Durango, Colorado to Arches National Park, Moab, Utah (163 miles)

Park Avenue

I realize I haven't been posting mileage between stops like I did during leg one of my adventures and that is for two separate, very valid reasons.

1. Sometimes it is too boring to note (unless you want to hear me caterwauling my questionable playlist from Wichita to Dodge City, for example, since that is all that happened between one and the other).
2. Sometimes I am too boring/sad/sick to note (fighting illness has been the number one reason I have lagged in posts since I left Wichita, something I hope to get past sooner than later, God help me).

Near Pleasant View, Colorado

I would very much love to start feeling 9000% better any time soon, but on my third day in Salt Lake City, I am still feeling a bit gruesome. Usually this blog is about a day behind real time, but I'm lagging about 3-4 days behind at this point. Fingers crossed.

Church Rock

By the time I left Durango, I was feeling a ton better than the previous two days, so I shoved myself out of the Best Western, forced my car into drive, and hauled my ass on down the road. I psyched myself into believing I was heading downward, away from mountains (which I was, eventually), but going from Durango (6,512) to Monticello (7,070) to Moab (4,026) was clearly not a steady ride down. Luckily my intestinal fortitude had recovered enough to see me through to the park in one piece.

Spanish Valley

One of the joys of the ride was the wild weather fronts streaking across the skies as I made my way from Colorado to Utah. It started near Pleasant View, Colorado, where I snapped a cool cloud formation off to the north. This day was on the verge of delivering all kinds of cloud porn, and being a Cloud Freak, I was in heaven.

I passed Church Rock north of Monticello unable to think of it as anything other than Sky Boob (thank you x infinity for putting that term in my head, Burke and Michelle), and ooohed at the beauty of the Spanish Valley ridges. It was a great run up to seeing Arches National Park. If you think Utah has nothing to offer, think again. This place is teeming with geological wonders and is worth a long, slow tour.

I arrived at the gate for Arches and brandished my annual pass, gleeful to finally be racking up mileage on the card. I already had to skip Bryce Canyon and Canyonlands because of illness, so was eager to start making it work for me again. An annual pass is $80 but gets you into every national park for free (and knocks your camping fees down, as well, wherever applicable). This time around the park entrance attendant was not as smiley and asked if I wanted a map (instead of just handing me one). Being a noob, I of course said yes and wondered if that was a cost saving measure some of the parks were already taking for fear of further budgetary cuts.

The Organ

When I reached the visitors center, I stopped to use the bathroom and take a few first pictures. Looking up at the soaring rock formations right beside the center, I realized that the road into the park proper wound upward and my knees knocked as I considered what was next. Once I got back to the car, I sat there for a minute and thought about it. Could I do this? Would I get sick again? How much winding would there be? The visitor's guide warned of winding roads--could I handle this?

Whenever worry gets a foothold, panic is often right behind, shoving its way in and tackling me to the ground*. It is a horrible feeling, knowing it is right at the door, pressing forward, but sometimes you can fight it back. One of my methods is self talk. It goes one of three ways: Encouragement, insults, or a combination of both. I usually go route three because that is my personality. I've never been a shining rainbow unicorn, but maybe like a donkey version. You know, still covered in sparkles and living in a wonderland with a horn and everything, but a donkey instead of a horse. A unikey. A donkorn?

Tower of Babel

Three Gossips

So I said, Look Here, You. You're doing this and I don't care if you puke your stupid guts out all over an arch, you are strong and willful and you WILL put this car into drive and you WILL drive up that road and you are GOING to see some goddamned rock formations because you deserve this you peice of donkorn now GET IT GEAR AND GO.

Delicate Arch (close up-ish)

Delicate Arch (far, far away)

This was all in my head, of course, but it worked. I got in gear and went. Luckily the park was not all that busy, so I didn't really have anyone behind or ahead of me for most of the trip up the main park road. And I am here to tell you: It's only that first bit that gets a little steep and swerve-y. After that, the hills are very mild and manageable. And quite honestly the first part of it looks worse than it really is. Remember the part of leg one where I screamed the whole way? That was WAY scarier. This was, ahem, just a walk in the park.

