Arches & Canyonland National Parks

Right after getting up we went to see the most famous and iconic arch, the Delicate Arch for sunrise. And we finished the 2 mile uphill just in time to see the first sunrays illuminating the arch. It's said to be better in sunset because the red color is more intense then. We loved the layers of red and orange and sat there a while. After a few lookouts we tackled a trail to Devil's Garden, approximately 4km one way trip with some elevation changes. It was pretty tough even with the moderate temperatures and the arches at the end of the trail weren't that spectacular. So we'd recommend to rather spend more time with the shorter trails like the Northern Window which were easily accessible and very picturesque.
We did most of the viewpoints and shorter walks afterwards and by early afternoon we drove in direction of the visitor center. The beautiful courthouse rock formation is standing impressively tall next to the parkway. We stopped in the visitor center for a passport stamp and refill our water and then continued on to the Canyonlands Nation Park. Another option would've been Dead Horse Point, but that's a state park and (as far we understood) rather for mountain biking. There we took the parkway to see more arches and get an amazing view down over the valley. Another cool spot was a viewpoint to a probable meteor crater. We still had some time left before sunset and we used it to clean up and organize Ruedi a bit. In the meantime we cooked some pasta with pesto and then enjoyed it with a sunset and beer.
Afterwards we drove a little while to the campgrounds at Natural Bridges National Monument, our first destination for tomorrow.Read more