We discovered that although they are only twelve miles apart, Island in the Sky and The Needles - the two sections of Canyonlands National Park - actually require two hours of driving to get between them, so we decided to save The Needles for a future trip. We drove about half an hour to Island in the Sky. We headed straight to Upheaval Dome, where we crushed what was supposed to be a 1.5-hour hike in 45 minutes. The giant hole in the ground that we saw was likely caused by a crater, though geologists aren’t sure. The colors and the view were spectacular, and we were shocked that our phones began to ring through with texts at the top, something we weren’t used to during our national park days. We drove all the way in to the park to Grand View Point Overlook, where we started what was described as an easy two-mile hike but felt infinitely longer and a bit more challenging due to the gradual climb. It was pretty amazing with canyon views of what looks like another planet. Arielle did a great job of navigating the trail by the stone block markets, though she was convinced it continued past the cliff we reached to provide a round-trip route. Thoroughly exhausted, we drove to one last hike at Mesa Arch, which we were told by a ranger in Arches was as stunning as Delicate Arch. At first we didn’t think so, but we ultimately appreciated the view it offers of the valley below through its archway, and the hike to get there really wasn’t anything to complain about, though it was a little more slippery and sandy than we had encountered thus far.
We left the park and began our drive to our next Utah National Park: Capitol Reef. Trying to save data by turning our GPS off on long drives failed us for the first time as we missed a turn, accidentally adding 25 minutes to our drive, which was not a big deal but annoying nonetheless. We called our hotel, the Capitol Reef Resort, and were a bit concerned when we found out that there were wagons and teepees as room options, but were rewassured that we had a traditional, albeit exterior-facing, hotel room, which is not usually our preference, but certainly was in this case! When we arrived, we were very pleased at what we found, which was a beautiful room in a perfectly nice looking motel that was right off the main road. After checking in, Arielle brought her computer with her as we drove five minutes down the road to the Saddlery, a steakhouse and bar, which looked like a warehouse from the outside, but was carpeted and looked a little like a casino from the inside. It was relatively empty and peaceful. Arielle ordered the only vegetarian entree on the menu - a cheese quesadilla - and Abe got a baseball steak, something he had seen on a few menus over the past few weeks and felt like trying. Both dishes were great, though the focus of the meal was much more on Arielle finishing event details due that evening.
We drove a few minutes back to the hotel, worked like crazy to meet the deadline, and got to the pool a whopping fifteen minutes before it closed, only to find it being closed up already. The staff, however, were very nice and graciously reopened for us (they have preemptively closed it early) and we got to enjoy ten minutes in the huge outdoor pool gazing up at the stars, which was an incredible experience. We then got our s’mores kit from the Ridgeline and walked out to behind some of the rooms near where the cool-looking wagons and teepees were located. We enjoyed freshly-roasted s’mores as the wind picked up and we had a bonfire all to ourselves. It wasn’t as early as we had planned to go to sleep, but we still turned in on the early side so that we could take advantage of an early start the next day.
Approximate number of miles covered: 217
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