Imagine if I had psyched myself out. What I would have missed. Imagine it. How completely garbagio is that?

Balanced Rock

*PS. I have been real-life tackled by a teenaged Idiot Boy. He was nearly adult sized, or was small-adult sized, I think, but he straight up tackled me to the ground. I was walking home from high school with friends when Idiot Boy, whose name is lost forever, hit me full bodied from behind, down to the ground, and landed on top of me. I got the wind knocked out of me and couldn't breathe for a few seconds. We were screaming what the EFF was that for, but he seemed genuinely nonplussed. He felt the urge to do it, so he did it. We had no beef (to that point) and the theory was his crush on me was crushing him so therefore he decided to crush me, but that was never proven. My guess is that he had impulse control problems, and didn't know how to express himself outside of tackling people to the ground. Funny thing: This always makes me laugh now and I would never put it on par with any of the real assaults I've experienced. At least I can say I genuinely know what it feels like to be tackled--I even think he was on the JV football team, so I can say I was tackled by an actual football player to boot. It wasn't anything like getting sacked by Junior Seau, but honestly, what is? Other than getting run over by a car. Most important point, though: I'd take a sack over a panic attack any day. At least a JV sack.

Pointy Point

Pinnacles

The Arches National Park is a place of incredible beauty and wonder. Unfortunately for me, I only saw a few of those famous arches as I was not up to hiking. You can see quite a bit just driving around, and even some arches can be seen from the road, though I would argue the other geological phenomena are equally as stunning (fins, monoliths, pinnacles, balanced rocks). There are more than just arches to Arches, in other words.

There is also heavy construction going on throughout the park right now--specifically repaving and updating the roads that run through it--so there are a number of large construction vehicles taking up space in some of the pull outs. The balanced rock road was closed, for example, but you could still get a shot nearby. The park closes at from 7 pm to 7 am so that crews can work overnight. I didn't think it impeded much on my visit, and I was encouraged to see that initiative for improvement was being taken. Some of our national parks are in dire need of updating, especially access roads and services.

Skyline Arch

The monoliths were my favorite (The Organ, Tower of Babel, and Sheep Rock), but the balanced rocks and arches were something to behold especially when you understand what it took to create them. The geological explanation of the formation of the park is pretty fascinating, and it makes you appreciate this moment in time, because the park is forever changing, and those arches won't last. New ones will form over time, and old ones will collapse (as many have, one even in the last decade), but the park as it is now took eons to form and is special. It is a privilege to experience it. Which is what made the repeated appeals for good behavior in the guides and newsletters I received at the front gate all the more infuriating. It seems odd that people have to be told not to walk on the arches or carve SKRILLEX RULZ on Abraham Lincoln's face, but I guess it needs to be explicitly addressed.

The Fiery Furnace!

Here's some travel advice from Auntie Erin: When you go to a national park to experience the glorious beauty of our natural riches and you happen upon a remarkable stone outcropping, monolith, arch, pinnacle, fin, or wall--a thing that brings millions of visitors to the park year in and year out--and you feel the deep, itching urge to put chalk, crayon, pen, or a knife to that rock to "leave your mark," here's what you're going to want to do to make a lasting impression: Take that chalk, crayon, pen, knife, what have you, turn it around, and jam it directly into your eye, you piece of human garbage. Tourist tips!

I had to make Salt Lake City before 9 pm to check into the AirBNB, so I didn't spend a great deal of time in the park, between 2-3 hours, but I was plenty impressed and happy for the time I got. I was glad I got to experience the park, of course, but it also meant a great deal to be able to get out in the sun and Do Things, real things, and feel pretty much okay for the majority of the day.

I wish I could say it lasted, but for a brief spell, everything was alright.

All the pretty cloudies!