WEDNESDAY, 1 NOVEMBER 2023

(Moab, UT)

The first order of business was a lie in. I woke up at 0720, but waking up and getting up are two entirely different things. Andrew was still sleeping, even when I decided I couldn’t wait any longer, and plodded over to the coffee machine at 0830. Not wanting to put the light on, I moved the machine, cups, coffee bags and creamer to the bathroom…that you can plug things in, in a bathroom, is still weird to me, but I wasn’t standing in water, so I reckoned it was better than fumbling in the dark.

One cup of coffee made, and I returned to the bedroom. Then I decided, regardless of Andrew’s lack of awakeness, that I wanted to see the view…and so I slightly opened one curtain! Blue skies, sunshine, red rocks…we’re definitely in Moab. This, of course, woke Andrew (it is possible he was already awake and trying not to be…). I gave him the coffee and went to make another one.

Once suitably conscious, we went down for breakfast. By now I’m a master of using hotel waffle makers. We got another cup of coffee and returned to the room to ponder our options. We decided to try going to Arches. It is the first day when timed entry permits are not required. They were introduced last year over the summer season to manage the number of visitors, and used again this year until thy end of October. Visitation has doubled since we first started coming, 18 years ago. We had Canyonlands identified as a plan B. Both would offer some (relatively) gentle hiking, at least compared to the more vertical options of the Moab Rim/Portal Overlook Trail or Fisher Towers.

After taking our time it was around noon when we left. Perhaps the morning rush was past, or perhaps there wasn’t a rush at all, but either way, there was no queue at all to enter Arches, and so it was on to Plan A. A short drive up the main park road and we were soon at Courthouse Wash, where we parked in an unmarked lay-by. Today’s trail isn’t even shown on the topo map of the area, just the destination, Ring Arch.

We set off…and stopped after less than a minute. It felt really quite warm, and we decided that we didn’t need to carry as many layers, so we went back to the car to leave some behind. We set off again. The trail descended down towards the wash, where we briefly went the wrong way, but we quickly decided this wasn’t the way and after a short hunt around found the correct trail. Although this is a much less known and frequented trail – even we haven’t done it before – there is still a defined trail.

The scenery was beautiful. The autumn colours of the trees in the wash, snow capped mountains, desert bushes and golden Indian rice grass. Slightly less scenic and more pesky was the copious Russian thistle, which hooked into our sticks if your legs got too close to it. Digging the thorns out of our socks tended to result in them sticking into our fingers instead.

The trail crossed the open area, surrounded by an amphitheater of high sandstone walls. Occasionally the path went up or down sandy ridges, but otherwise the gradient was broadly flat.

The route ended at Ring Arch, which were nearly got to…but decided the near vertical scramble up the slickrock for the last 100 feet was a stretch too far. I did try, but my boots were slipping on the rock. Instead, having had a good look at it from the end of the sandy trail, we had our lunch bars and then headed back, asking a slightly different path.

Today’s wildlife watch included fast moving lizards, lots of ants, a rabbit (possibly a black tailed jack rabbit), crickets, and a large black beetle, as well as various birds.

Back at the car we drive to a viewpoint over the petrified dunes and had our flask of tea and some chocolate (Dairy Milk, definitely not Hershey’s). After that we decided to drive through the park, and then do the short wander to San Dune Arch, as I wasn’t sure that Andrew had ever done it. The arch is a short walk in between sandstone fins.

We then drive back through the park, past familiar sights such as fiery furnace, and balanced rock, and headed to City Market for some supplies.

After showering we went for dinner at Pasta Jay’s, and have now settled in for the evening to relax.

[basic trail video is here: https://vimeo.com/880384900]