Best Of Moab, Utah (Really) Arches National Park | Ep 87

Good morning from Moab. We've been here for a couple days, but this is our first day out. Pretty exciting. We are on our way to go meet with Micah. He is a professional hiking guide. He said that I'm out in Moab, and if you guys ever make your way to this area, I'd like to go show you some hikes that most people aren't gonna be able to know about and whatnot. And I said, everywhere's on our list. So we're on our way to Sand Flats Recreational Area so that we can meet up with Micah. And then we've got, well, he's got a whole bunch of stuff planned. So we're gonna drone around somewhere. Literally. Certainly gonna go do the Delicate Arch, I believe it's called. Maybe not with Micah, but he's gonna take us down into the Fiery Furnace, which apparently requires some level of permit to get in. So stay tuned. All right, we've got a new crew member, a new cast of the Keep Your Daydreaming Family. Micah, not only a driver, but also a tour guide with Hike Moab. And he's driving because I'm droning. Let me understand the area. So right now we are in Sand Flats because it's so flat and sandy. And right now we're headed to Arches, like Arches National Park. And that's where the Delicate Arch is, right? Is that kind of the most infamous arch? That's probably the most iconic arch in the world. Is it? That's the one that's on all the license plates. Okay, all right. Now where are we heading? We're going to Arches. We've got to stop by the Visitor Center to get a permit for the Fiery Furnace. Only 75 people are allowed to go through a day. This will be my 390 something time through, something like that. All right, well, maybe we'll come back when you get some experience. Yeah. That way we'll really get the truth. I hear you. This behind me is called Park Avenue. And for those of you that aren't big city fans, but love to be outdoors, you too can have your very own Park Avenue. This will be your first stop as you come in through the gates, you kind of wind through and you come across Park Avenue. And if you were not looking for like a huge hike, like if you want to go up to Arches, which is two miles up and two miles down, you could just hike one mile, not even, downhill from here and then have someone pick you up on the other end. That would be a good option. Super good option. And look at this view. It's amazing. It's really spectacular. In fact, Caleb was asking Micah on how exactly these arches like eventually fall. It soaks into the rock itself. And just the same way you see the cracks and stuff, it's that way all the way through. So over however much time it'll eventually cave. This right here, this used to be an arch. Oh yeah. You don't think it used to be a heart. I think it used to be a heart. Next, we're going to go off to the fiery furnace and the delicate arches in here. So still lots to do. Called sheep rock now. And then you got baby arch right there. That was once an arch as well. It fell, I've been told, I haven't read it, but I have been told that it fell in about 1912. The petrified sand dunes, they got named before they actually knew what they were. And that's what makes Moab unique. It's the highest concentration of fens on the planet. One of the only other areas that looks similar to this is Jordan in the Middle East. So you keep your bearings. One thing I always tell people, you see the rock that's higher than everything else right in the center? Memorize that rock, because we're going to see it from every angle, from being further down from it than we are now, to being right underneath it. So they only allow, as Mike has said, they only allow 75 people in the fiery furnace per day. And part of the reason for that is that you get a permit. I believe it costs us, well, it was $24 for the five of us-ish. I think it was like $6 a person. I think under 12 was $3. But you have to watch a 10 minute video so they can explain exactly how this living dirt works, which is called crypto- Biotic soil. Cryptobiotic soil, which is basically a- It's called Superman soil. Superman soil. I mean, it's basically living soil that kind of like coats the earth that I think keeps, what did you say? Like the wind down or the- No, it keeps the soil down so it doesn't blow away. And it's been, you're saying, alive for centuries. It can be centuries old. And so basically, if people come out here and they don't know what they're gonna step on or they don't know what they're gonna do, they could literally kill it. And I'm not imagining it's gonna come back anytime. Once you step on it, you kill it, the desert is truly dead in that spot. You're gonna see arrows kind of guiding you through where to go, but you're also gonna see some of these dead ends ahead. And when