Date: 2/4/22
Training Day: 61
Miles: ?
Weather: High 30s/low 40s

How It Felt: The short hike to Delicate Arch felt waaaay harder than it should have. Like I’ve never worked out a day in my life hard.

Commentary: Last night we left Idaho Falls around 7pm. We got to our home for the night, a BLM dispersed camping area outside of Moab at 2:30am. As soon as we turned off the highway onto the dirt road my husband picked the first site. We woke up with views of the highway, but also views of the mountains and desert. So much better than waking up at home.

Because we got in late, we started our day a wee later than we normally would on an adventure day. That meant there would be people. And by people, I mean folks all over Arches National Park. It didn’t matter that it was a Friday, national parks always seem to be busy these days.

On a trip to the Philippines my sister told me, “Yes, Christina, there are other people in this world.” Her and I weren’t seeing eye to eye at the time, so this comment annoyed. And when I’m trying to get away from people by losing myself in the beauty of nature, I obviously don’t want to be around people.

Instead of being grumpy about people, we decided to be tourists for the day. When we decide to be tourists that means we embrace the touristy crowds. We did a few short hikes, including the hike to Delicate Arch, which had a neat pictograph panel along the way. There were a bunch of people, and yes, some did annoy the crap out of me, but I tried to change my perspective.

For instance, the ”gangsta” teenagers listening to shitty rap on their phone speaker made me want to turn around, and we just started our hike. Then I told myself that although 1) their music sucks and 2) they shouldn’t be listening to it on a speaker while on a trail, at least they were outside and on a hike.

Anyway, for some reason the uphill on the way to Delicate Arch kicked my ass. I had to stop partway up an ascent. I honestly felt like I didn’t have enough energy to make it to the top. It’s like that feeling I had when I tried to do a 100-mile bike ride on Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park, but I wasn’t prepared at all, and on the uphills I went so slow I thought I might tip over on my bike.

Just two weeks ago I felt fucking fantastic! I have no idea what’s going on, but I plan to go mostly vegan again just in case it’s the culprit. I have been eating a lot of meat lately, and I’ve been feeling super tired and sluggish. Last year when I went vegan, I felt great, so I’m hoping that will happen again.

Back to adventuring… Well, kind of adventuring. When I was planning this trip, I started looking at restaurants in Moab. Most of the higher rated ones were food trucks, and I discovered Moab has a food truck park! One particular food truck, Tacos Mi Preferida, had amazing ratings and pictures. After touristing in Arches, we went to the food truck park to find all the trucks closed. Sad panda. Thankfully my husband went on the Google and found out this food truck wasn’t in the park!

Maybe it’s because we were famished, or maybe the tacos, quesadilla and asada fries were really that good. But we devoured our food until it felt like we might explode. My husband ended up in a food coma and took a nap as soon as we found a home for the night. We both decided we needed to go back on Saturday after our hike.

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