Devils Garden Primitive Loop (Arches National Park)

Devils Garden Primitive Loop
Arches National Park

• Trailhead Location: Devils Garden Trailhead

(Latitude, Longitude: 38.783179, -109.594930)

• Payoff Factor: 4

(1 being “A complete waste of time and energy”, 5 being “The payoff is definitely worth the effort“)

• Difficulty Factor: 2 (only a couple difficult sections with some exposure to heights)

1 being your Grandma can do this hike, 5 being you’ll feel like your Grandma when this hike is over)

• Length (Distance): 7.4 miles round-trip
• Length (Time): 3.5 - 5 hours (with stops at all arches)
• Cumulative Elevation Gain: 1,100 feet (5,160 lowest, 5,487 highest)

Keep your eyes open for wildlife, like this snake slithering back into his hole!

Ignore our tired faces! At this point, we had been hiking non-stop for a week and it was super early in the morning (to beat the crowds!)

Trip Report:

This was our favorite hike in Arches National Park and in the general area of Moab, Utah.  There are amazing sites to see at regular intervals (which is great for my ADD) and interesting routes that take you along the spine of slickrock fins with mesmerizing pinnacles and endless interesting rock gardens in all directions.  Make it a point to get to the trailhead just after sunset as there were literally over 100 people starting the hike when we finished around 10:30 a.m.  Had we started around that time, it wouldn’t have been worth it to hike the loop although I imagine that most people turn around and return to their vehicles after viewing the Landscape Arch.

As with all hikes in the desert, there is minimal shade and maximal sunlight, so bring plenty of water (around 3 Liters per person) and apply sunscreen and/or protective clothing to shield the sunlight.

For a 7+ mile hike, there is a lot of action packed into this trail - seven named arches and one optional spur trail to a 150’ monolith named “Dark Angel”.  Once you get past Landscape Arch, you will see a NPS sign warning, “Caution, primitive trail, difficult hiking;”  maybe this is to warn the massive amount of people hiking to Landscape Arch not to venture onto the slickrock spines or fins, but the trail is not overly difficult…if you have any experience in the backcountry, do not back down - the little degree difficulty is definitely worth it!

We completed this hike in a clockwise manner with a visit to Landscape Arch first (before visiting Tunnel and Pine Tree Arches) in order to view the arch with favorable morning sunlight which makes for an amazing photographic opportunity against the vivid blue Utah sky.  This is definitely the most advisable route.

Here are the key highlights (mileage markers) for the Devils Garden Primitive Loop:

• 0.0 - Start at northwest end of parking lot and follow solid gravel path
• 0.3 - Reach the spur trail to Tunnel Arch and Pine Arch 
• 1.4 - Reach Landscape Arch and the official start point of the primitive trail
• 1.8 - Reach the spur trail for Partition Arch (0.18 miles) and Navajo Arch (0.33 miles)
• 3.1 - Traverse the narrow spine of a fin with exposure to heights on both sides
• 3.7 - Reach the Double O Arch (at trail left).  There is a spur trail that leads to Dark Angel - this trip report does not include this side trip.
• 4.1 - Reach the spur trail to Private Arch (0.5 mile round-trip)
• 5.3 - Criss-cross through the wash (sandy trail) and make the short climb up the trail for 0.2 mile to the prairie.
• 6.5 - Join up with the Devils Garden Trail that took you to Landscape Arch.
• 7.4 - Reach the parking lot after following the gravel path

Happy Trails!

- Scott

5 Things We Have Done to Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle for 5+ Years

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We've been there before. We've been tired, stressed, and frustrated. You just have to take the first step. Then keep taking steps. They add up. You can transform your life. We did. We lost over 30 pounds; Scott went from waist size of 38" to 32" and I went from a size 10 to a size 2/4 (I was a size 2 but am now a size 4 - you can read more about that here.).

When we were packing for our trip to Jackson Hole this year it really hit me...I have ski pants (one pair because I don't ski often!) that I've been able to pack for four years. I don't even try them on, I just pack them. They are pants I only wear once a year but they always fit. Always. I don't worry if they will fit or not. That is an amazing feeling. You can experience this feeling too! Stop yo-yo dieting and starting living a healthy lifestyle all year long!

