We had a much shorter route planned for this day, compared to the day before. From Parachute, Colorado, to Moab, Utah. We also planned to visit Arches National Park, and Canyonlands if we had enough time.

Approximate time on road/out caching: 10.5 hours
Total miles driven: 264.5 mi / 425,7 km
Total cahes found: 12
Total DNF: 0
States visited: Colorado, Utah
Famous places visited: Arches National Park
Most memorable cache: GC7A71Q Stumped in Sandstone
Biggest surprise: Finding a brand new cache
Weather: Sunny (nightly rain and thunderstorm)
Highest temperature: 99°F / 37°C
Lowest temperature: 68°F / 20°C
Roadwork: Yes

A late start

Since we arrived so late yesterday, we decided to start a bit later than we had planned. After finding the cache closest to the hotel and getting some breakfast, it was time to get on the interstate. We wanted to spend as much of the day as possible in Moab.

Roadwork, again

Just as every other day on this trip, we had to drive through several construction zones today as well. Luckily for us, the next three caches we had planned (they were all in the same area), were between the construction zones, and not in any of them.

At the next cache, we found a nice little market, where we got some fruit and jerky. We didn’t have that many caches planned, so after a stop in Grand Junction, the next cache was at the border. We’ve been here before, so we’ve already found caches in all the counties.

Almost there

We stopped at a nice rest area/overlook after crossing the border to Utah, a cache that we’ve had on our list before, GC2BJN1 Lone Cedar Look Out.

While looking for GC2H36K Old School #2, in Thompson, we were approached by some lost tourists. They didn’t know where they were, and how to get where they wanted to be. We tried to help them as best as we could, and hopefully they made it to their destination.

Arches National Park

We’ve been to Arches National Park several times before, the most memorable visit was probably when we hiked up to Delicate Arch before sunrise. We didn’t have much planned for today, but we wanted to visit Landscape Arch, and hike further if we had time the heat wasn’t too bad.

We expected the traffic to be bad, due to the road work, but were pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn’t so bad. Parking was a bit more difficult than last time, but we still managed to find a spot at the trailhead for Landscape Arch.

It’s still there!

None of us know how long Landscape Arch is going to be there, but at least it’s there now.
And we got to see it again 😀

We decided it was too hot to continue, so we headed back to the car, and eventually back out of the park.

Checking out the tent

We decided to check-in at Moab Under Canvas, where we had a tent reserved. We’ve never tried Glamping before, so we wanted to see the place in daylight.

After checking in, we were taken to our tent in a golf cart. This is something completely different than the hotels we’ve stayed at this far on the trip…

Long distance FTF

We thought we had time to go to Canyonlands National Park, so we headed in that direction. When driving up to the park, I noticed a cache tagget with [Nf] on my GPSr. And that’s how I mark caches that have no found logs. And caches with no found logs can be only two things, either it’s a cache with only DNFs (this is based on the data I have in my GSAK database) or it’s a brand new cache. And this one was the latter!

It didn’t take more than a few seconds before we decided to give it a try, and turned around. We parked at what seemed to be the perfect parking spot, and almost started running up the hillside. And it didn’t take too long before we found a very clever cache. But did we find it first? Oh yes! We did! We became the FTF on GC7A71Q Stumped in Sandstone, 4720mi / 7596km away from home 😀

Pizza

We ended up not going to Canyonlands, but instead head to Moab to get some pizza. We also grabbed a cache and some supplies while there.

We enjoyed the pizza and the view from the tent. Glamping sure is nice!

Bonfire

We sat down at the bonfire to enjoy sunset, and got to make some s’mores. We also met a nice family from the Netherlands. A very nice way to end the day!

After the bonfire, the weather turned really bad. Heavy winds, rain and thunder. But it’s better to get the bad weather during the night, than during the day!

Pictures