WATER

 It's not often you have that "We're gonna die!" moment but today sure felt like that.

So there we were, driving back from looking at some Petroglyphs up at Sego Canyon, headed back to Moab where we could see the heavy clouds of a storm coming towards us. Ones that indicated that rain was coming. 

Which there was quite the thunderstorm this morning that woke me up with how loud the thunder was....but we managed to overall do all the 'fun activities' between the rainstorms.

Now though, we were heading right back into one.

Not usually a big deal since it's just rain.

But there was a slight concern because even from a distance the rain looked....heavy. 

Like you could see the wall of water approaching.

And by the time we reached the canyon just before you reach Arches National Park....we got hit with a deluge.

Like Rain so heavy that even with the wipers going at full force you couldn't really see what was in front of you because the rain was so thick.

I was halfway convinced we were going to die or crash because it was so loud, Daddoo--who was driving--- couldn't hear me telling him to GET OVER behind other cars where at least I could see their red lights and he was still going pretty fast I was like "SLOW DOWN MOVE OVER SLOW DOWN"

And we drove through what was the beginning of like a flash flood/mud crossing over the highway too which I could barely see that we were driving through it before Daddoo had plowed through it with the car...which we were lucky because they ended up briefly closing the canyon later on. I'm guessing because of how heavy the rain was and I'm guessing the water crossing the road had gotten deeper and faster and wider. 

In any case.

We made it through down the canyon and to the Entrance of Arches where the weather had rain and hail mixed together but also it was raining heavy enough that we could see waterfalls on the cliffs. So braving the crazy we drove up into the park to see the waterfalls there and it was AWESOME. Especially around the 3 gossips area. 

But also kinda stressful because there was lightening and thunder all around so there was always the thought whenever I stepped out of the car--because I was on the wrong side of the car to get pictures by just rolling down my window- of ''hope I don't get hit by lightening" because some of that sounded so close.

Not deafening but it's always stressful to see the lightening flashing from the corner of your eye. 

Still. A fun experience overall that we don't often get to see when visiting the park. So yay waterfalls!

Until you next find these words;
i'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Quiet Hike

 You know, I've kinda, unwillingly gotten used to Arches National Park being busy. 

Since the pandemic hit back in 2020 and more people were 'working from home' it also seemed to increase people's ability to travel more because as long as they had an internet connection they could 'work' from anywhere.

So the parks saw a sharp increase in visitors. To the point where Arches would be 'filled' by like 10am some days. To the point where they were like "we need to do timed entry things" 

And visiting it seemed like there were always a steady stream of people on the trails. 

It used to be where you could hike the longer hikes and barely see anyone else.

But then it became pretty common to see people even on the less common trails.

So I've unwillingly gotten used to having people all over. 

So imagine my surprise this morning when it felt like....well like the 'old days' 

Because my Daddoo and I hiked out to Dark Angel today and we left pretty early in the morning, getting to the trailhead around 830 or so. And like the parking lot wasn't crammed full. We could easily find a spot because there were plenty of spots. 

And hiking was so nice.

Like yes, there were more people on the trail to Landscape, but after that point? The people on the trail dwindled down to basically nothing. 

Like we only had like a couple of people in front of us. Maybe had a handful of people pass by us on their way back to the parking lot.

And when we reached Double O arch? 

There was NO ONE there.

Which is basically unheard of. Like usually there's always someone hanging out at the arch there. Kids playing. You have to wait to take pictures and time it so that no one is in the shot. 

But NO ONE was there. 

It was crazy.

It was awesome.

So awesome to have such a quiet trail.

I bet the primitive trail would have been even quieter than the main trail, though we just did the straight up and down version this time around as Daddoo wasn't sure how great of shape he was in as he's been recovering from various things the past few years. 

So we took the 'easier' route to get to Dark Angel and back to the parking lot.

And it was so nice to just....enjoy not having people about. To just encounter one or two people on the trail instead of a steady stream.

Admittedly by the time we finally decided to head back to the parking lot the steady stream of people had begun to arrive where we were always encountering someone. 

But the hike out?

So peaceful.

So quiet.

It was great.

I really hope it goes back to being that way.

Though honestly it may be just because we were hiking in the middle of the week lol. As last weekend was Fall Break and the park was super crowded...and I suspect this weekend will be more crowded too. 

But for the fact that with the Government Shutdown making it so that the park is open but you don't have to pay anything to enter it...having the hike be basically empty? That was nice. So nice.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Side Quest

 So Utah had this quest start earlier in the month. A Pin Quest.

Where there are 10 pins related to important aspects of the park that you could go to certain places -museums and the like- to collect for free.

And the people who put it on were rather smart because they gave each pin multiple locations you could pick them up at. So that it would hopefully give more people an easier time to reach more of the pins without having to drive through the entire state to get them.

And while there were a good handful of locations located relatively close to me, I ended up being a bit too busy with work and exhausted after work to venture there. 

