A Little Moar Moab

Since it’s now just over 3 months since the Moab trip, I figured I should put up a few more photos. Wouldn’t want to go too fast with this stuff, you know.

One of the important lessons from our first day in Moab is that the desert is hot. Startling, I know. Thankfully, Arches is open 24 hours a day, so we decided to head out early in the morning to avoid the heat. Also because our incredible dedication as photographers made us willing to forgo sleep in order to get good light. Yeah, that’s it, dedication.

So that’s how we ended up in the park at 5:30 AM. Which was actually worth, both from photographic and thermal perspectives.

We even got some clouds, which is good for the photos. Otherwise those skies get to be pretty dull looking.

And the cool temperatures led to a moderately happy Wendy, which is conducive to a good trip. Note that the misfocus here is entirely my fault. It turns out that autofocus works remarkably poorly when the idjit behind the camera has turned it off. I know, almost as startling an insight as “The desert is hot.” I’m full of them.

After we were done with sunrise we had scheduled a tour through The Fiery Furnace, one of the more remote parts of the park. It’s a confusing maze of rock passageways. The park rangers are very tired of people getting lost in there, so they strongly encourage you to take a tour group in there.

It’s probably my favorite area of the park overall. It’s a bit like the slot canyons I hiked last summer, but shorter and less intimidating. If you’re in the area I’d recommend it.

The main path is pretty tame, but there are some fun little scrambles off to the sides. I thought they looked fun; the guide commented that I could do what I wanted, but he wasn’t obligated to carry me out. So of course I climbed them. That’s my leg at the bottom of the photo there, looking 30 or 40 feet down. Some teenager kept following after me – I think he didn’t want to be shown up. I’m such a bad influence.

Amazingly enough we even got Wendy to do some climbing. Usually she doesn’t like dropoffs, but something got into her. I think it was the threat of leaving her behind, lost in the maze. But it might also have been the promise of a cooler full of ice water waiting back in the van.

 

More photos…