Day 8 - 7/01/2004 - Thursday
- Took I-70 towards the next park. Quite barren, with disturbing
signs like "No services next 110 Miles".
- Pass through area with a designated speed to travel in case of Dust Storm.
- Went rafting with Tag-a-long in Moab.
Rafted down an extremely pretty (and red) part of the Colorado River.
Our guide was named Lucia but pronounced it a way one wouldn't expect.
Sadly for others in the group, but happily for me, the rapids were a bit
tame. We stopped for lunch (mmm jam sandwiches, among other things)
and then continued on. We came to a slow part of the river and we
jumped overboard and floated for a while, toes up as not to be
snared on the bottom.
- After that we went to Arches National Park.
- We saw balanced rock.
- We saw delicate arch, the arch that is on Utah's liscence plate.
It is fairly unimpressive in person.
- This next arch was in a narrow chasm filled with pink sand.
The gap was nice and cool, almost like a cave.
There was actually a pseudo-path going up on the arch so you could
climb on top (whether the park service endorsed this path is
probably another story).
- We then went on a branching trail that took us to many other arches,
including this really long one (Landscape Arch). If you look closely you can see
where a big chunk fell off in 1991. (yes it was so big I had to
take 3 pictures and merge them together)
- Some of us walked out to and right under this big triple-arch
(Though it's called "Double Arch". You might have seen it in Indiana Jones).
- As we were leaving, we watched the moon rise over a mountain.
- Stayed at Moab, Utah (4376 Miles)
242 miles traveled on Day 8
On to Day 9