you see a dead end head like this, it's not quite a dead end. You can go in there and around the corner and then you can go up into a whole other area, kind of like an amphitheater, so to speak. And there's like the altar arch and there's a place where the boys kind of like crawled through an arch. It's super cool. So, and we haven't mentioned it, the Fiery Furnace is a non-commercially guided area. So if you want a tour, you would pay the rangers for it, or you would just take a self-guided tour. And there's about 75 that they allow in here every day. So that's why I'm giving you some of these tips that we're learning. So if you go do this on your own, you know what to do. It's the same tree. Every bit of it. You can see how this was standing up, but it's still alive. The only place this is connected to the soil is this small little spot right here. And this guy's thriving. Made a little quinoa bowl with some chicken and some black beans, corn, cilantro. And then I made a little cilantro dressing for the top. Some of the best trail food you could ever have. I don't know how anyone could actually navigate through here completely on their own. I suppose if we were really paying attention to these little white arrows kind of telling us to go right or left, we probably would have spotted them. But as I said, you can always grab a ranger for a self-guided hike. But one of the things that Micah said is that there's something that everybody does when they come to Moab, and that is plan their second visit. There's so much to do here. So we're gonna link to Micah's hiking guide company down below. So you just click the link. And they have a YouTube channel, so go check it out because you can get a bunch more information. Or reach out for hiking tours and that kind of stuff. So definitely check it out. We have been on this hike since about 10.30 and both boys are saying how awesome it is and they're not complaining. And they're like, oh, only a mile left. It's great. The furnace clearly has some psychological impact on teenage boys. Okay, we are headed over to Landscape Arch. Round two of the Arches National Park hiking tour. And the GoPro gimbal, the Karma Grip battery is dead. And the Canon battery is dead. So this particular segment or the duration of today is going to be iPhone 10 only. It's just a ordinary day until you look up around here. I know. There's 2,300 named arches in Arches National Park. Now, to be qualified as an arch, it has to be about three feet in diameter. But we are now at Landmark Arch, which looks awfully delicate, doesn't it? This is the part right up there that fell in 1991. The interesting thing about Landmark Arch is that because it has this big crack in it and because it's so delicate, it was actually named Delicate Arch. And Delicate Arch was actually named Landmark Arch. But when the topography guy was doing the little maps, he got them confused and they switched them. Whoops, that one. Check that out. Also, this hike is about less than a mile round trip. Perfectly groomed, relatively flat, very wide. Perfect if you were just looking for- Entry-level hiking at its best. That's right. Big reward, small hike, really nice. Usually the hikes we look for with the kids, but this is mile six on our hiking and we're not totally done, but let's not tell them. Blaze of Glory video. Blaze of Glory video is where, right? It's way out there. It's that big block. Oh, okay. So way out there in the distance for you Bon Jovi fans. Right there. This is the place to come. There we are with the, is this the north window? South window. This is the south window. We are at the twilight hour, the sunset. I've got a time-lapse going on over there. There's another arch over here. Everywhere you look, there's just something that will just take your breath away. Not to mention just the colors of the blue and the yellow and the clouds. So the Henry Mountains over here, Micah was saying that that would be where Lee's Ferry is in the start of Lake Powell. Just so wide open and this time of year where it's so crisp in the air. I love it. I think more people should be coming in November and December. I think it's fantastic. Crisp, meaning bring gloves. I'm wearing a sunglasses. Well, I am wearing, I am wearing gloves. It is, it is. I'm freezing. It is 30. Yes, you're big. What do you think it is? 37? It's crisp. Freezing. Oh, and this is another thing. Freezing. I got 42 here. That's all right. 