A Quiet Hike

 You know, I've kinda, unwillingly gotten used to Arches National Park being busy. 

Since the pandemic hit back in 2020 and more people were 'working from home' it also seemed to increase people's ability to travel more because as long as they had an internet connection they could 'work' from anywhere.

So the parks saw a sharp increase in visitors. To the point where Arches would be 'filled' by like 10am some days. To the point where they were like "we need to do timed entry things" 

And visiting it seemed like there were always a steady stream of people on the trails. 

It used to be where you could hike the longer hikes and barely see anyone else.

But then it became pretty common to see people even on the less common trails.

So I've unwillingly gotten used to having people all over. 

So imagine my surprise this morning when it felt like....well like the 'old days' 

Because my Daddoo and I hiked out to Dark Angel today and we left pretty early in the morning, getting to the trailhead around 830 or so. And like the parking lot wasn't crammed full. We could easily find a spot because there were plenty of spots. 

And hiking was so nice.

Like yes, there were more people on the trail to Landscape, but after that point? The people on the trail dwindled down to basically nothing. 

Like we only had like a couple of people in front of us. Maybe had a handful of people pass by us on their way back to the parking lot.

And when we reached Double O arch? 

There was NO ONE there.

Which is basically unheard of. Like usually there's always someone hanging out at the arch there. Kids playing. You have to wait to take pictures and time it so that no one is in the shot. 

But NO ONE was there. 

It was crazy.

It was awesome.

So awesome to have such a quiet trail.

I bet the primitive trail would have been even quieter than the main trail, though we just did the straight up and down version this time around as Daddoo wasn't sure how great of shape he was in as he's been recovering from various things the past few years. 

So we took the 'easier' route to get to Dark Angel and back to the parking lot.

And it was so nice to just....enjoy not having people about. To just encounter one or two people on the trail instead of a steady stream.

Admittedly by the time we finally decided to head back to the parking lot the steady stream of people had begun to arrive where we were always encountering someone. 

But the hike out?

So peaceful.

So quiet.

It was great.

I really hope it goes back to being that way.

Though honestly it may be just because we were hiking in the middle of the week lol. As last weekend was Fall Break and the park was super crowded...and I suspect this weekend will be more crowded too. 

But for the fact that with the Government Shutdown making it so that the park is open but you don't have to pay anything to enter it...having the hike be basically empty? That was nice. So nice.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi