Arches National Park - Utah
July 2009 saw me heading out on a huge road trip trying to cram in more of America before we headed home. I had longed to visit Utah for as long as I could remember and Arches National Park was high on the list of 'must see' locations.
Immediately upon entry (and even before) you are treated to some of the most beautiful desert scenery to be found anywhere in the world. The formation below is named 'Elephant Butte' for obvious reasons.
the steep sandstone cliffs beside the entrance road tower above you as you drive and many areas are provided for stopping at the roadside to hike, walk or just grab a few photos.
The scale is difficult to grasp from photos alone but this shot does give some impression of it, note the huge rock on the left just balancing high above the pass
this shot more than most will help you grasp the scale of this beautiful location, the white square on the road to the right hand side of the photo is one of those huge Winnebago camper vans yet it is absolutely dwarfed by the sandstone towers around it. This is one of my favourite shots of the park.
I was going to mention the stunning blue sky and cloud formations but I guess these are becoming expected now.
this one is known as 'balanced rock'......that's the kind of 'say what you see' title I would have come up with too
the three shots below are leading up toward the 'spectacles' which is a double arch formation deeper in the park
this shot is of one of the two arches of the spectacles, the lady in the dubious red shorts provides excellent scale for the shot
out across the park the desert is alive with rodents who absolutely refuse to hang around for photos, the scenery though is fantastic.
To the main attraction then, the world famous 'Delicate Arch', the shot below shows a view back down the trail that leads to the arch. You can see the path running down the sandstone marked by small cairns, it then goes left to the green shrubs and through there to the farthest end where the truck is parked.
the trail is not a long one (about two miles each way I think) but you need plenty of water as the desert heat takes moisture from you like a sponge
on the route up I grabbed this shot through a hole in the rock which provides the first sighting of Delicate Arch, the hiker was up there with his girlfriend, they had stayed up there overnight and said it was stunning to see the arch against a night-time desert sky
after this the arch disappears again as you make your way around the path, hold on to the young uns' here as there is a significant drop of 80-100 ft off the side of the path.
rounding the corner and catching the first close up glimpse of the arch really felt special to me, it was an ambition achieved; not in the hiking sense (my legs and feet were still buggered) but in life, I had longed to see this structure and now I was standing beside it.
The lady and child walking the rim of the bowl below the arch give some idea of scale here, this is a fantastic location and sitting here on the rocks watching the world go by is a truly memorable moment.
I am sure that Sarah and I will return to Utah for a few weeks holiday and when we do Delicate Arch will be high on the 'to do' list