Our trip to Arches National Park started early. We were on the road well before dawn from Capitol Reef because we had a long day ahead of us and we wanted to beat the heat. The forecast for Arches said the temperature would exceed 100 degrees by noon so we wanted to get our hikes in early.
Everybody slept in the car while I drove and the kids weren't too happy when I woke them up for our picture at the park entrance. But we fed them a quick breakfast and checked out the visitor center before heading up into the mountains where the arches are.
Our first little hike took us to an overlook of Delicate Arch, which is probably the most iconic one in the park. Its popularity was evident by the stream of people around it so we didn't linger for too long. It was already hot and the kids weren't happy about this park.
Our next stop was Sand Dune Arch. We took a short trail into the shade of a slot canyon and suddenly we were walking through a beach. Windblown sand gets piled up in this place so the hard desert floor was replaced by a fun trek into a cool and shadowy place. The kids took their shoes off and ran around as we made our was to the arch. After checking that out we ventured a little farther in and the kids found literal tons of rocks to play and climb on.
That changed everyone's mood and we enjoyed the rest of the morning with a couple of other stops to see the sights. Arches is one of the smallest parks we've been to so it only took a few hours to enjoy what it had to offer. And the little Sand Dune Arch was quickly added to our list of favorite things on this trip.
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