The Arches National Park contains the largest concentration of natural stone arches in the world. The rocks are smooth to the touch and brilliant shades of orange and red. The Arches made without the help of man, are various shapes and sizes due to water, extreme temperatures and underground salt movement (the park sits on an underground salt bed). Between erosion and weathering new arches are being formed and old ones are being destroyed. It is astonishing to see how some of these rocks are sitting. Further down this page you will see the "Balancing Rock". The picture says it all.
We made our trek to the Visitor Center, collected our information.....Gabe's Jr. Ranger book, maps and schedule of various events and headed on our way up the mountain. A very steep drive up with lots of switchbacks, tight curves and narrow roads. Then it opened up at the top. This is what we saw.....
We parked and it was time to go climbing.........
Tina started with them.....
But after they lifted this rock she wandered off on her own.....
The boys made it pass the 1st boulder........
Close to the 2nd boulder (off to the left of picture)
Made it past the 2nd boulder to the base of the mountain!
This is the mountain they are at the base of:) Can you see them??
I found Tina!
We drove some more and found Arches out each side of the window....should of probably zoomed on this one, but you can still see it pretty clearly....
We were headed to "Balance Rock". Remember what I told you earlier......well this is it. Amazing.
It is just sitting ontop of this tower of rocks.....
Gabe is trying to hold it up!
Found a crevice to climb into
A picture of the Petrified Dunes.......
It looks like a stiff wind could blow this rock off the ledge!
The "Needles"
A view of "Delicate Arch" from an upper view point. It was a 3 mile hike to see this arch up close and take your picture underneath it. You can see the people lined up waiting, they look like ants on the horizon. We decided not to go that route and took another trail, only a mile round trip, to see the arch from the other side. It was the path less traveled and gave us a great perspective.
Our hike to get up to the view point....nice to have the stairs!
The sun was going down and we were all tired. The day got progressively warmer, when we left it was cool and overcast outside!
This little boy was worn out at the end of the day:)
Jr. Ranger Oath!
We were told by the Ranger that there was going to be a special Star Gazing event Sunday night in the park at 900pm! They were going to have Rangers stationed in certain areas with Telescopes. Why tonight? They were expecting meteorshowers!!! So they said to bring your lawn chairs, blankets and coco and join them!
We were going rafting down the Colorado River at 1100am on Sunday, great way to end the day back at the park!
I can sum up the Arches in one word, breathtaking. I really liked Canyonlands, but the Arches, I loved.
No comments:
Post a Comment