Erik turned 8 today! He is an incredible boy, I am so lucky to be a part of his life! Erik’s birthday wish was to go to Moab. How could I deny that request?! We hit the road Friday morning, and visited the Sego Canyon rock art panels, and Sego ghost town on the way. The Sego Canyon rock art panels are very impressive. The panels span many Native American cultures, with some paintings dating back to 7000 B.C. A couple more miles up the canyon are the remnants of the mining town of Sego. There is an interesting graveyard, and a very well preserved two story rock building. Most of the other structures have collapsed. After checking into our lodgings for the weekend we headed to Arches. We had planned on going to Tower arch because it is off the beaten path, and requires four wheel drive to get there. But we were running out of daylight because we spent so much time in Sego Canyon. So we took some short hikes to Sand Dune Arch, and Broken Arch. Saturday morning found us preparing for a day on the trail. We ran the first section of Fins ‘n’ Things, then headed over to Hell’s Revenge. What a great trail! We stopped at the Colorado River overlook for lunch, and a little exploring. We explored Hunter Canyon later that evening. Hunter Canyon is a side canyon along Kane Creek Road. It is a beautiful box canyon that is approximately 2 miles long. It is a pretty flat bottom canyon, with great cottonwood trees and tons of desert flora. Approximately half a mile into the hike, way up on the side of the canyon is Hunter Arch. It is very impressive, but a little camera shy. I did my best, but was unable to capture the fullness of the arch. Sunday morning we packed up and checked out of the hotel. We headed back to Arches for some more exploring. We spent some time at the Arches National Park Visitor Center, which Erik thought was fascinating. Then we headed for the windows section, and a short hike to Double Arch. The boys like Double Arch because it is in Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade. We took the Willow Springs Road out of the park instead of heading back to the entrance. Along the way we stopped to study the dinosaur tracks, we do have a Palaeontologist in training that made sure of that. We had an incredible time celebrating Erik’s birthday. We love the desert, and can’t wait to get back for more exploring.
