We hooked up the 5er and made our way north through Arizona’s Monument Valley on our way to Utah for Fall Break! We have a week off of school at a perfect time, when the weather turns cool enough to go for hikes.
We stopped for a few nights in Blanding, Utah while we wait for our reservation date at Arches National Park near Moab. We originally tried to secure a spot at the Sand Island BLM campground near Bluff, but with the weekend in full swing, it seems lots of people are taking advantage of the cooler weather. So then we tried for an RV Park in Bluff but they were full at 2 in the afternoon on Saturday. We continued into Blanding, fueled up at the Shell and paid for a night at the Kampark located next door. Nice wide, level gravel sites with trees and full hook-ups. That works!
Blanding is very close to Natural Bridges National Monument. So we loaded up the dogs, packed a lunch and took a Sunday drive. We were greeted with magnificent views of 3 natural bridges.
We hiked down the trail to stand near the Owachomo bridge. Amazing how massive this natural wonder is! It stands 106 feet high, spans 180 feet, is 27 feet wide and only 9 feet thick! A stream no longer runs under this bridge as is does under the Sipapu and Kachina bridges.
The bridges are formed from moving water eroding the sandstone, whereas the arches we will soon be seeing are formed from erosion due to frost and seeping moisture.
Looking forward to more exploring!
Arches - one of the sites on our bucket list. Hopefully next summer.
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