2022 Moab + Colorado Trip (Part 1)

This year we found ourselves going west again to Moab, Utah and then we circle around to Estes Park for the second half of our trip before we headed home.

I let David plan the entire trip and it was so nice to not have to do anything and let him deal with the logistics this time around. David really wanted to go to Moab because they have some of the best trails for jeeping. Canyonlands National Park and Arches National Park are also nearby, so we never were at a loss of things to do!

We arrived Saturday afternoon, and after grabbing some lunch, and then stopping at our Airbnb to unload our jeep, we headed out to Arches for a quick drive through that late afternoon. We visited the Double Arches before heading back for the night.

Our second day in Moab we went to Salt Flats Recreation Area and drove the Finns and Things jeep trail. This was the first jeep trail we’ve ever done and we did pretty well I think. We met up with two other Bronco drivers along the way.

Our third day, we headed out to the Top of the World jeep trail. This trail was rated as hard, and being that we hadn’t done this before we decided to have a guide for this. We liked this trail a lot. We had the trail all to ourselves, and the reward at the top of the trail was magnificent.

The fourth day we decided to give the jeep a bit of of a break and let our feet do the work! We went to Canyonlands National Park. I had done a little bit of research on my Alltrails app, and picked out two trails I wanted to do. The first one we did, I knew would probably be the most crowded so we did it first and that was the Mesa Arch Trail. I loved the view from the end of this trail and the arch that was there! Although there were people around, it wasn’t as crowded as what I’m used to at other national parks (such as Zion), so the lack of heavy crowds was a nice change!

Mesa Arch trail was a pretty quick trail so after that we decided to go to the second trail I had picked out. This one took a little bit of time for us to find as it wasn’t labeled on the park map as the same thing that was in my AllTrails app, and service in the park was spotty so it took awhile for me to be able to get a signal for the AllTrails app to load directions, but we finally got it to work. We did the White Rim Overlook Trail, and gosh did we love this one! We were the only ones on this trail and it was so nice not having any crowds (or anyone really) around! We were able to just enjoy the trail and nature, and when we got to the overlook at the end of the trail, we were able to take our time and I could take as many pictures as I want and just enjoy the view without being in anyone else’s way or pictures. I loved that this trail was so empty.

Our fifth day we went to Arches National Park. I really wanted to do some hiking and I had a list of trails I wanted to do. We started the morning at The Windows and I loved it. It was so peaceful and beautiful in the morning. Then I headed to Sand Dune Arch and Broken Arch.

While I was hiking, David was studying the park map and he found a jeep trail that is located in the park, so when I got back from the above trails, we headed to the jeep trail. It was pretty deserted and we only saw two other cars on the trail. By the time we got back, both David and I were starving so we left the park and grabbed some lunch. Then I went back to the park for some afternoon hiking for the last few trails I wanted to do. I did the Landscape Arch Trail…by this time of day, it was pretty warm out. I found all of the hikes enjoyable, but the sun was unforgiving and there was very little shade out there. I didn’t bring my camera with me to Landscape Arch so here’s a cell phone picture.