I slept Wednesday night at a motel in Green River from 9:30pm to 5:45am Thursday morning. From Green River, my intention was to take I-15 a short distance to UT-191, which would take me down the west side of Arches National Park to its entrance at the south end.
Perhaps it was during one of those five-minute one-mph passes on I-15 that I missed seeing my exit. In any case, when the next exit of consequence showed as UT-128, I checked my map and realized my mistake. Fortunately, UT-128 goes down the east side of Arches along the Colorado River. So not only was it a valid alternate route, but it was a fun, pretty alternate route.
I had a reserved camping spot, so I could head straight for the first
hike of the day, to Delicate Arch. Despite its popularity, this was a
"primitive" trail, meaning that you had to follow the ducks (cairns)
to find the path. This would become an Arches theme.
On a short spur was a view of pictoglyphs on a boulder. These are
historic, not prehistoric. One clue that they're not so old is that
they show a man riding a horse, which didn't happen until Europeans
arrived.
Delicate Arch
Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Distance: 3.0 miles
Ascent: 480 feet
Water: 0.25 liters