Plus considering when they did the Pin Quest earlier in the Summer and it 'sold out' within 48 hours....I had no idea how quickly pins would go.

But. Here in the Moab area, Utah Raptor State Park -which became a State Park just this spring, was one of the locations that had one of the pins.

And with it being in a more out of the way location....I thought there might be a chance there would still be a pin there. 

Hard to say with Fall Break this past weekend....but still. It was worth a shot to go check it out.

Which I stated I wanted to go look at Raptor State Park but didn't say WHY I wanted to go there beyond wanting to go there.

Because I figured the moment I said "I want to see if I could get a free pin there." 

It would be more than likely that there would be no pins at all.

So best to check it out and ask quietly if the pins were there and if they were great! And if they weren't oh well at least I didn't disappoint anyone else but myself and could still enjoy the place otherwise. 

BUT!

They DID have the pins!

So ha!!

So I got 1/10 pins. XD lol. And it will probably be the only pin I will get from the pin quest unless they do another release of it in the spring or something.

But still. Nice to have a bit of success.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Shopping Ever Shopping

 Shopping in Tourist Towns is always an experience because like...you never really shop they same town twice. There are, of course, stores that have been there in business since before you were born that are like staples to the touristy shopping experience, but then there's the rest of the shopping area where there's shops that you literally go to once and by the time you're there next time...they're gone and replaced by another store. Some may last a year or two longer....but yah....there's always shifting trends and changing store fronts in tourist towns.

Like there used to be more crystal rock shops here in Utah, you could find like two or three that sold just rocks...now there's just one, the oldest one that's been there since before you're born. While the rest are gone and the other stores maybe just have a tiny section. 

And even the staple shops have changed a bit. Like rearranging the insides some areas are more crowded others are less crowded.

And I'm sure the stupid Tariffs are affecting some of it. But the rest? Who knows. It could be changing trends it could be changing owners, it could be a variety of things.

But it is interesting just what you find and don't find every time you come into a tourist town, especially if ti's one that you visit basically every year. Like is this one store still there? Are there any new stores that have opened?

It's kinda fun. But also kinda frustrating. Especially when it feels like things are trending to being more expensive and 'fancy' rather than down and dirty. Though it does depend on the store you walk into I suppose.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Helping Hand

 I do have to say, that I'm really impressed with my niblings on how well they've done with hiking on this trip. 

For not knowing how well they would do and worrying that they wouldn't do ANY hiking. It's been Soo gratifying to see them being willing to actually walk with us on the trails. 

Especially with them being under 3 years old. It's nice that they just want to walk with you.

Though it is a much slower hike walking with them and convincing them to not stop and pick up the rocks or play with the sand or sticks....they've overall taken to it pretty well.

Today we did our last hike with the niblings which was to Landscape Arch. 

A nice short hike with a path that's pretty flat so that people of all ages and capabilities can at least make it to the Arch.

The goal?  To get to the Arch and let the babies play in the plentiful sand there for a while while the rest of us who wanted to be a bit more proactive hiked up the steeper part to the arches up above Landscape. Partition Arch and Navajo Arch. 

It was a great mellow day. 

The babies had the time of their life playing in the sand. The older adults who didn't want to clamber all over the rocks enjoyed sitting there watching the babies play and the rest of us who wanted to climb and mess around climbed and messed around for a couple of hours before we headed back out.

It was great. 

What was also fun was like....how many people I helped today?

Like, I had ventured away from the group as everyone was getting settled to get more pictures of Landscape Arch from a slightly different angle and I'd overheard some other hikers/tourists talking about the trails and such so I chimed in with some information I knew since I've been hiking these trails since I was a baby basically....and it kinda steamrolled from there lol I had a few people asking me about conditions of the trails, what the best time to hike is, what routes are good, if it's worth it to go out to Dark Angel.

It was nice to be a bit of a guide for a bit to them. Give them some help and such.

But the more memorable moment was back in the Visitor Center gift shop.

As I have sensitive hearing, and even though I was halfway back in the shop and there were a ton of other people around, I heard a woman up front ask the Cashier up there if they had any pictures of Dark Angel for sale because she hadn't been able to take her own picture because her husband had had her turn back at Double O so she was hoping to get a picture in the gift shop.

Unfortunately Dark Angel...despite seemingly more popular this go around from how often I heard people talking about it...isn't that popular of an attraction as 99.5% of people turn back at Double O and don't go all the way out to Dark Angel.

BUT. Since I've been there a million times....just not there yet this trip...and because I never seem to delete photos from my phone. I was able to quickly pull up a picture I'd taken of Dark Angel on a previous trip a few years ago and tracked down the woman in the shop and asked her "Hey, were you looking for a picture of Dark Angel? I have this one here on my phone I can text you if you want?"

And she did want lol. So I was able to make her day by texting her a picture of Dark Angel. So yay!!! :D 

It was for sure a feel good moment and I was glad to be able to help out so many people today. :D 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

New Adventures

 Today was the day I was more nervous for on our Family Vacation as it was our first Family Vacation since all the babies had been born. So we haven't done any vacations with everyone together in like...3 years or so. 

