Arches National Park

Onward to Arches National Park! This park had probably the coolest geological formations...basically a TON of arches! The hiking here was also the easiest. Almost everything was flat packed ground and nothing too dangerous, which was a bit of a relief after the Capitol Reef hike we chose.

The three gossips (left) and sheep rock (right).

The kids at Balancing Rock.

The first hike we did was to Delicate Arch (3.2 miles). We weren't planning to attempt this with the kids, but when I looked it up, it was a lower elevation than Cassidy Arch, smaller vertical climb, and less dangerous terrain, so we decided to go for it.

I'm so glad we did, because the payoff was very cool. The hike itself was fine.

We stopped for a snack near the arch.

Then back down. Eleanor and I took a detour to see the petroglyphs and Wolfe cabin.

Then we were off to Landscape Arch - an easy and accessible 2 mile hike and apparently the biggest arch in the world.

I took a quick detour to see Tunnel Arch (first picture) and Pine Tree Arch.

Then caught back up...

Landscape Arch was very cool.

Eleanor kept everyone motivated on the way back by doing "airplane runs" and "narwahl runs"

Then we headed to Sand Dune Arch - a very short but cool hike.

As you may be able to tell, the kids loved this one for the scramble/climbing element.

The actual arch:

In this picture you can very distantly see Broken Arch on the very far right.

Then we headed over to Double Arch.

This one was just a cool/fun one to see.

Turret Arch:

One of the Windows (there are two). 

We all loved Arches - it was just a really fun park. The hiking wasn't too challenging but the kids loved all the opportunities to scramble, climb, fit in fun nooks and crannies and slots, and see some unique stuff. Overall I feel like we explored this park pretty thoroughly and had a great time!