We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all of our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. ~T.S. Elliott

Moab, UT

I have a few philosophies on camping: one's wardrobe should consist of a swimsuit, tee, and shorts at maximum; one's bathing should be done in a lake or not at all; time no longer is relevant in dictating one's schedule. Therefore, my nemophilia roommate, Amy, and I took a lack approach to this camping trip. We planned it as we went along, we packed at our leisure, nobody was in a huge rush. My friend Nathan (who looked identical to Joe Dirt, mullet and handlebar stache and all) joined us in this lackadaisical weekend outing to Arches and Canyonlands. 

Amy was in charge of directions. While she had the correct directions, she failed to keep track of where we were while driving (that Wuthering Heights was just too good to put down). Nathan ended up going on a few scenic detours thanks to her enthrallment with one of the worst books ever written. Moab freaked me out. You literally go from the middle of nowhere to a mini, bustling city-thing. They have restaurants, hotels, grocery stores, all sorts of rental stores, and it’s all in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Creepiest experience ever.

It was late and frankly, I was tired from being up since 6 that morning. My whole thought on camping for this trip was to copy how the Lake Powell experience went last time: just find a random spot to plop down on. Moab is a bit smarter than Powell though and you are required to camp in designated camp sites. This was something I was not aware of. It was way too late to politely go around and ask people to share their campsites, and so we went searching for any sites that were open. However, it’s prime time camping season for Moab, so none were available. We then made the decision to go find a bike trail head and go off the side of the road and camp. We were successful in finding a spot underneath these electrical wires which buzzed all night and had the spikiest brush I've ever felt. Maybe it’s because I’m cheap or maybe it’s because I enjoy breaking the law, but every time we came up to a campsite or parking lot that required us to pay for the service, I immediately tried thinking of ways we could get out of paying or try not paying at all to see if it really was enforced. I never expressed these out loud, but I do wonder how strictly those parking lots and campsites are enforced. I’ll have to double-check one day…

Here are a few reasons why my roommate, Amy Lavonne Clark, is the absolute coolest person on the planet. Her dad’s name is Lewis Clark. She is fiercely passionate about plants. She was paid to capture pygmy rabbits last summer. She's on the BYU plant identification team. She’s had swine flu. Why is Amy the perfect person to bring along on any camping trip? Amy serves as a personal plant-life audio tour and she is a wicked trailblazer, all while being barefoot. 

The next morning we entered Arches and drove around looking at some of the arches from the road, we climbed up on Balancing Rock, and then we headed to Delicate Arch. We got there at the perfect time, it wasn’t too hot and the rocks were still cool to the touch so you could climb all over them. We saw the super intricate Indian petroglyphs, got caught behind an intense Asian family and distanced ourselves from a huge youth group. I’ve never hiked on a real trail before, I’ve always sort of made my own trails I guess. So when we came up to these hilarious rock structures called cairns, I just couldn't help but laugh. I just thought they were the funniest things because they're basically a pile of well-placed rocks. Some cairns were fancier than others, but I was a fan of the ones with the baby rock on the top. 

We hiked up to one part before delicate arch which was basically a preview which you could look through the window and see Delicate Arch from afar. That was way tight. Then we hiked the rest of the way to Delicate Arch and it was bomb. So bomb. It’s this huge arch with a massive bowl right next to it and it was illy. We climbed a few rocks next to it, took some pics, and then went down into the bowl area. Whilst there, Amy and Nathan had the idea to just go around to the other side of the bowl and climb up to the window preview of Delicate Arch where we had just been. I thought they were joking because the entire bowl is slick rock. Yes, there were footholds leading up to the window but it was still slick rock, so it seemed like an unrealistic climb. Nope. They were totally serious. And so we headed sideways inside the bowl to the other side and started climbing up the footholds to get to the window. While we were climbing, the youth group we had passed previously literally dropped four water bottles into the bowl and made this one kid go down there 4 times to retrieve them. I was impressed with the care for the environment this one young lad had. 

