Arches - Utah

9/11:
I feel like I spent a full day at Arches even though I was leaving the park at 2PM. I got up early and was driving inside the park when the sun came up. A great place to be at sun rise as the red rocks all start to glow. I did two hikes here. The Devils Garden loop which was 7 miles and went to a number of Arches and a lesser traveled part of the park. I also hiked into Delicate Arch which is a 3 mile rt hike up to the Arch and back. By that point it was hot so it really felt like desert hiking. Temperatures went from 60 in the AM to 90 by noon. I have been to Arches before but there is a lot there.

 At one point at Arches there was a cabin that someone lived in. It struck me that from 1200 to when the cabin was built (maybe 100-150 years ago) there was negative progress in construction. The cliff dwellings looked like you could handle a winter no problem. Well engineered below ground domes with air intake for a fire. The wood cabin had some grass insulation and I got cold in 90 degree weather just thinking about being in there on a windy winter day.

Everywhere you turn at this park there is something interesting to see.

Since I left Arches at 2PM I had time to do some driving. Maybe I am old, or maybe I am from the East but I70 west of Denver seemed crazy on this day. The speed limit is high (55-75?) and the road is windy and goes up to 11K feet. There is a long stretch of raised cement highway down by the river in a canyon area. Nice area but no where to go off of the two lanes. Luckily it happened in the other direction but there was a big accident which seemed pretty much inevitable. A truck was on its side and some cars were involved. The raised cement area was blocked. You would need to travel the wrong way on the highway a number of miles to get a tow truck in there. Traffic was backed up for 10 miles and no one was going anywhere perhaps for half a day. By the time I was up at the top of the pass I was tired from a long day but the crazy driving kept me awake better than any coffee. By this point it was raining and between dodging trucks and campers and lunatics passing me all over the place it was exciting. Oh, there is also wildlife crossing the road. In many places people were driving 80+ in the rain with Elk crossing signs every mile. If you hit an Elk I guess they just call a hearse. It would be a waste of time to send an ambulance.

Sunrise at Arches

Pictures above this one Devils garden. This is Delicate Arch hike.

And bonus pictures from phone:

Cabin

9/12:
Colorado->Kansas->Missouri
Back to humidity and cooler temperatures.

Last photo in Colorado

Yet another truck stop

9/13:
Missouri->Indiana->Kentucky
Kentucky seems really nice. Lots of trees and green. Made it to Mammoth Caves NP. Lots of deer and wild turkeys in the park. The turkeys are smaller than the ones we have in VT. Lots of hiking trails on a fair amount of land above ground. I bought a ticket for 9/14 to tour a 4 mile stretch of the caves. Stayed at a truck stop on this night.
Amazing bug noises in Kentucky. Mid summer cicada type sounds. I heard a lot of sounds I had not heard before. The area surrounding the park is rural and again very nice. Drove down a side road near the truck stop that went into an area of cattle and horse farms. Lots of green!


Thoughts on places to stay:
Truck stops - Convenient. Pull over when you are tired and there are plenty of them. Loves is the best one I found. They are all 24 hours and have food options and a convenience type store. The trucks are in one area with the buildings in the middle and the cars on the other side. Made them reasonably quiet as the cars sleep for the night while the trucks are in and out. Truck stops charge for showers and can be expensive ($10). I took a shower once at a truck stop. They do give you a clean private shower with towels so not bad. It looked like they cleaned it after every use.
Walmart - Food and open 24 hours. Decent place to be and the one I was at was quiet enough. No showers of course.
Rest Areas: Very good out west. Bathrooms open 24 hours and people use them for sleeping and seem completely safe. No showers of course.
Camp grounds: Usually about $25. Nice and all the ones I went to had clean showers and bathrooms. They can be as high as $40 depending on location and as low as $20. The first camp ground I stayed at near East Glacier in St Mary had a pool and one night they had an ice cream social. They also had a room that was open 24 hours with furniture so you could hang out if you wanted to. Camp grounds all had WiFi which was good since phone signal for most of the trip was weak at best.
Camp grounds in NP: These vary. Mesa Verde and Mammoth had showers and nicer bathrooms. Rocky Mountain had no showers and pit toilets. Being in the park is nice. At Rocky Mountain there were Elk going through the camp ground and you had great views of surrounding mountains. Since there were no showers and no food you still had to leave the park every 2-3 days. So, in general I would say a camp ground just outside the park is a better option.
Other: There is a lot of federal land out west. Canyons of the Ancients was an example and also a lot near Tetons. Free camping but no water or bathrooms so you are on your own.

In general the West is set up for camping. Lots of good options and places where you can take a shower without staying there.