We finally made it to Arches National Park!

Friday May 3, 2013 Arches National Park area

Today is sunny and hot. We got up late and are drinking coffee and scribbling notes about our adventures. We are camped on the Colorado River just outside of Arches National Park. Apparently you have to have reservations six months ahead of time to get in the National Parks. Forget that!

Luckily the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has primitive camping sites set up all along the Colorado River, just a few kilometers away from Arches NP. They fill quickly and because the first-come-first-serve is based on an honour system (you post a little tag saying you paid for your spot) that can cause BIG tension. We had to stay in a parking lot overflow site the first night in the area (very noisy and crowded) but I walked around the campgrounds that first evening and noted the sites that would be liberated the following day. I found a perfect one and came early the next morning, paid, placed the tag and went back to our parking-lot-overflow-place. At noon, the official time to set-up, we pulled up to our reserved site and someone had already moved in. Our reservation slip was gone, gone, gone and hence no proof of payment and no other available sites. There was a moment of tension because there is a lot of competition for very few spots. Luckily the couple was very decent and moved without any hesitation, saying that they had misread our slip. Phew. We even talked about the possibility of doing some kayaking together down the Colorado River. Another reminder of the life lesson for me to stay calm, be polite and give strangers the benefit of the doubt. Those who know me well know that it doesn’t come naturally (haha!).

 This site is wonderful and quite private, which is what we really needed. As I write this I can hear the river rapids below and the birds chirping and digging in the undergrowth, looking for their breakfast. Once you get out of the direct sun there is a cool breeze. When I packed for this trip I thought there would be places that would require warm-weather clothing and places that we would need to dress lightly. In fact, everyday requires a shift from light clothing to mid-weight to heavy-duty warm wear, all in the same day! The nights are still colder than we expected and every piece of covering, even the kayak emergency-outdoor-tinfoil-like “blanket” is needed! I wear my down jacket over my head and every morning I wake up and see Marie-Andrée with her Australia toque pulled right down around her eyes!

The days continue to pass quickly and we are now in the month of May – meaning we have been on the road for almost a month. Some days pass much too quickly with too much driving and not enough outdoor time. This leads to two grumpy, frustrated people in a tiny van. The good thing is that we both have the maturity to try harder even though we are confronting the basic faults of our characters – the ones that time and space allow us to hide from others under “normal” life conditions. By facing them and realizing that we have to change, even a little tiny bit, means that we are growing in the process. It is not easy, but it is our reality.

At this point in the trip we have arrived at the landscapes that both of us have always wanted to see and experience. Driving into Utah, I had imagined that suddenly the red monuments, cliffs and natural sculptured landscapes would appear, as if magically, in front of our eyes. In fact, we entered into snow-capped mountain peaks, through Colorado, that were nothing like I thought I would see (those of you who live year long in the mountains are a brave and crazy group ... 

It seems that every time we climb up one side of a mountain range, we descend into a whole different world on the other side (a bit like walking into the wardrobe in Narnia). The first sign of the rich, red, rock sculptures looked to me like the Buddha.

I wanted to run up to it and hug it and yell something like “I am finally here!!” It was beautiful, but each rock formation after it was continued to be incredible. Yesterday, and today, we have hiked through the trails in the park. Sometimes there are way too many tourists, which is an annoying paradox because the land should be experienced in a private, spiritual, way (not just another “photo-op”).

Luckily, as soon as we walk farther, on less well maintained trails, we are usually by ourselves and get to experience the landscape fully... then we are happy campers!!

For the next several weeks we are happy that we are driving only very short distances on any given day and most places we are staying for at least 2 nights and many for 3 nights, in order to hike and kayak. This is what we imagined, when we imagined this trip. It makes the long-frustrating-grumpy days seem OK after all, and the perfect days even more perfect!