Arches fall.
We learned this lesson from our digital tour guide last summer as we crawled along the roads of Arches National Park. Over time, even the most durable arch will succumb to the elements: wind and rain and the creaking of deep seismic shuffling. We were fortunate to have witnessed such geological marvels, we were told. A millennium or two down the road – the flutter of butterfly wings in the geological scope – and the arches would be gone.
So we did enjoy them, along with many other remarkable features Utah has to offer, west past St. Louis and Kansas City, and also Kansas, and even west past Morrison, Colorado (which is just west of Denver) where we stopped for a couple of days to visit old friends and their new pet dog, Bumblebee. Here we laughed at old jokes and balanced on ropes. We soaked tired feet in a cold stream next to that most iconic of Colorado tourist spots – the Coney Island Hot Dog stand from Comedy Central’s South Park. After two days’ rest we continued over the continental divide and then mercifully down onto less-finicky terrain.
Eventually we made it across the border of Utah itself, where we found the kind of desert portrayed on Saturday morning cartoons – where coyotes pack dynamite and bloated expectations. We eventually found Moab and then found our hotel. Our timing was off, though, and the pool was broken, so instead we drove to Arches down the road. But our daughter Annaka’s timing was perfect, because, as a 4th grader, she was given a free “America the Beautiful” pass, which allowed us access to all the national parks in the United States!
The next morning we scooted out early enough to make it to Canyonlands National Park by sunrise. We hiked two trails, both in the “Island in the Sky” area: the iconic Mesa Arch trail, (pictures of which you’ve undoubtedly seen if you’ve ever read an inspiring quote next to an inspiring picture) and the White Rim Overlook, which was less inspiring because we had to make sure no one got too close to the rim! After some more picture-taking we returned to our hotel to find our pool still broken. Fortunately, a neighboring hotel agreed to let us use their facilities, so we did, then finished the evening (and our brief stay in Moab) with a relaxed meal at the Broken Oar Restaurant downtown.
The next morning we continued west and then south, toward our next free National Park – Capital Reef. Located in the southeastern part of the state and closer to the Grand Canyon than the Great Salt Lake, Capital Reef required even more desert travel. We outlanders used to highway exits every ten-to-twenty miles had to recalibrate our sense of comfort and redefine what we meant by “restroom.” No matter. We made it without a mess.
Unfortunately our timing was off again as we detoured around a wildfire, and even when we arrived at the visitor center we found it darkened by the fire-induced power outage. Instead of a museum, though, we examined petroglyphs in broad August daylight, created by the Fremont Culture hundreds of years ago, before finding the highway again and moving toward La Verkin, Utah, where we were to stay for nearly a week with friends from back home.
La Verkin was a natural gateway to our next destination – Zion National Park. For the next few days we explored as much of Zion as we could. We bustled up a bumpy overlook one evening to watch a sunset over the city, and then waded through a cold canyon the next morning to say we could. One day we rented Ebikes and zipped up and down the park’s only highway, stopping every once in a while to hike, or rest, or to take pictures of us hiking or resting.
The next day we left La Verkin before dawn and crossed into Arizona. After another jostle through the desert, we hiked through the eerily picturesque Antelope Canyon with a Navajo tour guide before visiting the sources of yet another iconic photograph – the Horseshoe Bend of the Colorado River. Like many pictures taken out West, the scenes were much warmer in person. Against our instincts (or at least our wishes) we loaded up and left the next morning, rumbling north and then east across the desert and then back up into the Rocky Mountains. We stayed outside Denver that evening and made it home the next day to finish up our summer, with only a few days left to get ready for school.
The next week Annaka told her teacher and some classmates about the trip, and about the National Park pass she had earned for being a 4th grader. Just a year or so older – or younger – and the pass wouldn’t have earned as much use. Despite the occasional dose of bad timing, I feel fortunate to have enjoyed such an adventure with family and friends. I’m grateful for such beautiful places to visit, because over the years I’ve learned that arches do fall – and the kids grow up – while the miles fade into the mirror.
Joshua Robison lives in Effingham, where he teaches English at Effingham High School. He can be reached at josh.robsn@gmail.com