I'm thankful for yet another weekend exploring the magnificent southwestern deserts with plenty of new friends through the CU Hiking Club. Our weekend was full of campsite-spotting, dirt-road driving, arch-gazing, canyon-squishing, couscous-munching weekend. It was a much needed break from piles of assignments and a looming finals week.
A mix of old and new friends and I got an early start Saturday morning to improve our chances of obtaining a permit to enter the Fiery Furnace in Arches National Park. We left our BLM campsite and arrived at the visitor's center at 8am. After waiting outside for an hour and crowding around the doors as the opening approached, we were first in line! We watched the short instructional video, and listened to the rangers explain the importance of remembering which way you came from and to avoid stepping on the biological soil crust.
We approached the Furnace by 10:00, took the trail to the right and began our descent into the maze of rock formations and the hidden "gems" of Arches NP. The rumors about Fiery Furnace are all true. It is spectacular. There are countless sandstone hoodoos, slot canyons, oddly-shaped boulders, and arches—basically a hiker's playground.
We scrambled over rocks. We slid down slickrock. We climbed on top of boulders. We found countless dead ends. We entered amphitheaters through narrow canyons. We spent around 5 hours in this natural, desert labyrinth, and probably only explored 10% of it.
Eventually we emerged from the furnace, sweaty, tired and happy, and drove back out to BLM land to find a new campsite. For my fourth time in Arches NP, I was happy to finally check the Fiery Furnace off my list.