Arches National Park

I feel like this post is kinda all over the place but here is is anyways:) For my Spring break I was able to go with some friends on a trip to Arches National park in Moab Utah.  On our drive down we stopped for breakfast in Price. We found this really cute little restaurant called Farlaino's, the food was so yummy.  We left pretty early in the morning so that we could have time to set up camp and start hiking. We got to Moab around noon.  We found a really cute little camp spot right by the Colorado river. 

 It was really windy the first day that we were there, as you can see from our tent. It was hard to fall asleep with the tent laying on top of us and flapping in the wind, but we survived. The second night was as calm as could be which was great!

 

The girls that I went with, we are all in the same ward.

Pam, Me, Leonee, Melissa

 The first day we got there we decided to hike to Delicate Arch, the one that is on the Utah license plate. It was about a 3 mile hike round trip.  It was so beautiful and fun to see the arches in person, they are so big! This was one of my favorite hikes, by the time we finished it was almost dark so we headed to camp for the night.

 The next day we decided to just drive and see where it took us.  It was the first time for all of us to be at Arches National Park. It was fun driving around the park, all of the rocks looked like something.  This on was called balanced rock. As you will notice we had fun taking lots of jumping pictures and planking pictures. For those of you who have no idea what planking is, here is the definition: Planking (or the Lying Down Game) is an activity consisting of lying face down in an unusual or incongruous location. Both hands must touch the sides of the body and having a photograph of the participant taken and posted on the Internet is an integral part of the game.  Players compete to find the most unusual and original location in which to play.

 Leonee planking

 While hiking in stead of signs they use Carins to mark the trails

The above picture was my favorite view on our hike to see the double O arch.  The picture does not do it justice. All the rock fins look so cool. It makes you feel like you are on top of the world

 

 This is the double O arch from the back side. the picture below if you look closely you can see Pam and I standing in the bottom O.

 This the one of the arches on the way to the double O arch. This the the longest known arch in the world. It is it the length of a football field.

 Breakfast was interesting on the first morning with all the wind, we had bread and eggs flying everywhere, so we decided if we wanted to enjoy the meal we should eat in the car!

 On the last day were were there we heard about an arch outside of the park where people swing from it. So we decided to go check it out. We got lucky that when we got there, there was someone getting ready to swing from it. Pam and I hiked up right to the arch so we could watch it up close. It was so crazy, I can't imagine the rush that must be to jump off an arch. We talked to the guy afterwards and it was actually a group of students from BYU.  They told us how they set it up and made it as safe as possible. You definitely have to know what you are doing.

 All four of us

 Doing a handstand in front of delicate arch

 we found a little baby arch:)

 In front of the Arches sign at the visitor center

 Lots of driving!

 

 As you can see from the picture above that this hike involved walking on rock fins, which means on either side of you is a drop off. Melissa is afraid of heights and had a hard time crossing but was able to do it!

 Planking at the South Window Arch

 Jumping at the North Window Arch

This trip as a lot of fun. I have never seen so many arches before. It was fun to be out in nature just hiking and spending time with friends. I have gotten to know these girls just over the past 3 months so it was fun that we are already good friends and doing things together.