Hiking Freedom: Jim's Backpacking and Camping Blog: Arches National Park 5/28/12

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Arches National Park 5/28/12

I had been to Arches two other times in the last few years so I decided to go to some sections that I hadn't gone to before: the Landscape Arch in the Devil's Garden and the Delicate Arch. There were a lot of people hiking, especially college-aged people.

The Devil's Garden has a one mile hike to the Landscape Arch through lots of rock fins. It reminded me of Garden of the Gods.

Landscape Arch

The Landscape Arch is pretty impressive. I think it is as long as a football field. They say large pieces have been falling off it and they expect it will completely fall soon. Double O Arch was another 1.2 miles and it wasn't that impressive, not worth the climb and hike out there. One arch on top of another one..

Double O Arch

For the Delicate Arch, I was tired after 4.4 miles so I walked a mile or so roundtrip to the closest 'viewpoint' to see the Delicate Arch across a canyon. I'll have to walk up to it next trip.

Delicate Arch

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Backpacking and Camping

The first camping trip I went on was with the Cub Scouts. My troop took a Father & Son trip up in the mountains. My father borrowed or rented a tent, cots and sleeping bags. I don't remember much but a indian tribe was doing one of their ceremonies on the other side of the river until late in the night.

My second trip was a camping/fishing trip with one of my friends from church.

I didn't camp again until my ex-wife talked about them camping as a family when she was a kid. We lived in East TX at the time and it was hot and humid during the summer. We tried to camp but it wasn't that enjoyable. When we moved to Colorado, that all changed. We have camped a lot over the years as a family with a few backpacking trips (I have lots of pictures posted on FaceBook). Now I'm starting to backpack alone.

After having a significant back surgery in 2008, I have found that bearing even 14 lbs on my back while hiking long distances bothers my lower back. I now pack my light bulky items in a Gossamer Gear RikSak (2.1 oz and less than 3 lbs with all the bulky items) and the remaining 11 lbs in a MountainSmith Daylight lumbar pack. The combination of the RikSak and Daylight are less than a pound. I'm hoping to find a cuben fiber alternative to the Daylight and get it down closer to 4 oz.