Arches National Park

Friday, September 7

 

John was feeling much better today and it was a beautiful day so we headed out to Arches National Park.  After two days of rain, hail and snow everyone must  have been ready to get out  and enjoy a beautiful clear day because the park was pretty crowded. 

We watched the informational video and then headed out to explore the park.  As the name implies, Arches has a wide array of sandstone arches and  interesting rock formations.  Many of the arches and formations have been named but we had a lot of fun trying to come up with our own names for other formations.  It was like finding shapes in the clouds.    We drove along the paved road and took many of the hikes which allowed us to get up close and personal with several of the arches.  In most cases we were able to walk under and  through the arches.  The sandstone formations and buttes are seen here,  as well as other places,  however the arches are quite unique to this area.  The evolution of these formations dating back thousands of years is really interesting.  

Once again we will try to take you along on a pictorial tour ~  

Landscape Arch ~ a large chunk fell off the right side so people are no longer allowed to hike under it

Landscape Arch

the hike we took ~ that is rock not a trail

Pine Tree Arch

Pine Tree Arch ~ see John in there on the left

Pine Tree

Tunnel Arch

A different Tunnel Arch

Even the trees grow in arches

Skyline Arch

passage to Sand Dune Arch ~ see John

I always send him in first

    

Sand Dune Arch ~ it was a 'red beach' in here

Broken Arch

Delicate Arch also referred to as 'the old lady's bloomers' or 'cowboy's chaps'

Double Arch

North Window

South Window

Turret Arch

Turret Arch

Now the rock formations ~ theirs

Three Gossips

Park Avenue ~ see the Statue of Liberty on the left?

Us in New York City

Balanced Rock

Fiery Furnace

Now ours ~ do you see what we saw?  See what you would name them before you read what we said.  (these are not named by the park)

 

The Three Kings

ET

The Heart ~ (or Funny Fanny)

Elephant

The A-OK Arch

African Tribal Leader

The Hand

We're # 1





How did we do?

The camping area looked so cool we just had to take a picture.  As we scraped ice off our windshield that morning we were glad we were not camping but for future reference, it looks like it would be a blast camping among the red rocks.


And watching over all of this are beautiful snow capped The La Sal Mountains

It was a great day!