After Capitol Reef NP, the next stop on the “Mighty 3 of 5” tour for RC, TC, and I would be Arches National Park north of Moab. On the way however, we made a small detour to Goblin Valley State Park for a quick look-around and a short hike.

We arrived at Arches a bit before noon and only had to wait 20-30 minutes to get in, which was rather surprising. We headed to a picnic area near Balanced Rock – a very popular attraction – to find a place to eat lunch and found several unoccupied picnic tables – another surprise. Each table came with a raven that stood by ready to snatch anything that fell on the ground or was unattended for a few seconds. They are very well-adapted to tourists but ours went hungry.

After lunch we headed deeper into the park, stopping at all the viewpoints and seeing the sights that we could see without much of a walk. I think a couple days would be needed to see it all but we only had that one afternoon so the coverage was a bit superficial. Still, I felt satisfied with what I saw.

We spent the evening in Moab with dinner and a bit of walking around. Moab is kinda the center of a recreational universe and would be an interesting place to spend some time.