Holy cow, Utah was hot. We were surprised that going south into Arizona provided a relief temperature-wise, but both places were beautiful and we saw some amazing sites. We spent most of our Utah time in Moab where we hung out by the Colorado River and took a few trips into Arches National Park. Because the temperatures were triple digits between 9am and 7pm we tried to explore the park early in the morning and later at night. It was considerably different hiking in the shade compared to the sun. We spent some of the middle of the days exploring the town, sitting in the air-conditioned library, and on a rafting trip. We had a guide who did all the paddling, so that was a bit less adventurous than we wanted, but it was a good first experience for the girls to see the power of a river even if the rapids were quite small. We still had fun being on the water and learning more about the area while swimming in the cold river
Photo taken by our guide Mike ----- There are 2 bald eagles in this photo
Leaving Moab, we headed to Kanab where we made our way to the Arizona border and got to visit Coyote Buttes North, aka The Wave. In the spring we entered a lottery and were awarded the opportunity to hike it (about 64 people get to hike each day). It was a tricky drive and a difficult hike - around 7 miles there and back with limited markers and plenty of heat. We started with close to 6 gallons of water and ended with about one! But reaching The Wave was amazing and it was wild to see how strange our planet can look.
After some rest, we were thrilled to go south to 70 degree temperatures at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We knew it had its own ecosystem, but getting to see how that produced a forest supporting all kinds of wildlife (like bison) was very cool. After a fair amount of canyons and geological sites, this one was definitely the largest, but felt less crazy than The Wave. That also might be because we took much easier hikes here at the canyon. We really loved seeing it from different angles, in different weather, and it marked the farthest point on the road trip as we were about 1600 miles from home.
saw lightning headed our way
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