Before we went to Arches National Park, I tried getting a camp site reserved (three weeks in advance) but was not successful! Unlike other popular National Parks in the Southwest, Arches only has one camp ground with 50 sites which gets filled up quite fast! And I had no luck even when I called that evening for any last minute cancellation... So we reached Moab town and decided to camp in the BLM campsites along the river outside the park. By the time we reached the camp ground it was dark and could not figure out which one of the 5-6 campgrounds have water and functional toilet. In the dark we could only see the sign of the first big one which said " Camp Ground full" . So decided to go to the next one and found some camp sites empty. We pitched tent in one of the spot that looked ok and close to the water! Most of the good spots were gone by then. Next morning when we woke up before the sunrise, we saw the mighty Colorado river and sheer red rocks forming formidable canyon walls on both sides of the river. Road going along the river is right outside the camp ground. You can see roads in some of the pics. The first image is taken as soon as the first light came. This camp ground do not have water and a has really stinky dry toilet for 16 campsite. Unfortunately, BLM does not do as good job in maintaining camp grounds as the National Park Service does. We packed our tent and headed towards Moab town for breakfast since we did not have much of a dinner the night before. Moab is gorgeous little town and heaven for backpackers as well as outdoor sports geeks. It boomed in mid 1970s from the uranium minings in the region. After the mine was closed, economy slowed down and became a popular spot for tourism. We decided to check out Jail House Cafe based on its review on YELP and the food was excellent! It was really a Jail House and the first court for Moab town. We had Southwestern scrambled eggs. egg hollandaise, pancakes and crepes! After the wonderful meal we headed to the park and hiked around before the temperature hit 106F. We hiked in the Park Avenue Trail and then went to see some of the arches in the park. More pics of the Hike in later post.
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