5 Things We Have Done to Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle for 5+ Years

1. We are consistent, not perfect.

We are always physically active even if our workouts are not always perfect. For example, some days I'll go in the gym to do an upper body workout from our She Sweats Workout Plan but I'll end up doing legs. Sometimes I don't even do anything that I had in mind. Sometimes the gym is just there for us to go to and keep up the habit. I don't always kill my workouts. I rarely ever walk out dripping in sweat. But we go - to keep the habit - to be consistent.

We also make time for food prep. Sometimes we make every single thing we need and have a huge spread of food covering our counter and sometimes we only make a few things just to get by for a few days. However, we never skip food prep - even if that means buying rotisserie chicken and making a big batch of sweet potatoes to go with it for a few meals. Honestly, we feel like making time to prep healthy food is more important than going to the gym. 

The habit of the habit is more important than the habit itself.

2. We have hobbies that keep us active.

Our workouts are not always in the gym. Any chance we get we climb mountains. Not only is hiking a good cardio workout but it's also a much needed mental break as we prefer places that have no cell service. We also have tennis rackets (notice I didn't say "play" but we do goof off with it...Scott calls it "Whitness" because I make up my own rules) and Scott skis and plays golf. Find something that you enjoy! Remember, health and fitness is not "one size fits all" - just because your best friend lost 20 pounds and loves to run doesn't mean that you will have the same success or enjoy it!

3. We think of this as a lifestyle and not a diet.

This isn't - and has never been - a diet for us. We live this way because it keeps us healthy and able to do all of the activities we enjoy. We don't train for competitions or photo shoots. We don't train for a half marathon and then quit everything. We just live this way to feel our best. There really is no other option.

4. We do not deprive ourselves.

If we want a piece of pizza or ice cream - we eat it. We don't eat it every day or even every week but we also don't really have many things that are "off limits". We do try to get the best version of whatever we are craving - bakery items made without high fructose corn syrup, food dyes, etc and we make a lot of our own treats (have you tried our cookie dough?!). We know our limits and we don't keep junk in the house, when we indulge it is outside of the house.

5. We do not follow and/or worship "fitness celebrities".

We live our own lives. We don't often scroll through social media to "be inspired" (this usually leads to comparison which isn't good for body image). Again, this is a habit for us so we just do it. It's fine to be inspired and motivated by others but you also have to find motivation within. This WILL take time for you to do and there will still be days that you don't want to do anything but that habit will keep you going. Work on building your good habits!

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Jackson Hole, WY & West Yellowstone, MT Trip

Scott is lucky to have a job that closes for three weeks in December (because the other months of the year are crazy for them!). We try to go somewhere each year as our anniversary and Christmas present (our anniversary is December 1). Luckily, Jackson Hole has some pretty awesome ski deals this time of year too so we were able to each get a $300 flight credit and a ski free package.

We plan on touching on this more in future posts but travel is one thing that we do spend money on. We save money throughout the year so we can travel without debt. Instead of getting each other presents we choose to travel. I will also share how I pretty much paid for this entire trip by selling things a few months before the trip. It wasn't planned that I was going to do that but I just woke up one day and had different plans for things in the house. ;-) Join our email list and never miss a money saving post!

We left on December 14th and flew into Jackson Hole with a connection in Denver. Our flight was delayed and we almost missed our connecting flight but thankfully we were able to sprint through the airport (just imagine the airport rushing scene from Home Alone) and they let us on the plane! We couldn't breathe from running so fast and carrying our bags (instead of rolling them) through the "mile high" airport but we made on our connection! Once we got to Jackson we unpacked and went grocery shopping...and I snuck in a backbend picture downtown!

Jackson Whole Grocer - Scott is obsessed with this store. We ate here for every single meal except one.

We go grocery shopping every single time we travel in order to save money. While traveling, we try to only eat out once a day. We posted a few of these pictures on Instagram (so if you aren't following us there, you should!) but we wanted to share them here as well. We purchased groceries to make breakfast each morning (at least a $20 savings PER day), plus things to snack on like protein bars, Greek yogurt, and dried fruit.

