BEST Hike in Arches National Park | Devil's Garden | Full Time RV Living

The mission today is 8 miles and 8 arches. Can we do it? What do you think? I sure hope so. It's going to get hot. So we are in Arches National Park on the grand opener of May 29th, 2020. And we are going to attempt to do an 8 mile round loop that shows 8 of the arches. 8 of the 2,000 arches. Yeah, 2,000. And we'll see what happens today. It's going to be close to 100 degrees and it's 830 in the morning. So I'm a little worried about our time and the heat because yesterday we spent all day in the RV at BLM Land about 6 miles from here. And it was atrocious. We were just sweating. Just sitting in sweat pools. Yeah, that was pretty bad all day long. So we are going to hit these 8 arches up. That is the goal today. And we're going to bring you along with us. Ready babes? Ready. Number one on the list. Tunnel Arch. Well, we were going to read off an informational plaque to get some stats on this bad boy, but nothing to be found. So Chris, we're going to have to have you ad lib something. This tunnel arch was created by water erosion many, many years ago. And it gets its name, the Tunnel Arch, from its appearance of a tunnel that you can drive through. You could probably fit a good sized vehicle through that. Looks pretty big from down here. It's the tunnel to cloud nine. Thank you for that informative speech. On to number two. We're nailing this. We're good at this. What's number two? Uh, a pine tree. Two down, and we are on our way to the next group, which is three arches, Landscape, Partition, and Navajo. And we got, I think, about a mile jaunt in between. The first two were really close, and we're making good time. Yeah, we knocked out two right away, so it's like we already completed 25% of our mission. And then the next cluster of three. It's nice to get them in clusters. We have a lot of walking ahead of us. We do. If anybody's wondering about the trail itself so far, it's a hard-packed dirt. It almost feels like concrete, but very hard-packed, very safe, sturdy ground. I'd still want my trail shoes on, though. Yeah. All it takes is one slick spot. Yep. And a good portion of this is on the Primitive Trail, so that's going to be quite a bit different than this main trail that we're on. Are we taking the Primitive Trail? Yeah. That one goes to the right? Looks like all the arches are to the left. Yeah, it loops back around. Ah, so we're going to do the whole loop. Ooh, that's pretty. Is that rain? Our BLM land is literally on the outskirts of this national park here. It's so unbelievable. The free land that you can stay out. And the views are not quite as stunning because you're not in the middle of it, but just as beautiful because you can see it from far away. You know it's right there. Yeah. We are going to take the main trail so that we can see Landscape Arch, which is where we are, partition Navajo. It's 1.1 miles to Double Arch, then to Dark Angel, and then if we have some gas in our tanks, we're going to take the long trail back, which is only an extra mile. So the story with the Landscape Arch, this just dropped, crumbled in 1991. The visitors here thought it was thunder in the background, but it was the rock falling. And so ever since then, the trail underneath the arch has been closed because they need to make sure that the formation is solid before they let people go under it again. That does not look solid at all. Well, actually, signs point to yes, it's solid because it hasn't fallen since then. That was, what, 30? Your facts seem to be getting a little more factual. What happened? There may have been an information board on this one. These look like horse corrals. Load them in. This is why it's nice to go to these parks when nobody's here, so that they don't actually have to corral us in these horse corrals. This is where they close the trail off for all the falling debris. Yeah, your nice paved road is gone. Yes, this is where the hiking shoes and hiking boots come into play. Look at that spider monkey move. Don't film that. I only get my graceful shots. Be careful though. Wow. Yeah, it feels like protected yet open. Look at our little tree right in the middle of it. Cool. Another little breathtaking viewpoint before we hit Double O Arch. These mountains have just been screaming our name the whole two weeks we've been out here. Yeah, we've been here since, what, two Mondays ago? So like 12 days ago we've been out here just boondocking right outside of these national parks. And I frankly just don't get Double O Arch. It's double arches, but only a single O. What do you think? When you point it out, I see that. Yeah, it's not a double O. Oh, funny, now it is a double O. We stand corrected. Yeah, you get a little closer and there's the little O down there. Just a little baby O. That didn't look like an O at all from up top. That's funny. Cool arch, I like it. Nice. So that arch was the sixth arch. We have two left to go, which is good because when we get to the last one we get to enjoy our delicious bubbly water, which sounds pretty good right about now. Yeah, I'm thirsty. We're making pretty good time. It's 1030, so it's been two hours. And I have no idea our mileage. Do you, Chris? Yeah, we're almost at four. Almost four miles? Yeah. So, not too bad. Three and a half to four, somewhere in there. Yeah, it's a great hike, too. The terrain is kind of all over the place from that nice paved kind of trail to the sand to a lot of this rock. Some good elevation changes. Yeah, I think I saw around a thousand feet elevation change. It was a good hike. Yeah, this part does feel like the hoodoos. Yeah, very reminiscent of Bryce National Park up there. Only a little bit of it, though. It's beautiful. So, because we didn't read the map very well, we thought Dark Angel was an arch. But it's not. It's just a big, dark angel. So, that's what we thought would be the eighth arch? Seventh, and then there's one more after this. Oh. So, we're seeing seven arches and one Dark Angel. Yeah, I'm still going to call this... Don't you dare call it an arch. Arch Angel. Do you see it? Not yet. Might be around the corner here. Ooh. Oh. Wow, it's living up to its name. This is the only arch that we've been to by ourselves. This is super private. So, at the very end... No, in the middle of the loop, this trail starts and then goes right about a quarter mile, third of a mile into the middle of the whole loop. So, it's very secluded. Very private. This one was the prettiest walk. Yeah, it was a very cool walk. This last stretch. Well, number eight. Number eight, we made it. We made it. Let's go have our little bubbly water treat up top here. Yeah, I'm thirsty. Wow. This has got to be one of my top hikes. It's amazing. I don't know, they keep getting better. I think I like Peek-A-Boo better than this. Peek-A-Boo was cool, but this is pretty cool too. Yeah. Help me out back there. Still cold. So, we like to bring a little can of bubbly water with these thermoses, and it actually keeps it pretty cold to the touch for a couple hours. And, it tastes pretty good at the end of a hike. Even though we're only in the middle of it. We originally bought these for cold beer at the pool when we lived in apartments. And, it's one of our few apartment items that transferred to van life. Cheers. Halfway done with the hike. I think we're more than halfway. Yeah, it's only two and a half, three miles back. Ah. Well, I think we're going to end this little video here, because we're going to sit and enjoy our water and our salami. And then we're going to hike back. We're going to hightail it back. And then we're going to make lunch, and then we're going to go drive to see Delicate Arch. Yeah, we're going to keep in the park a little bit, drive, and see some more. How far did we get, boss? 8.75 miles, 21,000 steps. Nice. That day's work. That backside primitive trail was beautiful. It was awesome. It was a great hike. It's day one, too. Ready? Off in the distance, a creature urinating. Trying to find the perfect shrub.