We’ve been spending our time in Utah looking at wondrous geologic formations and determining what the rocks look like. Rayne saw an elephant hugging two otters. I saw a frog wearing a pirate hat. Jayden saw a turtle lounging in the sun. It’s a fun little game we’ve been playing, and if interesting rock formations are your thing, this part of Utah is definitely for you.
We’ve been camping in a town called Hanksville, where the local Hollow Mountain Store (a shop in the side of a mountain) sells shirts that read “Where the hell is Hanksville?” The shirt has it right. We’re in the middle of nowhere; however, this nowhere town is right between two major national parks. It’s an hour-and-a-half from Arches National Park, and about 45 minutes from Capitol Reef National Park.
We plan to hit Capitol Reef later in the week, but we took the drive out to Arches today. The most famous of the arches is Delicate Arch, which is even on the Utah license plate. Made of Entrada Sandstone and formed through weathering and erosion, this is the most recognizable formation in the park.
Another pretty popular formation is Double Arch, which was formed in the same way, and is a close-set pair of natural arches. To me, this was even cooler than Delicate Arch.
I also really liked North Window, and the girls enjoyed climbing up to it and sitting inside, looking out at the view below.
South Window is right down a short path from there…
If I had to pick my favorite formations in the park, I’d choose The Three Gossips and The Organ:
But there were so many beautiful formations and vistas that it’s hard to truly pick a favorite.
Though it was hot as could be and any lengthy hikes were out of the question today, it was definitely worth the 100 miles from our campsite.
On a separate day, we visited Goblin Valley State Park. This is how that happened: The girls woke up at 6 a.m. one morning and wouldn’t pipe down in the other room. We warned them several times that we were still trying to sleep, and they kept on. So, Ray decided we were going on a hike. We all got ready and headed off. We thought it would be a deterrent, something that would remind them not to wake us up at 6 in the morning, but it turned out that this was one hike that they loved – because there was lots of climbing involved.
The rock formations in Goblin Valley are technically called hoodoos (formations of mushroom-shaped pinnacles), but they look Goblin-esque (hence the name). Since it was pretty early in the day, we were met with temps in the 70s, rather than the 90s that would occur a few hours later. This made for a very pleasant adventure.
Lesson Learned: It’s not so bad to get up at the crack of dawn and discover something beautiful. It’s especially awesome if the kids can appreciate it, too!
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