A relaxing start, as I let Andrew have a lie in. I made coffee and had mine out on the balcony, suitably wrapped up.

We had breakfast in the hotel, then headed out. We had originally thought of going to Arches to see Delicate Arch, but it is currently closed! They have been doing road work all year in the park and yesterday closed the road to the Delicate Arch trailhead. So, change of plan required. We turned up the river road, which looked great in the morning sun. There were roadworks along here too, but it didn’t delay us too much.

After a while we turned onto the dirt road which leads 2 miles to the BLM parking area at the Fisher Towers trailhead. We set off, on the 4.8 mile hike. It has been a while since we did this one. Luckily, we had forgotten how strenuous and hard this hike is and only remembered the views…

The trail winds upwards around stunning rock towers,  in total there is 1670 feet of up and down. We could see climbers on ‘the diving board’, one group descending, another climbing.

The trail ends with views of Castle Valley, as well as the Colorado River Valley. We had a snack and savoured the picturesque scenery.

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The walk back down was a bit easier, but not much. There are some smooth sections of path, but not many. There is a lot of stepping, scrambling, walking on a sideways angle and even a ladder, the hardest part of which is getting on to it with a backpack on. Take a look at the video:

Fisher Towers trail

The drive back was into the lowering sun, which highlighted the smooth canyon walls above the river.

We got back about 4.30pm, with time to see the sun on the red rocks above Moab and have a beer and crisps on our balcony (top left as you look at the hotel) to celebrate our last hike.

Then it was time to shower and go for dinner, which we had at Miguel’s Baja Grill, a Mexican restaurant we have been to many times.

Now back in our suite, the space of which has been enjoyable, to blog and relax before driving eastwards tomorrow and we continue our route back towards Denver. Hiking done, poles are compacted ready for travel and the boots will be packed up in the morning. There are still a couple of days left though, so we’re not finished yet!