Two Thousand Amazing Arches!

Having been to Arches nearly twenty years ago, I couldn’t wait to return to share the magic of this place with Skip. This gem of a national park offers a magnificent display of millions upon millions of years of the Creator’s mighty hand sculpting beauty through the power of the earth’s foundation, wind, water, and salt.

Given its current desert state, it’s hard to imagine that this part of the world was covered in salt water 29 different times over millions of years. As the water evaporated and receded through each iteration, the accumulation of the residual salt layers reached 5,000 feet. This massive wall of salt, tectonic shifts, wind, mechanical weathering, frost and acidic rainwater were the tools of the Master Architect in shaping the renown arches. Did you know there are 2,000 arches in the amazing Arches National Park? We certainly did not. We’ve learned so much at each of the Visitor Centers of these national parks.

We enjoyed the scenic drive and photo ops at various view points on day one, having arrived to the park in mid afternoon. We were struck by the massive stone formations throughout the park. A couple of our favorites were the Three Gossips and Balanced Rock.

On day two, we arrived earlier in the morning to hike before the midday heat. We first hiked to the Landscape Arch, the largest arch in the park and one of the largest arches in the world.

Next, we hiked to the North Window, South Window, and the Turret Arch. All were beautiful though swarmed with tourists. Wispy clouds added to the fun of taking photos.

We spent the afternoon hanging out in Moab, awaiting our evening adventure… a hummer sunset tour through Hells Revenge. Oh my! My eyes were closed for 80% of the trip. My right hand started cramping as I was clinging to the hand bar above the door in the middle seat. Skip sat in front with our guide and thoroughly enjoyed the thrill of the phenomenal inclines and steep downhill grades as we traversed the rock formations to an overlook of the Colorado River. Our guide, Chad, was funny and engaging and promised we were super safe; I had my doubts, but we survived. The views and the pictures he took made the trip worthwhile and one we will not forget! An incoming storm obscured the sunset but we caught just a bit of color at the end of our tour.

Next stop… We’ll be visiting the Canyonlands National park while camping at the Dead Horse Point State Park. Yes, there’s a story to that name which I will share in our next post. Hope you’ll come along for the ride!