Spring Break 2019 took us down to Moab, Utah to visit both Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. It is chilly enough in that part of the country that we didn’t feel comfortable tent camping, so we rented a house. It was located on the outskirts of Moab with enough room for the kids to roam around both inside and outside the home. Looking back, my time stamped photo has us leaving our house at 4:07am as we had to make it all the way to Salt Lake City that day. We stopped at Edge Brewing for lunch in Boise and then continued on.

As we crossed the state line into Utah, our friends in front of us made the split decision to pull over along the freeway for a state sign photo. Probably not our wisest move, but still glad we have the picture!

We made it to our hotel and ordered a giant, like 2′ in diameter giant, pizza for dinner, swam, drank our traditional gin and tonics and got ready for our next day.

The husbands of the group didn’t know this, but we had booked them a bob sledding trip on the olympic course up in Park City, Utah. Cue all the Cool Running jokes! They were surprised and had a lot of fun doing it. Short of all the back pain that ensued 😉

We finally made our way into Moab, and settled into our rental house. We stayed just outside town in a VRBO, though I don’t think the home we stayed in is still available to rent. Moab is too chilly and unpredictable this time of year to bet on tent camping. So we found a house large enough to fit all of our families comfortably.

Day one, we began in Arches National Park. We stopped in at the Visitors Center and got some hiking advice from the Rangers. Our first stop was the Park Avenue Trail. All 15 of us made the hike along the canyon floor, sheer rock walls jutting up on either side of us. Not like a slot canyon, we had more room to spread out over this trail. But the views were breathtaking! This was an out and back trail with parking at both ends of the trail. So instead of having all the kids walk back to the car, the moms hiked back (such a peaceful hike!), got the cars and met the gang on the other side.

Our next stop that day was the Windows Trails. This was a group of arches scattered around a central parking area and were named: North Window, South Window, Turret Arch and Double Arch. My favorites among the group were North Window and Double Arch.

The last stop of the day was a hike out to Landscape Arch. It was a longer trail than the previous stop, but flat and easy. This arch is a long and very narrow arch that we were able to view from a distance. This arch (or any of them for that matter) won’t be around forever due to the elements of mother nature. The National Park system does their best to preserve these natural beauties, but the power of weather is unmatched. So it was really neat to see this beautiful arch that may not be here next time we visit!

Day two in Arches began with a hike to the famous Delicate Arch. When a person thinks of Arches, this is the first one that comes to mind. It is the arch that is on the Utah license plate. By far the most famous arch in the park. The hike to get there was really, really cool. We saw petroglyphs along the way, walked up the face of an expansive sandstone rock ‘wall’ (wall is an exaggeration, but it felt steep!) and traipsed single-file along a steep cliff like edge. Having 9 kids under 10, it was a little harrowing walking along the edge. But we went slow and every stuck together.

Being the most famous arch in all the land, the trail and arch were packed with people. The arch is located on the far side of a large bowl like formation. While it wasn’t insanely steep, we didn’t let the kids just have free-reign up there. We all got our family photos, enjoyed the view and then made our way back down the rock face.

It was then back to the Visitors Center to swear in the newest Junior Rangers and off to check out Canyonlands. The main entrance to Canyonlands is about half an hour from the entrance to Arches. We stopped for our traditional photo op at the entrance sign, checked out the Visitors Center and then made a quick stop at Mesa Arch. One could argue this is the most photographed arch in Canyonlands (though having said that, there’s a reason this park isn’t named Arches as well, it’s more about the canyon than the arches).

Our next day was spent exploring the south end of the park, the Needles District, which is almost an hour and a half from the town of Moab. As we got closer, we realized our gas tank was a little lower than we should’ve let it get. Once we got to the visitors center on that side of the park, we found that all three families were in the same gas predicament. Enough to get us there, not sure it was enough to get us back. Luckily, we’re not the only ones that make that mistake and there happened to be a small gas station flanking the park near the entrance. At $6.00+ per gallon though, we got what we needed to get back and called it good. We were all much more relaxed and ready to enjoy this portion of the park.

We hiked Pothole Point trail and Cave Spring Trail. Pothole Point was a short 0.6 mile loop along mostly flat terrain. The trail is mainly sandstone with pockets of water in little potholes sprinkled throughout. The sign at the trailhead asks visitors to stay out of the water as they are full of organisms. The kids had fun checking them out along the way.

Cave Spring Trail was another short 0.6 mile loop. This one did have a wooden ladder we had to climb on part of the trail, but other than that, it was also an easy hike. Cave Spring Trail was a really interesting one as it had remnants of an old cowboy camp along the way. There were old tables, chairs and miscellaneous camp items like tin cans, barrels and an old camp stove. It was all well protected because it was nestled under a large rock overhang. It’s always interesting to imagine what life was like way back then.

Our last day was spent hiking the Upheaval Dome Trail on the North side of the park. It was another easy-ish hike at only 1.1 miles round trip. Though for myself, Henry and Henry’s bad attitude, it was an easier 0.3 mile hike for us. Once we reached the first overlook, he REFUSED to continue any further. So he and I waited while the group traipsed ahead, completing the hike and enjoying the views.

Our last stop of the park was Grand Viewpoint for a quick photo stop. Canyonlands is so beautiful and expansive, I’d love to go back and explore someday!!

It was then back home to pack up and get ready for the drive home. We left really early, stopped at the Moab sign for a photo, the Love Muffin Cafe for breakfast, and we were on our way. We made it to Boise for the night, picked up dinner to go and made it to Payette Brewing to end the night. It was a really fun outdoor brewery with lots of lawn games and space for the kids to be kids.