Sunday, April 2, 2017--Willard Bay State Park, Brigham City, Utah to Archview RV Park, Moab, Utah--224 miles

     Mallards quacking woke us this morning. Dawn was breaking and skies were cloudy and temperature was 49 degrees when we left at 7 am. 

     Paul drove the nearly 100 miles through Ogden, Salt Lake City and Provo--the freeway was six lanes most of the way--and busy. We were glad it was early Sunday morning instead of rush hour. 

     We passed by numerous huge oil refineries, oil trains, mining, destruction (mining) of whole mountains and a sign on a poshish neighborhood "Welcome to Silicone Slopes". None of it was a pretty sight and we were glad to see the end of it.

     Then I drove across the mountains on a mostly 2 lane highway with numerous passing lanes and more numerous huge trucks going faster than I wanted to go. There was snow on the pass and tremendous road cuts on the highway.

     Paul drove the anchor leg, a bit of it with less traffic. As we neared Arches it was a steady line going to and from. The La Sal mountains in the distance told us we were nearing our destination. These peaks span a distance of 10 miles and contain 3 clusters of peaks, 12 of the peaks over 12,000 feet in elevation. 

     We were happy to find an RV spot 4 miles from Arches National Park.  Our spot was "dry camping" in the RV parking lot. The park was full! But we reserved an actual hook-up site for the next night, and we were glad for a place to perch for the night in such a busy, crowded location. All in all, the driving was quite tedious today.

     Then we drove to Arches park at 1 pm and waited in line to enter.  This is peak visitor time for Arches, which we did not know. The temperature was 70 degrees and the sun came out for us. 

     The park road is being rebuilt all summer and the park campground is closed during construction. This contributes to a shortage of campgrounds.

Nothing like red rocks and blue sky to put a smile on my face!

      Love those snowy peaks of the La Sal Mountains in the background

 Balanced Rock--still standing but looking precarious

 North Arch and the bird of the day--Common Raven. They rule the park!

      The Three Gossips and Paul at his favorite formation known as Park Avenue

     Around every turn is a new surprise!

IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT! We love Arches!

Today Our Eyes Were On . . . 

Highways, big trucks, traffic, lots of RVs, big trucks, evidence of man's overuse of the land, more highways and finally. . . .

One of our favorite places with red rocks, snowy peaks, blue skies, old and new juniper trees and ARCHES!