Fall Break 2025- Utah Road Trip (Part 4)

The next morning we packed up and checked out of the hotel in Moab. We planned to spend the day exploring the Island in The Sky district of Canyonlands National Park and then drive to Capitol Reef. 

This is our 22nd National Park

We stopped at the first overlook, Shafer Trail ViewPoint and it was gorgeous. We spent a while exploring and hiking around. 

 

Next we did the short hike to Mesa Arch. It's a really pretty arch with a view through the center. 

This park had the most gorgeous viewpoints and we drove through the island in the sky portion and stopped at a lot of them.

We also had a picnic at a really gorgeous spot. We took out from Sweet Cravings Bakery two days in a row and it was the perfect picnic lunch.

Next was Grand View Point Overlook. This is the southernmost end of the Island in the Sky District (as far as you can drive).

We also hiked the short Upheaval Dome trail to see where a meteorite hit. The landscape was really cool to see. 

After exploring the park, we drove about 2.5 hours to Capitol Reef National Park. We drove in right before dark and took a picture at the entrance sign. Our 23rd National Park. 

We drove the road through the park to get to our hotel, but planned to really explore the park the next day. We checked into the Capitol Reef Resort and had the best view right outside our door. 

We ate dinner across the street at the Rim Rock Restaurant and then went to bed early.

Fall Break 2025- Utah Road Trip (Part 3)

The next morning was raining again, so we took our time getting into Arches National Park. We decided to drive to the back of the park and start there to try and wait out the rain.

We hiked the 2.5 mile hike to Landscape Arch, Tunnel Arch and Pine Tree Arch. It rained for most of the hike, but stopped towards the end. 

Landscape Arch is the longest natural arch in North America. Pieces of the arch have been falling off, so it will be interesting to see how long it lasts!

Tunnel Arch

Pine Tree Arch

She is always doing cartwheels and handstands :)

Our second hike of the day was to Sand Dune Arch. It's a short walk from the parking area.

From Sand Dune Arch we walked about 1.5 miles roundtrip to Broken Arch.

Next we headed to the windows section of the park. It is the most popular section of the park. We stopped at Double Arch first, which is the tallest arch in the park. It's only about a half mile walk from the parking lot. 

Next we walked to windows and Turret Arch. Caitie and Conor loved climbing up into the windows.

Gorgeous view through the window

Can you spot Caitie with Turret Arch? So tiny! It really was amazing to be surrounded by all of these enormous arches!

Next our list was Delicate Arch. I was really looking forward to hiking to this arch. It's the most well known and its really pretty. It's a 3 mile round trip moderate to strenuous hike with 480 feet of elevation. It was definitely a difficult hike, but really worth it. It was so amazing to see in person!

The sun started to set as we left the park and it lit up the rocks in such a beautiful color. 

Sunset in national parks are my absolute favorite time. We were blasting music and singing and having a great time.

It was raining heavily every time we entered the park, so we finally got our National Park photo on the way out. This is park #21 for all of us!

The kids were tired and wanted to stay in for dinner, so Michael and I picked up Mcdonalds for them and then we headed to Josie Wyatts Steakhouse, which was the restaurant at our hotel. We walked over 15 miles this day and really saw some amazing arches. It was a great day.