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Despite getting up early, we didn't manage to leave the campground until 8:45 because we stopped for pancakes. There was a very tame looking rabbit hanging around the tables, probably hoping for some dropped pancake bits.
We spent the morning in Arches National Park. We somehow managed to have excellent timing. When we parked near Double Arch, we were the only vehicle in the parking area, so we got to visit the arches almost alone. Double Arch is still as spectacular as the last time I was here. The lot was almost full when we pulled out.
We then headed out to Devil's Garden, which was the area that I didn't have time for the last time I was in the park. We had a great hike in, with stops at Tunnel Arch and Pine Tree Arch, ending at Landscape Arch. This is the longest arch in the park (perhaps in the world, depending on measurement technique), and looks like it's way too thin to support that huge span. In fact, there was a major rockfall in 1991 and a couple more in 1995.
To keep to our schedule, we had to leave the park after our hike (1:02:08 from the water fountain at the entrance). We headed back to Moab and got some excellent sandwiches from a place called Love Muffins. The muffins were pretty good too.
We decided to take Utah State Route 128 out instead of retracing our path to I-70, and were well rewarded with a very scenic drive along the canyon alongside the Colorado River. There were spectacular views in every direction.
We met up with I-70 again and headed into Colorado. The scenery changed quickly from a high desert to mountains covered with conifers. There were a number of dramatic thundershowers at a distance. We got some rain, but no thunder directly above us.
In Denver, we met up with Adrienne's friend Julie and her boyfriend Mark, and had an excellent meal with great local beers at an "Eat Bar".
We had to take our leave disappointingly early in order to make it to Colorado Springs, where we had reserved a room at a bed and breakfast. It turned out to be quite difficult to find the actual place, but Foursquare knew the exact spot even though Google Maps was wrong. I need to remember to use that earlier in the process. We were finally settled there just before midnight.
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