Desert Not So Solitaire

 Desert Not So Solitaire

We were up and out early today and got to the entrance to Arches National Park at 0700. This was about 30 min before sunrise.

The entrance station was not open but there was a stream of cars entering the park. We drove to the very end of the park where we stopped at Skyline Arch. Then reversed our route back towards the entrance. The main stop was at Windows Arches area. Since no pups are allowed on trails this was a parking lot pullout visit.

We did make a stop at the Visitors Center and got our passport stamped. Sadly the exhibits were not open just the gift area. The only park personnel I saw were a couple VIP’s (Volunteer’s In the Park) helping people with information.   

Eventually we left the park as about 200 cars were in line to enter.  Later in the day as we drove by at 1255 the park had reached it’s capacity and the gates were closed.

We the drove Utah Hwy 128 into the BLM area, a beautiful canyon headed to the Red Cliffs Lodge. This is a really kewl place where they have a museum dedicated to all the classic western movies filmed in the area. Basically name a movie John Wayne, Ben Johnson, etc etc were in and it was filmed in that area. The lodge was great and the front desk staff were most gracious. This is the kind of place I would like to return to and spend a couple days.


From there we headed to an area of petroglyphs located in a canyon on the way to Potash, Utah. 

Yes, after visiting this area I want to reread “Desert Solitaire”. 


Here are a few pictures form the day.