Today we both finally woke-up in time for the sunrise. The sun slowly filled in the canyon around the Colorado River giving us a splendid morning on the last one of this road trip. Sleep wasn’t great for me last night, but it wasn’t bad either. We ate a good breakfast, finishing off the eggs, bacon, paper towels, and hand wipes. We took a hike to the river front (holding our breath as we passed the worst smelling toilet we’ve encountered on this trip [on the outside anyway, inside, nothing can beat the smell at Poia Lake’s pit toilet]).
We then got in the car and headed the 10 miles in to Arches National Park. The line of cars at 8:30AM was already ridiculously long (the park info radio broadcast states to not stop on the highway if it is backed up that far or they may close the entrance). We got in after about 10 minutes and went to the visitor center to get the stamp. We found the perfect NPS hat (of course, only on the last stop) and a 2017 wall calendar as well.
We then went over to the info desk to ask about hikes. The person at the desk recommended that we do the primitive trail in Devils Garden as we’d get to see a lot, and it shouldn’t take more than 4 hours. She also recommended that we not do Fiery Furnace since neither of us had done the ranger led tour (and the next tour slot available was on Friday). So, we set off to head up to the trailhead at the end of the road.
Once we got there, we were immediately reminded of just how… special… people can be in large numbers (there’s an open spot right there in the RV only area, clearly my tiny little car should take it despite the signs saying “only vehicles OVER 24ft”). I did my best to ignore the people, and we set off on the trail. We got some great views of the scenery on the way and Landscape Arch, all this before the main trail.
We started off on the arch loop, scrambling up rocks, being careful to not step on any biological soil crust (which most people seemed to not care about despite the fact they’re damaging the park with each step for 50 years). This led us to see Navajo Arch, Partition Arch, Double O Arch, and Dark Angel (as well as a beautiful landscape in general).
We then got to portion of the trail that is the “primitive” trail. It has very little signage, is a bit more difficult, with more rock scrambles, and is only really marked by cairns. This let us get in the rock fins and get a deeper feel for the park. We also got to see Private Arch, which is the arch that seems to be most associated with the park. I was surprised just how many people did this trail despite it being listed as strenuous. We did see quite a few people that, in any other park, would not have dared go on a strenuous trail, but here… (more power to ’em, but, man, some of them made me a bit worried and questioned their basic common sense).
Right before the end, my knee flared up again (and on one of the rock scrambles, I tweaked my elbow, again), and so I was in severe pain for the last half mile (and my right ankle decided to join it’s right-leg knee comrade in the pain protest). We got back to the trail, got to watch a bunch of people trample soil, irreparably damaging the park for a couple of generations (thanks, dicks), and answer a bunch of people’s questions in a conversation that typically went thusly:
Tourist: How much further is it?
Me: To… what…?
Tourist (now sounding annoyed and rushed because random stranger question him): Whatever it is everyone is going to see.
Me: *pulls out map* Well, if you mean Landscape Arch, you’re here, it’s there, so, 1/4 mile maybe.
Tourist (semi-sincerely): Thanks.
My brain: (internally screams) WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME? DON’T YOU HAVE A MAP TOO? CAN’T YOU FIGURE IT OUT? DO YOU NOT EVEN KNOW WHY YOU ARE HERE AND WHAT YOU WANT TO LOOK AT?!? STOP STEPPING ON THE BIOLOGICAL SOIL CRUST AND STAY ON THE TRAIL DOUCHEBAG!
Me (feigned sincerity): You’re welcome.
So, we finally made it to the car, and drove down the park… about an hour later than planned. We stopped along the way for pictures, but if it was more than 100 yards from the car, we didn’t go to the picture spot because we were both tired.
We eventually left the last of the parks, got gas, and began the drive to Denver. We got in to Glenwood Canyon after dusk, so the views weren’t great. We then saw a sign… I-70E closed at Silverthorne, detour US-6 over Loveland Pass. Neither of us had done Loveland Pass (I’ve skied Loveland a lot [favorite-ist ski area ever!], but all we knew of the pass was snow=closed). We looked in to the closure announcement, and found out that the construction work began today, and starts at 8… and we got there at 9… So, yeah.
Well, we joined the long line of trucks and cars and began the climb up US-6 towards the pass. Prior to this, the highest elevation the car had seen was Eisenhower tunnel (~11,460′), and for the road trip was ~10,060′ (Great Basin). New car/road trip record: 12,020′ (my personal driving record is Pikes Peak Highway, 14,004′). We coasted down and got to Lara’s mom’s place around 10:30PM.
Final Tour Stats: 24 days, 11 National Parks, 4 National Recreation Areas, 1 Internment Camp, 8 States, 1 Province, 2 Countries, 4,258 miles driven, 18 hikes, 74 miles hiked.
What’s next: rest; see friends; unpack, clean, repack car; drive/move to Chicago.