Arches Celebrates Birthday, Named Family-Friendly Park

Arches National Park celebrates its birthday today. The iconic landscape found within the park was originally designated as a National Monument on April 12, 1929. It was redesignated as a National Park on November 12, 1971.

Arches is named as one of the top 10 national parks for families in a new ranking by familyvacationcritic.com. Bryce Canyon also makes that top 10 list. Here is the full list:

10 Best National Parks for Families

• Yosemite National Park
• Grand Canyon National Park
• Bryce Canyon National Park
• Arches National Park
• Rocky Mountain National Park
• Yellowstone National Park
• Theodore Roosevelt National Park
• Voyageurs National Park
• Shenandoah National Park
• Acadia National Park

Remember, entrance fees at US National Park properties will be waived during National Park Week, April 22-26.

New Advanced Bike Trail

In other news from the Moab area, the new Captain Ahab bike trail is winning fans. Pinkbike.com has this fun review of the trail.

Captain Ahab is a classic new-school Moab trail being about views, contours, rock-benched singletrack and exquisite route-finding. As a trail builder and a rider I was probably even more stoked about the building part of the video than the riding; giggling like a kid when I saw the trail crew pry out 600 pound sandstone rocks. I knew I had to find out more about Captain Ahab so caught up with Tyson who gave me a run-down on how the trail came to be.

This video by Tyson Swasey (Poison Spider Bike Shop) captures the excitement of the trail.

Captain Ahab Trail from Tyson Swasey on Vimeo.