Fisher Towers sunrise

While in Moab you have to go to Arches National Park.  While at Arches National Park you have to go to Delicate Arch.  If you are going to go to Delicate Arch you might as well pick one of the two golden hour times.  Sunset was out because, due to construction in the park in 2017, you must be out of the park by 7pm.  Plus, sunset is the most popular time anyway and the website recommends sunrise as a much less popular time but no less spectacular.  So I set my sights on this prize and convince the boys to get up early with me on this adventure.

We wake at oh-dark-hundred hours, the butt crack o’ dawn….we load in the truck and are off.  We’re looking carefully for the turnoff to Arches so as not to miss it in the dark when we come upon hundreds of wicked bright lights like you see at night time construction sites.  “Wow, they don’t want you to miss the entrance” I exclaim.  But as we turn into the park we are met by “ROAD CLOSED” signs.  I’m sitting there dumb founded when a pickup truck from the other side of the sign approaches and out jumps a big, rough, hairy construction dude who comes over to our window and in an Alvin the Chipmunk voice says, “sorry folks, park’s closed.”  No kidding, this guy’s voice did NOT match his looks!!  I was pretty miffed.  Nowhere on the web site did it mention that the park didn’t open until 7:00am, only that it closed at 7:00pm.  It didn’t help that I was reading Desert Solitaire and had just read Abbey’s compelling argument against paved roads and private vehicles in our national parks.  I was about ready to go home and Caden says, “well, is there somewhere else we can go?”  Good question!  We ask Google for best sunrise hikes in Moab and up pops Fisher Towers…our plan B!!

We arrive at the trailhead and it is still really dark and we didn’t bring lights.  We let our eyes adjust and start hiking.  The weather was perfect for hiking; not hot, not cold, still and silent.  As we walked, the landscape around us began to emerge from the darkness.  The vastness of the valley, the height of the towers, the wrinkles and holes in the rocks, the green desert flora starkly contrasted against the dark red sandstone.  It was pretty mesmerizing.

At about 7:00am we found a place for the boys to set up their cameras for a timelapse of the sunrise.  While they set up I poured myself a cup of coffee and sipped it slowly while taking it all in.  We shared some beef jerky and then hiked a little further up the trail while the cameras did their work.  It was a pretty cloudy morning but it still made for some really great timelapse videos.  Here is Dacen’s video…

And here is Caden’s video…

I’m not sure what Delicate Arch would have been like that morning, but Fisher Towers was amazing.  All 3 of us agreed that it more than exceeded our expectations.  Here are a few of the pictures I snapped along the way.