Arches National Park...Winter Style

What do we do when our ski passes are blacked out from the day after Christmas to New Year's Day?  We take a road trip to Moab, Utah to explore the beautiful Arches National Park.  While we have been to Arches before, we have never had a winter adventure in the park.  It was absolutely amazing!  The contrast of colors from the desert rock and sand to the snow was beautiful.  I'm not sure if the photos will do it justice, but come along as we take a look back at this memorable trip.

This time, we took a road in from the north entrance.  It's not very popular but it sure is scenic.

Before heading into town to check into our hotel, we stopped and did a quick hike around 3 arches: Turrett Arch, South Window, and North Window.

 We stayed at the Homewood Suites and took full advantage of the indoor pool.  The girls swam each afternoon after our long days of hiking and exploring.

 Abby is turning into quite the little fish.  She was a hard one to get out of the pool.

On Thursday, we explored an area of the park called Devil's Garden.  It was a 5-mile hike that introduced us to 5 new arches:  Tunnel, Pine Tree, Landscape, Navajo, and Partition. 

We were amazed at how busy it was in the park.  Even though it was "off-season" there were still lines to get into the park and there were lots of other people on the hikes. 

Some of the trails had some icy parts so the next time we head out on a winter adventure we'll be sure to pack our YakTrax.

Tunnel Arch

That's Landscape Arch on the left.  It's the size of a football field!

Navajo Arch

Partition Arch

a better view of Landscape Arch

 Abby wrote down the arches we saw that day.

On Friday, we started our day by hiking up to see the back side of Delicate Arch.  We did not plan on hiking the front side of Delicate Arch (because Andy, Emma, and I had done that one before) but our spontaneity got the best of us and off we went so we could experience it as a family.

Delicate Arch from the back side

On the trail to Delicate Arch (3 miles roundtrip)

petroglyphs

After hiking up to Delicate Arch, we stopped for a quick hike to Double Arch.

 Do you see the "T" (for Tullis)?!

This is one exhausted 7-year old.  I think she almost fell asleep at dinner.

Before we made the trip home, we squeezed in another hike on the Park Avenue trail.

climbing rocks whenever they could

The girls earned their first Junior Ranger pins! (And we have many more opportunities for them to earn more because we bought a National Parks annual pass.)

In total, we hiked about 14 miles in 3 days.  The girls did awesome, even with some icy trails.  They were all about this adventure!