42. The sun is starting to peak out over there. So we spent most of the day today, just getting work and school done and whatnot. And we knew we had to get out of the trailer by 2.30ish so that we can make our way back to Arches National Park so that we could hike up to Delicate Arch. And we've left in just enough time to get up there for the sunset. So join us on this one more hike while we're in Arches. We are summiting Moab. Just kidding, we're on our way to Delicate Arch. And it's a nice little hike. It's a little steep, but it's nice. Isn't this pretty? Yeah, it reminds me of Yosemite, but sandstone instead of granite. Yeah, it's so cool because it gets steep and you climb up this big sandstone slab and then you get into kind of like a little area where there's juniper trees and sand. Then you go up on a slab again. Absolutely gorgeous. Trish, I didn't mean to have a conversation with you. I just felt like there's just an arch between us lately. Well, I think we could build a bridge. Man, you get right into those puns. You pitch, I hit, okay? Okay, no more sports analogies. They're out. Out, okay. This arch is absolutely breathtaking. It is. It's kind of like a spiritual experience, would you say? People are sitting here, like it just almost looks like you're witnessing something amazing. People are waiting for the sun to set. Hike up here is absolutely fantastic. I thought it was gonna be like really hard because we've seen videos where everyone's like, this is so steep, it's straight uphill. Well, it was. It was straight uphill, but it was totally doable. Yeah, and it was only like a mile and a half. Just take your time, that's all. Take your time. Well, here's the thing. Anybody that you've seen do it is doing it in the summer. That's a good point. Well, hopefully not in the summer because you can get serious heat stroke, but in the spring or fall when it's still very warm. Yeah, that'd be a much different situation. Right now it's in the low 40s and I was like taking off layers. So bring layers if you come in the off season. As Mark likes to call it, crisp. But here's the thing, Micah yesterday, amazing. Micah, you are amazing. So much knowledge and you're so much fun to be with. Here's the thing. He said, if you only have one thing to do, do the fiery furnace and the fiery furnace delivered. But there's something else. I mean, you have to come up here. It's probably 45 minutes depending on your hiking ability to get up here and maybe 30 minutes down. And look at that. To see that in person is phenomenal. Tomorrow's the big day because we're going out with Micah, I believe early in the morning. And we're gonna go over to Canyonlands. We're gonna go to Dead Horse. I've seen pictures, absolutely beautiful. So Trish and I and Tori are going to get out nice early in the morning before the boys wake up and we're gonna go do morning light touring. Anyway, we're kind of excited that we get to share this sunset golden hour moment at Delicate Arch with you. I called Micah yesterday and I said, hey, how about we get out early so that we can get the sunrise and that kind of stuff. So I said, Trish, well, when's the sunrise? And she says, 7.20. I'm like, oh, perfect, it's not even early. Yeah, that's no biggie. And then Micah's like, I got the perfect place, but it's an hour away and it's a 20 minute hike. Okay, let's do it. Alrighty then. We're like, you sure? No obligation. He's like, nope, I'm here for KYD. I'm ready to go. This is your official good morning from Mesa Arch. Absolutely stunning. And the secret's out. All right, there are so many people here, but everyone here is like a legit photographer. And I'm over there setting up a GoPro. We've got National Geographic behind us. Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me. I've got a GoPro on a GorillaPod here. Step out of the way. It's a fault. Really? It was salt that was underneath. And then the land gave way underneath, like all of Moab Valley. Like I told you, the rim, like that's the other side of the rim there. All of this just fell. Okay, so let's talk about the drone real quick. Super cool. Between November and February, you can get a drone permit that will last three days for only about $10. So you can pop up to the visitor center and I paid for the drone, little permit, took a little picture of the licensing number. So now I'm gonna fire up the drone and get some awesome footage. But I think it's really cool that the state parks are starting to work with creators so that you can get the footage that we want. It's obviously not a national park, it's a state park. But nonetheless, the fact they're making that available and they're creating some procedures for drone footage, I think is pretty cool. So I'm gonna look more into other places that we can capture footage. But what's super fun is that we've got Micah with us telling us exactly where we are, what's BLM land, you can drone here, come over here. So having an inside scoop has been so awesome, not to mention getting to know the backstory for all these stories that we get to hear.