8 Days and 3,900 Miles through the American Southwest |
Days 1 - 2 Gig Harbor Washington to Arches National Park Utah This trip originally started out during the spring as a weekend trip to a drag race in Boise Idaho, then in the beginning of summer changed to a trip to Salt Lake City Utah, just too see what it is like there, and by the time that we left it became something much, much more. Day 1; Thursday, August 11th: My best friend Ryan and I left my house at around 6:00 PM, on a Thursday. We made one stop in Pendleton Oregon for gas, and drove straight to Boise Idaho from there. We arrived at the outskirts of Boise at 2:30 am had the privilege of spending the night in the truck me in the cab and Ryan took advantage of the bed of the truck. Day 2; Friday, August 12th: We got up bright and early and drove through Idaho and on into Utah. The scenery stayed pretty much the same till the Salt Lake City area where the mountains started to become more noticeable. We arrived in the outskirts of Salt Lake City, around lunch time and Ryan was a bit disappointed when we missed an exit with a Wendy's off of it. However unlike Washington this was no problem, as there seemed to be too many Wendy's to count in the area. After easily finding another Wendy's, we were on the road again, and took highway 6 across the mountains toward our destination for the day; Arches National Park. Above: The Salt Lake City area. Below: The view from highway 6 as it heads through the mountains. We dodged a nasty looking rainstorm while cross the Unitas Mountains and just got a few sprinkles in the area around Price, and the next stop would be Arches National Park in the southern part of the state. Above Looking up a canyon in the Unitas Mountains. We arrived at Arches in the evening to find all of the camp grounds full, but thanks to the help of a park ranger at the visitor center we still were able to find a place to camp just outside of the park on the Colorado River. Above: Me at the entrance of Arches National Park (Left); and the road traveling through the park (Right). Below: Some more photos of Arches, including a roadside Arch. (Note most arches in the park require some hiking to get to. Below: Looking through Pine Arch (Left); Some desert scenery in the park (Right) Below: The Mighty Muddy Colorado River from our camp spot (Left); Me with a cool neat rock formation in the background (Right). End of Day 2: Continue to Day 3 For more information on Arches National Park please click on the picture below. |
