Arches... Part Two

Arches National Park... Part 2

Once we found our campsite us parents started setting up our tent, here was the view out the front...

Ainsley and Walker started playing in the sand and asked, "Can we get our hands dirty?"

Our reply, "Yep!"

Then it was, "Can we get our feet dirty?"

Our response, "sure"

Then it was, "Can we get our pants dirty?"

Again it was, "Why not?"

Finally Walker asks, "Can we get our shirts dirty?" (as he was all but rolling in the sand at this point.)

Had to draw the line somewhere so it was a "No" For I knew the next thing asked would be can we put sand on our heads?

With water bottles and granola bars we headed out on a trail to find Tapestry Arch and Broken Trail Arch. Walking on the sand was a strange feeling... it was so soft. Walker got nicknamed "Pig Pen" (from Charlie Brown) for when he walked he shuffled his feet creating a dust-storm all around him.

The trail was great but you had to "keep on your toes" for it is only marked with cairns every so often and you had to be careful not to step on the "crusty dirt" which is an important bacteria needed in the desert. The kids loved looking for the rock cairns and Walker became obsessed with fixing the cairns if they had been knocked down... so cute!

Pictures heading to Tapestry Arch...

It was great we got to walk right out into it.

Then it was a steep walk down...

We started along the Broken Trail Arch next... I snapped a picture when we were almost there... look how far away the Tapestry Arch is..

Yeah we made it the Broken Arch!!!

The mile long hike was a good one to break us in... we pretty much had the entire trail to ourselves... the kids did great, a few times we had to help them climb up but all in all a fun first hike.

A couple more fun pictures along the trail... a lizard, and a very creative rock cairn.

We had a quick dinner and then set off to squeeze in 1 more trail before sunset. We opted for the Skyline Arch..

a bit of history for you... the arch was actually smaller... in 1940 a large area fell out of the arch. Here are all those rocks... can you believe the size??

Headed back to the campground and had a quick fire... with a couple marshmallows..

and then with long johns... jammies... sweatshirts... gloves and hats the kiddos were tired and ready for bed...

Stay tuned for Part 3 tomorrow.