My first time to the Arches National Park in eastern Utah left me really thirsty. It was super fun going with my in-laws, wife and baby, but I kept seeing all of this amazing terrain that I wanted to explore more but couldn’t because of time and company. So I told myself that I was coming back as soon as I could. My good friend Eric Martinez had just finished grad school in London and was back in Salt Lake looking for work. I reached out and asked if he wanted to just go for it a couple days later and he was completely on board so we planned a 2 day one night trip out to Moab to hit up Arches, Canyonlands, and Dead Horse State Park. 

One thing that I found really interesting at Arches was an area called the Fiery Furnace. Basically a series of corridors and passes that you can get lost in if you don’t have a guide. You also need a special permit in order to go without getting a fine, and they only hand out a limited number of those. I was intrigued. Our second morning we got up and left around 6 am and hiked up to Delicate Arch so that Eric could get a look at that without any crowds there. It was pretty cool being the first people there. Funny enough, a couple showed up shortly after us and asked Eric if he could take a picture of them, and when he took the picture, the guy got down on one knee and proposed. After taking in Delicate Arch, we hurried back down to the Rangers Station to snatch up some Fiery Furnace permits. 

We got our paws on those permits and were off to the races. The Fiery Furnace did not disappoint one bit. They recommend first timers going with a guide, but we declined and chose to go by ourself. The risk is that you can get lost very easily once inside, but Eric and I intentionally got lost every chance we got. We followed the recommended path in reverse, and took every wrong turn we could so that we wouldn’t miss anything. It was pure heaven for me to be able to spend the whole afternoon exploring all of the little cracks and corridors of the Fiery Furnace. Found out about halfway in that Eric was actually a little bit claustrophobic, but he was a good sport, and I never noticed him getting too anxious in some of the more awkward narrow sections. Our legs were burning, but we had so much fun and I can’t wait to get back there and show it off with more friends. 

Canyonlands and Dead Horse were also really great, but not as immersive. The vistas and views were spectacular, but it didn’t feel like we were really exploring as much. I’ve included some shots from both days. Eric was a really great travel companion, and if you make it through all of these pics, you’ll become really familiar with the back of his head.