Day 56 – Arches Sunrise to Sunset

Canyonlands National Park to Moab, UT – 43 miles

Yesterday I woke at 5 am before my alarm went off after only about 3 hours of sleep .  I was still really tired, so I’m not really sure why I woke up.  I laid there for awhile and eventually got up and broke down my tent.  I rode down to the Green River overlook just down from the campground.  The views were spectacular.  From the little bit that I could see in the moonlight as I rode in I could tell I was in for some fantastic scenery when I woke up.

Next I rode up to Mesa Arch to try to catch the sunrise.  When I got there I realized many other people had the same idea.  The parking area already had a few cars.

I only hung out for a minute because there were so many people and I knew I had a long ride ahead of me back to Moab.  It constantly felt like the clock was ticking until it got super hot.  It was cool to see everything I rode by at night in the light.

Stopped at the Visitor’s Center on the way out, refilled water, wetted down my clothes, and was out of the park by 730.

There was a little climbing to get out of the park, but after that it was mostly downhill which was great.  I got back into town at around 11.  I had contacted a Warmshowers host when I was coming into Moab a couple of days ago, but had missed her.  When I told her I was going to be coming back through Moab after going to Canyonlands she offered to let me stay at her place that night and told me to swing by her work so she could give me the info on her place.  I stopped by and she wasn’t in yet, so I went to a local cafe called Eklecticafe to hide out from the heat.

Ordered a Western Omelette and coffee and sent a text to Achim to see if he was back from mountain biking, so I could pick up the things I left there the day before.  He said he was and that he had worked up an appetite so he came to meet me at the cafe.  Achim is a really cool dude.  Lives in Munich and works as an architect.  This is his first time to the US and he’s definitely making the most of it.  Driving around the West hitting national parks and stuff.  He came from Yosemite and after Moab is heading back to the coast to hit San Francisco and eventually fly out of LA.  Back in Germany it seems like he really enjoys getting outside and doing things like hiking and backcountry skiing.

I eventually heard back from Teri Ann, the Warmshowers host, and she told me to swing back by her work sometime after 1.  Finished up lunch and headed that way at around 130.  She works at a hardware store right next to a bike shop.  She gave me directions to her house which is about 3 miles south of Moab.  I headed back out and rode there.  By this time the heat was killer and I was really glad I was just riding across town.  When I got to her place I saw where I would be sleeping.  It was an old blue school bus converted to a room.  Gave me a bit of nostalgia thinking about Dale, the blue bus that we had so many good times in back in Indianapolis.

I hung out for awhile and talked to Teri Ann’s roommate, Terry.  He’s a chief of a wild-fire firefighting battalion.  Sounds like an incredibly exciting, but dangerous job.  Since they had such a wet spring everything is really overgrown and the current heat wave is drying everything out, so he’s enjoying this down time knowing that the first lightning strike on the mountains is going to set off a huge wild-fire.  To make matters worse, currently they’ve sent some resources (people and equipment) to Alaska and Southern California to help fight fires that are raging there, so when something does go off here they’re likely to be under resourced.

After awhile I got a text from Achim saying he was thinking about grabbing some food and going back into Arches to catch the sunset.  I met him in town at Paradox Pizza and then we headed into the park.  It’s really nice that the park is so close to town.  First we explored the Park Avenue section of the park.  It’s crazy how tall and thin these structures are.  The first people who arrived here thought it reminded them of walking down a large city street and that’s why it’s called Park Avenue.

Next we drove over to Delicate Arch and started the 3 mile round trip hike to the arch for sunset.

Now I know why it’s such a popular attraction for the park.  There’s a huge sink hole forming right next to the arch and it creates this huge amphitheater surrounding it.  The arch is actually pretty impressive as well when you get near it.

After sunset we hiked out and drove back into Moab.  I said bye to Achim and rode back to Teri Ann’s place just outside of town.  I was exhausted and couldn’t believe I was still functioning after only 3-4 hours of sleep the night before and doing a couple of pretty ambitious bikes rides and hikes over the last couple days.  I was looking forward to going to sleep and sleeping as long as possible until it got too hot in the bus.