Arches National Park

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A R C H E S

N A T I O N A L   P A R K

I know that’s not an arch in the picture above, but that’s the general scenery throughout the park.

Arches National Park was built in the 1880s by the work of a single man, John Muir.  It was destroyed by a massive fire in the 1920s and rebuilt by the CCC in the mid-1930s.  Arches continue to be built to this day, and the older, more fragile ones continue to fall.  If you believe any of that, you’ve got issues.

From the Arches National Park website, Arches National Park preserves over 2,000 natural sandstone arches, like the world-famous Delicate Arch, as well as many other unusual rock formations. In some areas, the forces of nature have exposed millions of years of geologic history. The extraordinary features of the park create a landscape of contrasting colors, landforms and textures that is unlike any other in the world. 

The park is smaller than many other national parks.  It features a main road that’s about 18 miles long and it gets you to most of the places you want to go.  There are a number of hikes you can do, from the 7.2-mile Devils Garden Trail to the 3-mile roundtrip to the Delicate Arch.  You could spend a few hours or a few days here.  For those who don’t care to sleep outside, the town of Moab is located just outside the park.  It’s actually a nice town with plenty of hotel space and places to eat.  It has a resort town feel to it and reminded me of Banff in Canada.

When I got there, I hit up the Devils Garden Trail.  Here are a few of the shots:

Tunnel Arch.

Pine Tree Arch.

Partition Arch.

I had to go back to Partition Arch for this shot.

Up close you don’t notice the second arch.

Dark Angel.

Balanced Rock.

A R C H E S   N A T I O N A L   P A R K

U T A H

Tunnel Arch from a distance.  You can see a second arch in this picture.

Landscape Arch.

After Landscape Arch, the trail gets significant more

difficult to both hike and navigate.

Stacks of rocks like this are suppose to guide you.

And they do, as long as kids don’t knock ‘em down.

Navajo Arch provided some much needed shaded.

But, there was no breeze in there.

Double O Arch, not to be confused with Double Arch.

Part of the hike back up.  On the way in, I went up something like this multiple times and then had to come back down because it was the wrong way.  My GPS tracker helped me get back...along with the 6-year old French kid whose “Papa” could not keep up with him.  Somehow, he knew exactly where he was going.

Other sights around the park:

Balanced Rock.

Skyline Arch.

Sand Dune Arch.

Broken Arch would have been another good one to go to, but I was still recovering and didn’t make the trek.

The park is full of unusual formations.  I think this was the Parade of Elephants.

The Fiery Furnace.  You can hike through it with a permit and a Ranger.

Delicate Arch.  This is not the preferred view but I couldn’t make the hike.

A reason to go back!

The Garden of Eden.

Turret Arch.

The North and South Windows.

The South Window.

The North Window.

Underside the North Window...how long will it be there?

Double Arch.

How did they know I was coming?

The Courthouse Towers.

Suspected site of an old arch.

Arches do fall here.  There used to be a “Wall Arch”.  It was there one day, and when the first group went to hike it the next, it was gone.