Stop #22: Moab KOA Holiday, Moab, UT
- Denisse Storti
- Dec 2, 2023
- 5 min read
With Halloween around the corner we knew it would be best to leave the very quiet and uneventful St Danes Cabins RV campground so we started driving around to check out some of the other campsites in town that could work for us. Our goal was to find a campground that had more to offer our little ones and KOA quickly rose to the top of that list. They had Halloween activities all weekend long, including pumpkin decorating, hay rides, campfire nights with s'mores and apple cider, costume contests and trick or treating. In addition to all of this, they also have what they claim to be the biggest pool in Moab. So after a quick visit, we booked.
We checked in early on a Friday and didn't leave the campground till a few days later. We were greeted with Halloween decor and a campfire social so the kids were beyond happy. We did our set up and then joined other campers, roasting marshmallows and on a hay ride around the campground. The following day we started our day off decorating pumpkins, and soon after got ready for the costume contest. This year the kids chose Star Wars costumes
and were super excited to get into character with their Jedi and Princess Lea costumes. Since they still expect me to dress up with them, I stayed with their theme and McGiver'ed a Senator Amidala costume with things I had in our RV. In no time they will be older and wanting to go out on their own so might as well enjoy it while I can! They had several categories for the costume contest and while the kids didn't win, I took home the first prize for the adult category... even though the judges couldn't really tell who I was dressed up as. Ha! We all celebrated getting a $20 KOA gift card and then hung around for trick or treating.
Unfortunately the weather started to turn around the time we were about to start. We headed back to the RV once it started raining to see if it would pass. While the rain let up a bit it didn't entirely clear up. The kids were anxious to go trick or treating, so out we went in the cold rain. We got to most RV's that were handing out candy, some of which were beautifully decorated with hopes of winning the RV category of the contest. KOA ended up canceling the rest of the events for the evening due to the rain which was a bummer but the kids still had a great day.
On Sunday, we felt the need to venture out again however we didn't feel like hiking quite yet. With that in mind, we decided to tackle Dead Horse Point State Park with the plan of stopping at a few scenic view points. No hikes! This place reminded us a bit of Horseshoe Bend with the U shaped river down below only with more expanse canyon views. A nice adventure for a day when everyone feels like taking it easy.
While we had seen a few of the bigger attractions at Arches, I still felt like we needed a third visit in order to check off Balanced Rock and Devil's Garden. The kids had wanted to stop at Balanced Rock on our first day there but since it's one of the first attractions on the way in the parking lot was full and we were too tired to do another hike on our way out. We saw a big difference in the crowds between our first visit in mid October and this last visit on October 30th. Parking spaces were plentiful at Balanced Rock and other points of interest. While you can certainly see Balanced Rock from the road, it was still pretty neat to see it up close and climb around it. It's a 0.3 mi trail, that's super family friendly.
Now, while Devil's Garden can seem intimidating for those of us hiking with kids, don't let that keep you from visiting at all. While this is a 7.9 mi trail we decided to hike the portion towards Pine Tree Arch and Tunnel Arch which was a very easy 1mi hike out and back. The fin like formations are amazing in this area and in some spots close to the entrance you can easily walk between them. Pine Tree Arch is beautiful and it's one you can walk right under. Tunnel Arch was a bit more hard to reach... maybe you can climb up onto it, but we just admired it from the trail. If we had more time, we would've explored a bit more of Devil's Garden but we left happy knowing we didn't completely miss out.
We had Canyonlands on our 'Things to Do in Moab' list so we drove over to the Island in the Sky Visitor Center which was on the way to Dead Horse Point but didn't have time to tackle on the same day. I had done a bit of research so we had a bit of a plan regarding which things to see but with a map in hand we planned our stops a bit better. We started off driving over to Green River Overlook. The canyon and river views were outstanding. It's a must when visiting Canyonlands. We followed with a short 1 mi hike to Whale Rock which was a cool trail in the sense that we were climbing on big boulders up onto a high point with great views. Not super technical but it does require hiking over rocks and climbing at an incline on some parts. Paul challenged himself by taking a short cut along the side, while the kids and I followed the trail. Once at the top we sat down for a while to rest and take in the views. However, we didn't really see the 'whale' shape of this rock formation during any point of the hike... maybe only in a very abstract form. lol
Following Whale Rock we stopped at Orange Cliffs Overlook and Grand View Point Overlook. Of these two, Grand View Point is the one not to miss. The deep canyons cutting beautiful shapes onto the ground look like art work. Orange Cliffs Overlook also had nice cliff and canyon views but not nearly as impressive as Grand View Point. We left Mesa Arch for when we were on our way out as it was towards the park entrance. This was a shorter hike than Whale Rock at only 0.5mi along a path that was super easy to follow. This arch is not a tall one like Delicate Arch or Corona Arch but while it's low, it opens up to a big drop off on the other side and amazing views. It's somewhat like a big window out onto the canyon. This was the busiest of our different stops... maybe everyone was saving it for last?
It was Halloween day so after Mesa Arch we headed back to Moab in order to make it to the city's Trunk or Treat. The local fire station, the police, and other local businesses were present with their decorated cars handing tons of candy to attendees. We showed up a few minutes after starting time and there was already a line forming. By the time we parked and got ourselves to the entrance there was a bit of a wait which was a bit tough in the cold weather, but we pulled through and the kids left with big smiles and a ton of candy.
Moab was truly great and has so much to offer. There were other things we didn't get to like Navajo Rocks, the Giants Dinosaur Park, or white water rafting (which we figured would be better in the Summer or early fall). There were also so many more trails we could explore within Arches, as it's such a large park. Maybe we'll return!
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