Arches National Park just north of the adventure town of Moab is yet another amazing National Park in the US Midwest. By now we were almost running out of positive words to describe the US park system but Arches kept the superlatives flowing. It was awesome. It's named (of course) for it's natural sandstone arches. There's over 2000 of them. There are long narrow arches, short thick arches, double arches, newly forming arches that are just a hole in the rock and of course many fallen arches which often leave rock towers and spires that are just as magnificent to look at.
In Moab we stayed in a trailer (caravan in Australian terms) for a few days. However this was far better than any caravan we had stayed in back home. It was more like a small apartment on wheels with a kitchen as good as you would find in a house plus full bathroom and two bedrooms and a huge TV. An interesting glimpse into the trailer/r.v life that's so popular across the States.
Our first full day in Moab and Elise and Samuel were feeling a bit tired. So after lunch, I (Eric) went out on my lonesome to explore. My destination was the Devils Garden but on the way I couldn't resist quick stops at the Courthouse Towers and Balanced Rock which we would explore further when Elise and Sam were better.
The Devils Garden consists of a few very pretty square kilometres of rock. There's about 12km of trails you can follow around the garden walking the interestingly named Primitive Loop with a few side excursions to the more spectacular arches.
First stop was the gravity defying Landscape Arch, the longest in the park. It's 96 meters long but barely 3 meters wide at it's narrowest point. After a rockfall a few years ago, walking access under the arch was closed off. There's a good chance it will fall in the near future (don't ask me how long "near" is but I know impossibly slender when I see it!).
Beyond Landscape Arch the trail became rougher which deterred many of the casual walkers. The gardens of rock here were very pretty with some fun rock scrambling up a huge slab before side trips to Navajo Arch and Partition Arch
The next mile of walking was more rock hopping to the aptly named Double O Arch. There were a lot of photographers setting up here with tripods and all the gear to capture the arch during the soon to arrive photography "golden hour" late in the afternoon. Though the constant stream of people climbing through the arch made it difficult to get a human less photo. At the same time the visitors help give a sense of scale to these slightly smaller but more elegant arches.
Beyond Double O I followed the alternative route back which was recommended for experienced walkers only. It was a lovely walk, with a lot of rock hopping and cairn following but not too many exposed sections (not compared to the Grand Canyon and Zion at any rate). This part of the trail also gave some great views of the many needle like spires in this area of the park.
Back near the car park the last two arches on this particular hike, Pine Tree Arch and Tunnel Arch looked magnificent in the late afternoon light. These were "thick" arches and the rock featured some very interesting weathering. These arches were on the edge of the rock garden and were set alongside some desert scrub and sandhills which looked similar to what you would see in some deserts in Australia (minus the arches).
It was getting late by the time I returned to the car. Perfect timing to admire a few more arches in the (now) evening light. Firstly Skyline.
Then the tiny Sand Dune Arch inside a narrow rocky canyon.
Finally a few sunset photos before following the traffic jam of cars leaving the park just after sundown. What a great afternoon!
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| No arches here in Park Avenue but still plenty to see |
In Moab we stayed in a trailer (caravan in Australian terms) for a few days. However this was far better than any caravan we had stayed in back home. It was more like a small apartment on wheels with a kitchen as good as you would find in a house plus full bathroom and two bedrooms and a huge TV. An interesting glimpse into the trailer/r.v life that's so popular across the States.
Our first full day in Moab and Elise and Samuel were feeling a bit tired. So after lunch, I (Eric) went out on my lonesome to explore. My destination was the Devils Garden but on the way I couldn't resist quick stops at the Courthouse Towers and Balanced Rock which we would explore further when Elise and Sam were better.
 |
| Balanced Rock |
The Devils Garden consists of a few very pretty square kilometres of rock. There's about 12km of trails you can follow around the garden walking the interestingly named Primitive Loop with a few side excursions to the more spectacular arches.
First stop was the gravity defying Landscape Arch, the longest in the park. It's 96 meters long but barely 3 meters wide at it's narrowest point. After a rockfall a few years ago, walking access under the arch was closed off. There's a good chance it will fall in the near future (don't ask me how long "near" is but I know impossibly slender when I see it!).
Beyond Landscape Arch the trail became rougher which deterred many of the casual walkers. The gardens of rock here were very pretty with some fun rock scrambling up a huge slab before side trips to Navajo Arch and Partition Arch
The next mile of walking was more rock hopping to the aptly named Double O Arch. There were a lot of photographers setting up here with tripods and all the gear to capture the arch during the soon to arrive photography "golden hour" late in the afternoon. Though the constant stream of people climbing through the arch made it difficult to get a human less photo. At the same time the visitors help give a sense of scale to these slightly smaller but more elegant arches.
Beyond Double O I followed the alternative route back which was recommended for experienced walkers only. It was a lovely walk, with a lot of rock hopping and cairn following but not too many exposed sections (not compared to the Grand Canyon and Zion at any rate). This part of the trail also gave some great views of the many needle like spires in this area of the park.
Back near the car park the last two arches on this particular hike, Pine Tree Arch and Tunnel Arch looked magnificent in the late afternoon light. These were "thick" arches and the rock featured some very interesting weathering. These arches were on the edge of the rock garden and were set alongside some desert scrub and sandhills which looked similar to what you would see in some deserts in Australia (minus the arches).
It was getting late by the time I returned to the car. Perfect timing to admire a few more arches in the (now) evening light. Firstly Skyline.
Then the tiny Sand Dune Arch inside a narrow rocky canyon.
Finally a few sunset photos before following the traffic jam of cars leaving the park just after sundown. What a great afternoon!
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