Arches National Park in Utah

On July 8, 2019 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Utah18 Comments

Located just outside of Moab in Utah is the stunningly beautiful Arches National Park. The geology of the park is quite amazing with many different multicolored bluffs, free standing rock formations, and of course natural arches. The name of Arches National Park is certainly well deserved as there are over 2,000 stone arches located within the park, but the other formations are equally impressive. Although it is possible to simply drive through the park and stop at the many pull-offs and parking areas to see some of the amazing sights, but if you get a chance to hike some of the many trails, it will give you an even better sense of the park.

The temperatures in the park can be quite extreme due to the very dry desert air. During our trip, the temperatures started out very moderate in the early mornings, but quickly soared to 100 degrees Fahrenheit as mid-day approached. Because of that, it is important to make sure that you have plenty of water with you when you decide to go hiking and it is also wise to have something with electrolytes to help replenish what your body loses during the day. There are several trails within the park, some of them easy, but many of them are considered moderate to hard, so be sure to wear appropriate clothing and shoes if you plan on hiking. We found even the moderate trails to be strenuous at times with plenty of exposure to the sun and terrain that varied from the faces of boulders to deep sand.

Needless to say, the geology of Arches National Park steals the show. It varies throughout the park and each different location within the park offers unique and fascinating views. Seeing how nature has carved out the stone from the forces of wind and water into something so beautiful is an amazing experience. It is also important to understand that those forces continue today, although the changes occur slowly, over time the park will be different in the future than it is right now.

Broken Arch, Which Isn’t Actually Broken

Many of the more spectacular arches have been given names such as Delicate Arch (the one depicted on the Utah license plate), Broken Arch, Landscape Arch, Skyline Arch, Double Arch, and many more. Each of them are unique and spectacular in their own ways, so just because you’ve seen one arch doesn’t mean that you’ve seen them all. Many people prefer to visit the park at sunrise, but even more at sunset as the scenery can be even more amazing. We chose to get into the park early in the day and try to be done with our hiking by early afternoon when the temperatures started to get unbearable.

It is possible to see the park in a single day, but we took two days as we really wanted to make sure that we saw everything that Arches National Park had to offer. Utah has several wonderful parks that feature amazing scenery, such as Zion, Bryce, and Canyonlands, but Arches National Park is certainly one of the most impressive. The type of beauty that is found in the park is something so special that photographs can never truly capture it completely, so we would highly recommend that you visit Arches National Park.

Driving Through the Rocky Mountains in Colorado

On July 5, 2019July 4, 2019 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Colorado2 Comments

We love to go hiking in the mountains of Colorado, but sometimes we just need to drive through them on our way to someplace else. There isn’t a single time that we do that we don’t marvel at the beauty of our state. We have a sort of love-hate relationship with driving through the mountains, though, especially if we have to take I-70 west from Denver as we did in order to get to Moab, Utah. It doesn’t take long before a scenic mountain drive turns into a gridlock of vehicles all trying to head west at the same time. Fortunately, we usually account for the extra hour or so of traffic, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t stressful at times.

Once we get through the Eisenhower Tunnel, which takes you under Loveland Pass, things start to improve. After Frisco and Dillon Lake, things get remarkably better and the rest of our drive west was pretty much easy going. As you drive west through all of our favorite resort towns filled with tourists for the holiday weekend, beautiful golf courses, and people on bicycles everywhere, you get a true appreciation of why people travel to Colorado from around the world. Sometimes we take the magnificence of the state for granted and it is drives like these that remind us not to.

It isn’t just a scenic drive, but it is also a feet of engineering that creates a road that makes its way through the rugged wilderness. Between Denver and the border of Utah, you will pass through about five different tunnels, many bridges, and winding roads that take you through steep canyons. The mountains themselves also change as you make your way through the heart of the Rockies, from steep mountain peaks, green valleys, to intense cliffs with the river flowing below. It is certainly an impressive drive if you ever get the opportunity to take it. All of these photographs were taken from within our car as we drove west through the Rocky Mountains.

Our Hiking Season Has Officially Begun

On June 10, 2019 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Colorado, Hiking15 Comments

Although some people hike year-round, regardless of the season, we prefer to wait until most of the snow has melted before going hiking in the mountains. It has been a cool and rainy spring in Colorado and the mountains have continued to get snow even as summer starts around most of the country. We decided to hike a trail that we’ve done before, but this time we chose to go a different direction, which completely changed the hike. It was a relatively easy hike and there was almost no one else on the trail, making it very relaxing and peaceful.

We decided to hike the Falcon Trail on the grounds of the United States Air Force Academy here in Colorado Springs. We originally hiked it back in August of 2017, so it was nice seeing it during a different time of year. Thanks to all of the moisture that we’ve had, the wildflowers are in full bloom making the trail even more beautiful. The entire trail is a 12 1/2 mile loop, but we only went 5 miles on this hike as we get back into hiking condition.

Now that the weather is getting better, we expect to go hiking quite regularly between any trips that we have planned. We find that hiking on the weekends is a great way to relax as well as truly enjoy the beautiful scenery that Colorado has to offer. Although we didn’t see any wildlife on the trail itself, we did come across some wild turkeys crossing the road as we approached the parking area at the head of the trail. The Air Force Academy is also a protected area for wildlife, so it is quite common to find elk, deer, and other wild animals on the grounds of academy. It was certainly a wonderful way to kick off our hiking season and we look forward to getting even farther up into the mountains on our next hike.