The one where we did not see Kevin Costner

Arches National Park. Moab, UT

Kevin Costner is in town filming a show. Nole and Joe met his driver yesterday (he is staying at our RV park). Unfortunately we did not run into Kevin today.

I woke up at 6am today and woke up the others in our camper at 6:30. We left the campground not long after 7:30 and were in the park about 8:00. I picked up our Junior Ranger booklets. Some of the activities at other parks require you to look for certain things on a hike and it was helpful to look through and see what we needed to do.

The visitor center has some cool bronze statues. I told the kids to pet the lizard one for good luck.

We sang “Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'” and “Good Morning, Starshine” as we drove through the park to our first trailhead. Don’t worry, no singing is in the video below, just a time lapse video of part of the drive in the park.

Here is your ten step guide to enjoying Arches.

Step 1: Reserve your entry passes ahead of time! We reserved our passes on March 1st and booked early times (8:00am) to enter the park. No fun going to the park at noon in one of the hottest places in America with little to no shade! Without passes your entry times are limited to very early morning and late evening.

Step 2: It’s the day before your visit! Go to sleep early and definitely don’t practice dance moves at 10pm.

Step 3: Don’t forget the water, sunscreen, hats, bandanas, walking shoes, snacks, first aid kit, candy to bribe your party members on ONE MORE SHORT HIKE, etc.

Step 4: Point out cool things along the way to keep the kids interested. Examples: lizards, birds, rocks…

Step 5: Stick together, don’t climb on top of arches and whatever you do, don’t walk off trail on the dirt or you will be a crust buster! A delicate crust is formed on the dirt by bacteria which helps prevent erosion so you are not allowed to go off trail into the dirt. If you step on the dirt you will break (i.e. bust) the crust!

Step 6: See the North and South Window Arches, the Turret Arch and Double Arch! Or whatever arches you want to see. These were all very close together and fairly close to the park entrance.

Step 7: Get up close and personal with the arches. Be silent and enjoy the cool rock under the arch, the gentle breeze blowing and the birds overhead. I can understand why many indigenous tribes consider this a spiritual place.

Step 8: Don’t take yourself too seriously! Take some silly pictures at Balanced Rock.

Step 8: Know your limits and take a mid-day break! We got McDonald’s for lunch and went back to the campsite for a nap and various downtime activities. The D&D game from yesterday is still going on and the girls checked out the playground and played in the sprinkler.

Step 9: Eat a big dinner! We made nachos and Snickers salad for dinner. Yum!

Step 10: Go back and hike some more without the little kids. I stayed back with the four littles (one hike was enough for me today!). They helped with dishes, played, and had a movie night while I set up beds for the others when they get back and got caught up on cleaning and organizing. Nole sent me the pictures of their hike to Delicate Arch.