Moab 2015: Broken Arch and Sand Dune Arch

In my last post, Jon rocked his half marathon, we had a fabulous lunch in downtown Moab – but we were far from done for the day!

After lunch, we were eager to get out touristing, but obviously Jon wasn’t going to be up for a lot of hiking. I drove – and we headed to Arches. Since we were later coming into the park – it was about 1:30 pm – we found ourselves in a HUGE line at the park entrance… We waited a long time – probably about 45 minutes to get into the park. Fortunately for me, Jon was exhausted… too tired to complain about the wait. I did spend some time thinking it would be nice if they had a priority line for National Parks Passholders!

Eventually we made our way into the park, where I had picked out some easy hikes to some of the Arches we hadn’t seen yet (the ranger had given me some great ideas when I was at the Visitor’s Center that morning). We started at Broken Arch – named for the fact that there is a large vertical crack right in the middle of the arch. Broken Arch is 0.6 miles (1.2 miles round trip) of flat hiking through slightly soft sand, with views of the La Sal Mountains in the distance. Remarkably, when we got to Broken Arch, there was just one other family there, and they headed out shortly after we arrived. We were all alone, only 0.6 miles from the trail head!

The view from the Broken Arch trail head

Jon and me on our way to Broken Arch – Jon is rockin’ his half-marathon shirt

Broken Arch is one of the arches you can climb under, so I tried my luck at getting the proverbial “jumping photo.” Our timing wasn’t great though, because several attempts all caught me barely above the ground – you’ll just have to take my word for it that I’m able to jump super-high, while looking completely put together – HA! Sigh… We loved the quiet at Broken Arch, and sat on the rocks near the arch for a while, just enjoying the view and the solitude. But not for too long, because Jon didn’t want his muscles to stiffen up.

Broken Arch!

Me jumping at Broken Arch – I jumped really high – seriously…

As we were getting ready to go, we ran into a young lady from Colorado trying for a selfie with the arch, so I offered to take her picture. We got to talking and she offered an interesting story. She had accompanied a friend who came to Moab to go on a group back-country uni-cycling tour. She came along to do some hiking while her friend was uni-cycling. I had no idea there were organized uni-cycling tours and back country no less!

Jon looking at the view of the LaSal Mountains from Broken Arch

This rock reminded me of a poodle – what do you see?

On the way back from Broken Arch we took the short spur trail off to Sand Dune Arch. Sand Dune Arch is between two sandstone fins, and loose sand collects there making a fun experience for kids, who can play to their heart’s content in the red sand. And not so fun for this childless couple and my delicate ears – the sounds of kids yelling and shrieking echo loudly here!

A dead tree between the fins at Sand Dune Arch

Sand Dune Arch – which one of these kiddos won’t make it?

We hung out long enough to get some photos of Sand Dune Arch, with kids posing, jumping and back-flipping underneath. All only feet from the posted sign that says that Sand Dune Arch has experienced recent rock fall and you shouldn’t stand underneath. Either all those parents are illiterate, clueless, or hoping that the rock fall comes and takes out one of their brood – you decide!

People are stoo-pid…