Gateway, Summer, 2019, FINAL

Day Two | A Day in the Slow Lane
Exploring Arches National Park
I
step out of our warm camper van into
crisp autumn air and the dim light
of dawn. The smell of woodsmoke,
coffee and bacon drifts from a nearby
camp. The sides of the van are tattooed
in swirling, interconnected ferns of frost,
the picnic table wears a peach-fuzz layer
of it.
I start a pan of water heating on our
camp stove for coffee and oatmeal, then
walk down the frost-covered sandy trail
to the river. The edges of the river are
frozen, the ice thin as layers of Baklava.
My wife and daughter are still sleeping
snugly in the van.
After about seven minutes of river-watching
meditation I return to camp
where I find the coffee water boiling,
and pour some into my mug and stir in
some instant coffee. I carry my coffee
back down the trail toward the river and
a short ways down the trail I find a flat
rock on which I sit and watch the morning
come to life. A few minutes later sun
rises over the cliff wall and begins to
warm our little camp, much like the hot
coffee warms the cold cup I hold in my
hands while I watch the Colorado River
roll by. A nice
way to start the
day.
I hear the
door of the van
slide open about
the time I finish
my coffee, and
hear my wife and
daughter’s voices
as they step
out into the brisk,
October morning.
We eat breakfast,
pack our camp
chairs and stove
into the rear of the van and drive the
short distance to Arches National Park,
where we will spend the morning and
early afternoon introducing our daughter
to one of America’s great treasures.
The park takes its name because more
than 2,000 sandstone arches exist within
its borders. It was originally designated
a national monument in 1929, and
re-designated as
a national park
in 1971. Some
of the park’s
most famous features
include Balanced
Rock, Delicate
Arch, Double
Arch, The Organ,
Landscape
Arch, the Three
Gossips, and Double
O Arch. The
road leading into
the interior of the
park passes many
of the park’s famous features – such as
Balanced Rock, The Organ and Double
Arch – but the majority of the arches can
only be accessed by footpath.
We make frequent stops as we progress
deeper into the park, stopping in
some place to take photos and other
places to walk and
run and explore.
The first place
where we stop and
get out, and let Roo
run ahead and lead
the way, is Balanced
Rock, where
we spent 30 minutes
circumnavigating
the famous rock
feature at the pace of
a curious (read: easily
distracted by lizards,
chipmunks and
flowers) three year
old. Our next stop is at Fiery Furnace, a
wonderful little stop with trails that reach
like peavines over the sand dunes, along
cliff walls and into shady alcoves and
canyons.
Our daughter climbs onto a sand dune
spine and down its other side and leads
us into a shady alcove that’s home to junipers,
silver sagebrush, narrow-leaf
yucca, Brigham
team and prickly
pear cactus. Yesterday,
the weather
was overcast and
chilly, but today we
have clear, sunny
skies with temperatures
in the 70s. It’s
an absolutely perfect
day for exploring.
I quite enjoy exploring
at a threeyear-olds
pace. It
consists of numerous
stops, and looking around in wonder
at the new and amazing world. Hiking
with a three-year-old involves lots of
touching, feeling, smelling and full-sensory
engagement with the natural world.
The word itinerary does not exist for
a three year old. She picks dried juniper
gum off a juniper trees, she finds a
stick lying on the ground and spends 10
minutes using it to draw lines, circles
and strange designs on the surface of the
sand.
Although the word itinerary isn’t in
a three-year-old’s vocabulary, the word
`cookies’ is, and we use it to entice our
daughter that it’s time to return to the
Wandervan and eat lunch. My wife and
daughter claim one of Devil’s Garden’s
picnic tables while I retrieve sandwich
makings and cookies from the van’s
mini-fridge.
During lunch, Roo bites her cheese
slice into the approximation of a coyote
silhouette. “I love coyote cheese,” she
says.
After lunch we get back into the Wandervan
and drive deeper into the park.
20 Gateway to Canyon Country