Arch, Arches NP luckily enough found an open spot.  I set off for Delicate Arch, watching the string of other hikers make their way up the open rock face that was the trail.  My arrival at Delicate Arch was both a delight and a disappointment.  The arch was a wonderful sight - perched out on the sandstone crest with the La Sal Mountains off in the distance - but the crowd of people milling about the base of it posing for pictures and taking selfies ruined the overall experience a bit.  Seems no one cared that their quest for a selfie was disrupting other visitor's experiences.  I hung around for a while, hoping to get a chance to take a photo or two without anyone clowning around at the base of the arch but eventually gave up.  I wasn't going to have the same thrill of having Delicate Arch to myself like I had at the Windows.

I drove around the park a bit more after that, making sure I had seen everything that I could in my short time there and returned to Moab to explore the town a bit.  Tomorrow I would be leaving the area and heading for my next destination - Goblin Valley State Park.