10 Day Epic Road Trip: The Birthday Adventure Vacation

with 2 Comments

Day 2, Arches National Park, UT and Denver, Colorado

P1150950 (Large)

Arches National Park is generally a place you would want to visit during the cooler months. It can get very warm during the day if you want to hike to some of the arches and points of interest. Much of the park you can see by simply driving through, but if you want to get up close to the arches, you have to hike (walk) to them. Since our trip was in late June, the daytime temperatures got close to 100 degrees. We toughed it out and started early.

Hiking to Delicate Arch

We got to the park around 7AM and hit Delicate Arch first. If you park at the main parking lot, it is just over 3 miles round trip. The trail is pretty easy if you are in decent shape, but there is a good sized rock hill to climb with over 480 feet of elevation ascent. We saw people of all ages from small children to people in there 60’s doing it though. Along the way we stopped to check out Wolfe Cabin. Built back in the late 1800’s, it is well-preserved and still stands fully intact today

You can see the climb I was talking about earlier in these next two pics.

P1150959 (Large)
Don’t build unnecessary trail cairns like these. They disrupt the natural environment which is why you are there to begin with.
Getting close! Hiking through a rocky valley.
Getting close! Hiking through a rocky valley.
That is a BIG drop down the left side. Be very careful in this spot.
That is a BIG drop down the left side. Be very careful in this spot.

 

There she is!

IMG_20170625_084910770 (Large)

P1150974 (Large)

20170625100734

P1150971

 

As you can see, the crowds can get stupid as people line up to take a photo under the arch. I was extremely lucky to snap that last pic in between the groups of tourists.

IMG_4598

 

After Delicate Arch, we drove down to Devil’s Garden. This is a several mile hike with many arches along the way. We weren’t committed to hiking the entire thing, but I mostly wanted to see Landscape Arch. On the way there we spotted a wiener shaped rock. Being the idiots we are, we had to stop and take some pics.

We began our hike through some steep canyon rock walls and valleys of rock formations.

Tunnel Arch

We made a stop at Tunnel Arch.

P1150997

P1150998

 

Landscape Arch

Shortly after, we arrived at Landscape Arch. It was quite impressive to see in person. Photos don’t do it’s size or span any justice.

P1160017

IMG_20170625_111513299_HDR

 

It was getting warm and we felt it was time to get on the road. Arches National Park is really neat to see, but cooler temperatures would have definitely made it much more enjoyable.

IMG_20170625_104524955
So I said BRAAAAP in some sand and we hiked back to the truck.

 

Back at the truck I was able to try out my new portable shower that I made. I bought a new 2 gallon sprayer from Lowes and fitted a kitchen sink sprayer with some extra hose to the end of it. You just pump up the bottle and you have running water whenever you need to wash off. It felt great to wash off the sweat from my head and feet with some fresh water.

20170625204140 (Large)

 

Hello Colorado!

IMG_20170625_132248408 (Large)

 

We took the I-70 east to Colorado, stopping in Grand Junction for lunch. The views quickly went from pink and brown desert to vibrant shades of green everywhere!

P1160044 (Large)

 

Our drive was very scenic passing through the ski resort towns. I love Colorado.

 

Denver, CO

We arrived downtown Denver late afternoon. Our plan was to check in at our hotel where we had a reservation and figure out our plan the next morning.

In the meantime, we found the pool and hot tub. We took full advantage of it.

It was then time to grab some grub and a cocktail. We found out Denver is not so hoppin on a Sunday night. Yard House was pretty much the only place open. EVerything shuts down super early. They had what we wanted though so it worked.

Anna rode a fake bull and then we turned in for the night.

IMG_20170626_005450982 (Large)

 

Day 3, Downtown Denver & Winter Park, continued on page 3

 

Comments

comments

Follow Pete:

Do more with less! That is my motto lately. I love getting outdoors and exploring new places, usually on my KTM motorcycle. My wife, Anna, and I recently bought and built out a Sprinter van to do more of the things we love. Traveling and seeing new places is always at the top of our to-do list.

2 Responses

  1. Corey
    |

    Killer trip Pete!! Looks like you had a ton of fun. Makes me want to pack the wife and kids up and go camping this weekend.

  2. Pete
    |

    Thanks Corey! You should go for it. The mountains are the best place to be in summer. 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *