My Utah Vacation

I went to Utah last week for a friend’s wedding, and extended the trip so I could also go to Arches National Park. Confession: while I was looking forward to celebrating my friend Cait at her wedding and enjoying Moab for the first time, I didn’t have the same level of excitement for this vacation as I did for Hawaii.

Can you blame me? It was my first time visiting Utah during the summer, and wasn’t sure how I’d deal with the heat and crowds at Arches (which, need I remind you, is basically in the desert).

Nevertheless, it turned out to be an amazing trip, and highlighted for me how impactful people can be on a vacation. Tim (who I was traveling with for the first time) and I had already booked the trip when I reached out to my local friend Jon to let him know I’ll be in town. I told him that I was planning to go to Arches with a friend, and wanted to see if he would be free to meet up before that. To be honest I didn’t think he’d have time for more than a dinner, so I was pleasantly surprised when he said he’d take us to go to Arches along with his son-in-law Jacob.

I know Jon through his wife Kim, who I randomly met at the 2014 NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championships along with fellow BYU fans Tiffany and Macey. They were there to cheer on BYU, and I was there for some good volleyball. I had traveled there by myself, so the four of us toured around Chicago during the day between matches. After that, we would see each other once a year at either the NCAA Championships or a BYU home game. (I’ve also written before about how it’s been great to get to know their families when I’ve visited for BYU games.)

As it turned out, not only was Jon the best tour guide I could have asked for, it was also a great time to catch up and get to know Jacob. Plus, there were surprisingly few visitors when we were there (pro tip: don’t go on the weekend!), so we made the most of the 2 days we had in Moab.

At the risk of spilling the beans on Jon’s top-secret Moab itinerary for people on a tight timeline, see below for the list of places we went. I had originally only considered going to Arches due to time constraints, but am so glad I just followed Jon’s lead and didn’t ask questions.

1. Arches: Delicate Arch trail/hike (~3 miles round trip). Must get the view from the “window” right before the Arch.
2. Corona Arch (~2 miles round trip): a bigger arch than Delicate, but located south of the park, and had way fewer visitors (we saw one couple hiking at 5 pm on Thursday).
3. Dead Horse Point State Park: great sunset views by the visitor center, but also if you drive further into the park.
4. Canyonlands: Mesa Arch (<2 miles round trip, but we also explored some rock formations around the arch)
5. Arches: Windows Trail (<2 miles round trip, but also plenty of exploring available here)
6. Arches: Landscape / Double Arch, also known as the Devils Garden Trail. This can be upwards of 4 miles round trip, but we went off the beaten path to get a better view of Landscape Arch.

(Side note: definitely be careful when venturing off the trail…the desert floor is quite fragile and can be damaged even by a single footstep. We did the bulk of our exploring on bare rock.)

As you can tell from the photos I took, Utah may not be Hawaii, but it is beautiful in its own way, and I’m so grateful I got to experience it with Jon, Jacob, and Tim. It’s hard to imagine that this could have happened from meeting crazy BYU fans random people at a volleyball tournament 7 years ago, but I’m so glad I broke out of my introverted self to meet strangers while traveling by myself. It’s just another reminder of how serendipitous traveling can be, and how much people are a part of that.