Remember I said we ate at Jackson Whole Grocery for every meal except one? That one exception was Pinky G's Pizza!

Scott skied for three days and I worked (I don't downhill ski). :-) I did ski one day when we came last year but I'm over trying to make myself like skiing. I have embraced the fact that it isn't fun for me and that's okay!

Below is another picture of some of our food (all from Jackson Whole Grocer). We make healthy choices for the majority of our trip (just as we do at home) but we also eat things like pizza (above), burrito, and tacos.

On Friday we packed up and headed to West Yellowstone to visit with my cousin who moved out there a few years ago. That afternoon we went cross country skiing to a backcountry cabin where we stayed overnight. I mean, seriously, how amazing is this cabin? I am so in love with it.

We packed our snacks: Kodiak Cakes, Rise Bars, Kind Bars, and Steve's PaleoGoods jerky and dried fruit. It was quite an uneventful night, which is exactly what we wanted. The boys went back out to go skiing again and I finished reading Rich Dad Poor Dad.

The cabin didn't have any electricity so we (okay fine, the boys) had to keep the cabin warm with firewood. This picture proves that they actually really liked chopping wood.

The next morning we packed up and skied back out. After eating a rather large breakfast/lunch at Running Bear Pancake House we went back out to ski at the groomed ski trails in West Yellowstone. Honestly, I didn't even want to go but being as frugal as I am, I wanted to get as much use as possible out of the skis we rented! I am SO GLAD that I went. We had a fantastic time and my cousin captured some awesome pictures.

On Sunday we headed back to Jackson Hole for one night in order to fly out the next morning. And that is when all the fun started...on the way back to Jackson Hole the snow drifts in Idaho were pretty much out of control so we were slightly frightened the entire trip back but we made it safely and ate at Jackson Whole Grocer once we made it in town (surprised, right?). Then we went skiing again. What started out as just a small stroll turned into cross country skiing to Taggart Lake. We snowshoed to the lake last year but it was definitely a different experience skiing there! Below is a picture that Scott snapped.

We also found the house we want (just a smaller version). I have never seen anything so beautiful before!

We returned the skis (sigh) Monday morning. While we were at the store we got an alert that our flight was delayed but with the new arrival time we would still make our connecting flight. We headed to the airport after driving around town for a bit. Once we got onto the plane and they shut the door we received another text message with a new flight status. This time we would not make our connecting flight. Once we realized this we asked to get off the plane but they wouldn't let us since the door was shut. Our thinking was that we wanted to stay in Jackson instead of being stuck in Houston (where our connecting flight was). We finally landed in Houston and our connecting flight left without us. We were told to go to customer service, which we went to promptly. I'm glad we did since they closed that customer service line after us! Scott called United to see what our options were (since the line wasn't moving) and they had us booked on the 7 am flight the next morning. While Scott was on the phone with United I called Southwest because I found flights with them that left that same night. I call Southwest, book the flight, but then we couldn't find Southwest. Turns out it was a different Houston airport! So now we were stuck with NO flight home since United cancelled ours to let us fly out with Southwest. We waited to talk to the United agent and after about two hours of waiting in line and talking with manager after manager they were able to get us on a plane the next day at 9:40 am. This was a flight that one person told us was full earlier and another agent told us would be $1,000 per ticket to re-book (yes, we got two different answers). We were put in a hotel in Houston with food vouchers so we ate tacos and drank wine at midnight after finally getting in from the airport.

The next morning we took the shuttle to the airport to catch our flight. We learned once we got there at the 7 am flight (the one they re-booked us on and we canceled) was cancelled AGAIN that morning due to fog. Crazy how all that works out! I felt so bad for causing extra headaches for trying to book with Southwest but if I hadn't done that we could have had two canceled flights. The good news is we made it home - the bad news is that our bags didn't make it with us. They were delivered early the next morning but United failed to let us know they were dropped off so they sat in the rain at our front door. It's a funny story to tell now but it definitely was not funny at the time!

I can't think of any gift that would be better than a trip like this.

I'll leave you with one more beautiful picture of Jackson Hole. If you haven't been there yet, put it on your list!