We then started our hike back and Amy, our fearless trailblazer and child at heart, led us up all these way fun rocks. They were fun to climb and the views were beyond ill. When we finally got back on the trail of cairns (ha ha), we ran into a mud puddle with tons of little tadpoles. I wanted a pet for the trip, and this was too good of an opportunity to pass up. So we scooped up a little friend to save him from sure doom. His name is Taddington Tadpole the Third, or Taddy for family and close friends. *4 weeks later and Taddington has gotten really big and is living comfortably in my garage.* 

We hiked to a couple more arches, but mainly we bouldered all over the place in Arches. As we were hiking to Double 0 Arch, my animal taming skills came in useful and I made friends with Felicia, the desert lizard. It doesn’t matter that I can’t catch an animal to save my life (you really need to open your fingers to be bigger than the size of the lizard), because animals love me and this was the case with Felicia. She ran and hung  out on my foot for a good while until I tried walking with her on top of it, then she scurried off and I tried to catch her and accidentally pulled off a small part of her tail. Don’t worry, we’re still BFF. 

I came to somewhat of a sad realization while we were bouldering. For some reason when I hit 20, the common sense switch turned on in my head and I realized I am no longer the fearless Rachel Schwartz I have been for so many years. I’ve never had a problem jumping over chasms or climbing to the tops of really high rocks, but at Arches I felt a little nervous a few times. Don’t think I didn’t climb to every top, go through every cave hole, etc. I did. I was not going to let my new conscience dictate my actions. But I was a bit more wary, I did take it a bit easier on myself (even though I still managed to twist my right ankle 3 times, curse weak ankles), but I still had a blast climbing up random places, going through small holes, and just being on top of the world looking at the views below. I’m glad that Amy was blazing the way and I’m glad Nathan was there too to put the added pressure on me to follow Amy’s wild paths. 

After we ate lunch at Sand Dune Arch, we decided not to repeat the night before and headed out to Horsethief and claimed a spot. It was perfect timing for finding our camp spot and driving to Canyonlands since it was now the hottest part of the day. And it was freaking hot. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to dry heat. I don’t like it. I feel like a turkey roasting in an oven, only I never get doused with any basting juices ever. There was a breeze which was wonderful, and if we had a lake to jump into it would’ve been perfect.

If you ever head to Canyonlands, you MUST see the Mesa Arch. There’s really no excuse for you not to. The hike is 1 mile roundtrip, super easy, but the arch is sick and the view is incredible. We climbed on top of the arch and hung out there until we realized we were ruining people’s pictures. It's a tiny arch with one side being perfectly safe while the other side is a ridiculous straight drop down to your death. Wicked awesome. We then went and saw the Salt Dome and some other outlooks, and then went to finish the day with a hike to the final Grand Overlook. It was unbelievable. You could see for forever and the structures just hanging out in the middle of nowhere were crazy. Amy gave me a heart-attack because we started climbing onto this one rock and as we got to the top, I saw Amy teetering on the edge and fall off. I didn’t hear her scream so I thought she was just falling forever and hadn’t died yet. That sweet Amy of mine luckily faked the whole thing. Nathan then tried to push me off a rock and that was it for my nerves for the day. 

As we were heading back to camp it was still light out and it was only 8 pm. All I wanted, more than anything in the entire world at that point in time, was an ice-cold slushie. I got vetoed and we went back to camp, slushieless. We set up camp, ate, and basically just chilled for the rest of the night. Amy got her reading and conversation desires just as she had hoped and I got the amazing star-gazing I had been longing for. The stars are honestly so unbelievable out there. There were no lights and you could see the Milky Way as clear as the moon. It was beautiful. 

Arches and Canyonlands were bomb. The views and rock formations were unique and unexplainable, the animal life was friendly, and I now can identify yucca. The dry heat is honestly not my favorite. I am no fan of the desert. Dry, heat, and dirt/sand without moisture gets old after a while. Besides that, it was way fun. We hiked over 10 miles in 1 day, and we got to boulder over a ton of rocks. All in all, a successful adventure that will last me another 10 years before I have to revisit again.

Peace and Blessings