Epic Summer 2021 Road Trip - June 13-Green River UT Day 2

Still up at 2:36am so spent an hour catching up on writing this travelogue. Slept terribly. Got up at 7:30am, went to breakfast at 8. Breakfast was simple and delicious. Here is what it sounded like:

Green River UT River Rock Inn B&B Patio.m4a

Left for Arches around 8:45pm, got there at about 9:20pm. 78F when I left and 84F upon arrival. The park was full and they were turning people away. First drowsy drive of the trip. I went home and took a nap. Had lunch at the Tamarisk again which was delicious again. I went back to the motel and unsuccessfully tried to nap between 2:30pm and 4pm.

Talll roadside sign for Tamarisk Restauarant in Green River Utah

Green River UT Tamarisk Restaurant.m4a

Got up at 3:45pm, went back to Arches and got in this time. Spent about 2 hours driving around and taking pictures. The sun was super intense and harsh so I had trouble seeing my camera screens. I tried my best to get some good images anyway. I got a few. I couldn’t really do any walking around because it was too hot so I didn’t see that many actual arches, but I did see some amazing rock formations. If I had to describe Arches as a mash-up, I would say it’s a combination of the Painted Hills, the Badlands, the Grand Canyon and a set from the Mandalorian. It is other-worldly.

Wide angle view of giant orange hillside with striated rocks and deep blue sky in Arches National Park near Moab Utah Tall spire-like orange rock structure jutting towas a deep blue sky Grey-green ssgrbtush in the foreground with large orange rock formations in the distant background Hillside with repeating orange rock structures that look like many people's heads against a deep blue cloudless sky

There was also what looked to be a massive fire in the mountains to the west of the park. It was so enormous that is was hard to capture the scale of it. Enormous.

Photo of enormous wildfire burining in the distant moutnains as seen from Arches National Park near Moab Utah

It was 109F at 6:30pm at Arches so I decided to pack it in and go to Moab to get some food. I hit the co-op which was appropriately groovy and full of hippy-type people. I saw a couple of Oregon products there, including chocolate and cheese.

On my way back from Moab, I decided to call my friend who consults for the National Parks Service to ask his ideas for which parks I should hit while on this vision quest. Left a voicemail. Dad also sent his suggestions for sites with indigenous peoples’ dwellings and petroglyphs accompanied by some of his and Mom’s photos.

Got back to the motel around 8pm where it was only 100F at 8pm.

x Fingers hlding watch face in foreground showing 8:02pm with car temperature gauge in background showing 100F Vegan peanut butter and chocolate mousse from food co-op in Moab Utah
Ate some of the food I bought at the Moab co-op. Now it’s time for bed. Breakfast is at 7am tomorrow. I’m hoping to get an earlier start and maybe beat some of the park traffic.