When most people look forward to a national park visit or a vacation in general, there may be lots of time spent planning out the trip and booking accommodations. When my adventure buddy, Trelawney, and I head to the desert, no planning is involved. And the accommodations? It’s desert camping for us.

On this trip, we were grateful to have our friend Lisa (who we met at our summer job in Idaho) join us for some fun. Having never been camping before, Lisa got the full experience with us. While we got beautiful weather (60-70 degrees during the day), it was freezing as soon as the sun went down. To save money, we stayed on BLM land for free. But that also meant no showers or restrooms. Enter: the desert dirtbags.

All that aside, we got to enjoy a beautiful week exploring the area spending money only on groceries and gas. We were able to focus on the little things that truly make traveling magic: stargazing in the desert on a new moon, hiking to beautiful landscapes not found elsewhere, enjoying the simplicity of peanut butter and banana wraps after a strenuous morning, chatting late into the night around the campfire (especially after a summer without due to the fire ban), and having the flexibility to change plans whenever we wanted.

Devil’s Garden + Primitive Trail - Arches National Park

This trail loops several arches in the park to get in about 7 miles of hiking. This was absolutely a highlight of the trip and one of my favorite trails I’ve ever been on. While I enjoyed getting to see some of the great views on the main trail like Landscape Arch and Double O Arch, the primitive trail had us scrambling, sliding, and sometimes scooting on our butts across rock formations. Incredible views and so much fun.

Corona Arch - BLM Outside Moab

Three Friends in Front of Corona Arch — Corona Arch

This trail is actually outside the national parks, so it’s free to access. It’s a shorter hike around 3 miles, but it’s definitely a must see if you’re in the area as the hike has incredible views and is pretty fun.

Delicate Arch - Arches National Park

As this is the arch on Utah’s license plates, we obviously had to visit it. We chose to go at sunset, as did 100s of others. It’s a short, manageable hike, and if you’re prepared for the expectation of crowds, it’s a really beautiful spot. We didn’t stay too long at Delicate Arch itself, but the hike back down as the sunset was just magic. It’s the kind of beauty where it’s a diservice to even try to capture it with a phone camera. We talked so much this week about how our eyes have the ability to see layers and depth the camera just can’t catch. So in summary: come see it for yourself!

Dead Horse Point State Park

View of Colorado River at Dead Horse Point in Utah — Dead Horse Point view over the Colorado River

This is known as Utah’s “Horseshoe Bend” (which is on the Colorado River in Arizona). It wasn’t my favorite spot, but it was still neat to see and has breathtaking views of the canyons that make up Canyonlands National Park. Plus, I got the rare photo of me posing normally and not in a yoga pose.

I was said to learn the legend of how the park got its name. According to legend, cowboys would round up the horses in a natural corral here with cliffs on all edges, thousands of feet above the river, with no escape. For reasons unknown, at one time they left the horses behind and they died from thirst with the river in view but with no way to get to it. This broke my heart, but I tried not to let it put a damper on the view!

Kirsten Sitting in Front of Dead Horse Point over the Colorado River

Fisher Tower Trail + Primitive Trail

I was so grateful that Trelawney was willing to take us on this trail as this was her third time on it this year. I loved seeing the climbers, and we made a pact that one day it would be us up there climbing. The main trail was fun, and we chose to add on the extra 2 miles of the primitive trail which Trelawney had not been on yet. At first, we were hesitant with the “very difficult” rating but chose to trudge ahead as we had absolute amazing weather (around 60 degrees with a haze, meaning no beating sun in the open air). We got to hike down into the canyon, and I’d highly recommend it.

This public land has been used in many films!

On a side note, this space has apparently been used for filming several films. I haven’t seen any of these (but of course my dad has seen all but one), but it’s easy to see why a filmmaker would choose this space!

Camping on BLM Land

Out west, it’s common to find public land that you can camp on for free. This is actually pretty much what I’m doing now as I wander from place to place. We were lucky to find several amazing spots. Of course, in the end, we splurged on a motel room for a shower, a dip in the pool, and a sleep in a real bed.

BLM about 30 minutes outside of Moab. We stayed here 3 nights.

BLM land east of Arches National Park near Fisher Tower.

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Desert Dirtbags: My Trip to Moab and Arches National Park Area