And with it being a hiking vacation....

I was nervous but excited to see how it would go.

Because it's Arches National Park. My Favorite Place in the world to go on vacation. And I really wanted my baby niblings to have a good enough time here that their parents -my siblings- would be willing to do this sort of vacation again. 

But it was totally unknown how said baby niblings would react to the hiking...or how the parents would react to hiking either with various life events going on and such. 

Like two of my baby niblings have been to Arches before. But they were babies. They weren't even walking yet.

Now they were old enough to walk about on their own if they so desired.

And it was going to be unknown how they would do. If they would want to walk. Or if they would prefer to be carried by their parents in the baby backpacks the entire time. If they would be happy or if they would cry.

So we started out easy. 

With the Windows Section. Where all the Arches are RIGHT THERE and the cars are also RIGHT THERE so that if there were any issues we could turn right around if needed. 

Plus it would allow the parents and the grandparents to gauge their own energy levels on how well they would do with longer hikes than the windows area.

Which really. The kiddos did quite well. The youngest nibling was content to be in the baby backpacks the entire time and the older baby niblings loved to wander around and walk with us.

Lol it was weird that they wanted to hold my hand while walking so I couldn't do quite as many picture as I usually do since I had a hand full. 

But overall they were quite happy to be wandering around and walking and looking about.

They're not quite old enough yet to trust to climb and clamber all over the rocks on their own, but I did really love how my niblings seemed to love being out and about.

It was a good enough experience that we decided to attempted Delicate Arch that evening. 

Which, while it's not a long hike...it is a steep hike with a huge sandstone slab you have to clamber up for a good half mile or so. It's a lung burster for sure...but way more easy to do in the current 60-70 degree weather than when I attempted to do it at the end of September last year when it was 95 degrees out. Yeesh. That was HOT.

The niblings all ended up in their respective baby backpacks for that hike. We let them walk for the first little bit but they were tired and dragging their feet enough the parents decided to just put them in the backpacks so we could move faster....as we were kinda racing the sun to get up to Delicate Arch before sunset and hopefully back down before it got dark.

Heh...we failed on the 'before dark' part as the sun was quite set by the time we all made it down to the parking lot again.

But the babies again did really well on the hike and the adults also did really well on the hike, much better than most of the were expecting.

So overall a success!!!

And we were able to end the day on a high note by driving to a darker spot in the park away from the cars and actually were able to see Comet Lemon!!! 

I'd brought it up as a possibility to look for since Arches is a really good dark zone and I was right! I was great to see the comet but also to see all the stars and the milky way that you can't usually see as well when closer to the city.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

What Do You Mean Meet At A Specific Time?

 With the frustrations I've been experiencing this past week with work and my coworkers...it's kinda no surprise that it carried over into my vacation just a tiny bit.

And really the frustrations just stem from little miscommunications. 

Where plans are talked about and one person thinks the details are one way and another thinks the details are another way and plans get messed up a bit because no one was on the same page like we thought we were.

Like due to the stress of work I'd given myself permission to just...sleep in. 

There was no set timeline to meet in Moab for our Family Vacation today so I gave myself permission to just rest my body and wake up when I woke up and I would get down to the city when I got down there to meet up with everyone. 

Which meant that I actually didn't wake up until nearly 10 and didn't really end up leaving until closer to Noon because getting up and moving and packing took a bit longer than I had planned.

As I'd originally thought I'd be leaving around 9 or 10...but I was more tired than I realized because I slept in so long.

Still not a big deal. One of my siblings wasn't leaving until 11ish anyways either so it wasn't like I was that far behind....and I was still going to be early as it turns out they were leaving later than expected too closer to 1 instead.

So I figured it would be a nice mellow drive down and I could meet up with family that was already there and chill and enjoy the time while waiting for everyone else.

Only to be told like halfway down that the original plan was to meet at 2pm so we could have lunch at my Daddoo's favorite place. 

And I was like ??? since WHEN?

Because I knew that we were going to eat at the favorite place when everyone met up.

But did not recall there ever being a TIME connected to it. It was more of a nebulous "We'll eat there once everyone gets here." 

Plus like I wouldn't be getting down there until AFTER 2 because I had no idea I'd need to be down there by that time.

So plans had to be adjusted to account for everyone's expected arrival.

But it just left me feeling wrong footed and frustrated because like....I try to be on time to things and with the frustrations of plans not going to plan this past few days at work to already have our Moab Trip plans going off the rails was even more frustrating. I just wanted to have a good time and relax with family.

Like I knew things weren't going to go fully to plan. We have multiple families with kids meeting together with various different needs so most of our plans were vague anyway. But still. It's stressful to realize you've thrown off someone's plan. Especially when it's like there was no communication that THAT WAS the plan.

Like I said. We got it figured out. Switched things around and such.

But it was frustrating. And not at all how I wanted to start this vacation.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi